Disclaimer:

The following is a fan-based fiction. Zootopia and its characters are owned by Disney. The songs I reference here belong to their respective artist as well.


(The song Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz begins to play)

Chesterization proudly presents

A Zootopia fanfiction

Wild times with Wilde

(Song ends)

Chapter 4: Calm before the storm

A family of bear parked on the side of a highway. The father stepped out of the car and had a look around. He saw nothing but tall grass, artificial hills and left behind structures. "Are you sure that this is the right place?" He asked his wife, who reassured him that they probably had not looked hard enough. However, she, herself could not be sure of that either. It was only a rumor after all; just words passing on from one mouth to another. Words, especially those as sticky as "ice bathtub kidney thieves" or "underground amusement park for predators", were usually proven false. The husband walked around some more then shortly returned. He asked her opinion on returning home. She was about to say yes. However, seeing her sleeping son on the back seat with the green light on his neck, she convinced him to drive a little more.

It did not take them long before they came across a relatively new sign. On it was a simple illustration of a fox wearing what kids jokingly called, "the collar of shame" next to a red cross. The fox pointed to a small house on the right. If not for a freshly cut path, the grass would have obscured it completely; and what they could see would just be the abandoned dome behind it. The phrase "Predators only" took a significant amount of space on the sign.

Taking it as being on the right track, the husband turned the car and headed straight to the house with the word "clinic" painted on the wall. As they approached the clinic, parked cars hidden behind the wall of tall grass could be seen. The number of cars signaled a small event was held nearby, but there was no one in sight. The husband moved the car to an empty spot and parked it.

The mother woke her child up, gently told him to get out of the car. The family had a walked around the clinic. It looked like one of those model homes rather than an actual functioning medical facility. The father tapped on the wall; the sound suggested that these walls were extremely thin and cheap. With caution, the mother stepped in. She looked around. This looked like any small town clinic; completed with stretchers, bed, medicine cabinets, a certificate (framed and hung high). The only different was that the smell of antiseptics was much weaker. "Hello?" She said.

Immediately after, a deep voice answered "Yes". It came from behind and below the receptionist counter. Out of curiosity, she approached the counter. Her collar nearly set off, when a fennec fox jumped onto the counter. His voice suggested him to be the pinnacle of masculinity, but his diminutive proportion and the pink nurse uniform gave a different impression. His name tag was way too small for anyone to read. Her family heard the muff yelp and immediate came to her aid, only to stand there and look in confusion at the fox.

Seeing how the little charade went on for more than three seconds, the fox said, "What? You got a problem with the outfit?"

"No, no sir. We were just passing by." The mother said.

The father then said. "I was just wondering. Is this the place predators were talking about" He closed in for a whisper "Wild times?"

The fox said. "Do I look like a real nurse to you? Of course, you are in the right place." The fox jumped down from the counter. "Follow me to the back."

The group walked to the back door of the clinic. They opened the door, revealing a worn red carpet that led to the dome behind the clinic. On the outside of the door, which looked more like a warehouse to the bears, there was a shack that said "Collar check." The family could hear voices mixed in with occasional roars of excitement coming from within the dome. The fox then led them to the shack, which was guarded by an overweight leopard in a security uniform. His nametag read "B. Clawhauser". He greeted the family of with a smile. Something infinitely more pleasant than what his fox colleague had done.

The fox jumped on the shack's counter and activated the cashier machine. "That would be 20 dollars per ticket." The fox said. As soon as the father paid up, the Leopard pulled out a collar scanner and gently opened the family members' collars. Alex had not modified the device much during the past few months. He added a new lens so that the beam could go a little further and replaced the old batteries with rechargeable ones. So far, the device had proven itself useful enough to stop there. The fox gave the bear family three plastic number tags. "Have a wonderful time." The leopard said upon inviting them to walk through the main gate. Seeing how nervous the cub was, he then added: "Enjoy yourself, little buddy". After the family passed through the dome's main gate, they entered another world.

(The song Parade by Susumu Hirasawa begins to play)

Inside looked more like a fair carnival than and actual an amusement park, but no predator seemed to be bothered by that, or at least no one had filed a complaint about false advertising. The inside of the place was completely dark out. The glass part of the ceiling had been covered with black paint, giving the impressions of an indoor stadium; though some of the mid-day light could still pierce through cracks on the glass and corroded metal tiles. The shade provided by the roof made the welcoming "Wild times" lightbulbs sign stand out more. The mounted lights on the walls provided a consistent brightness for the customers of Wild times to focus and enjoy the attractions. One could see wooden cutouts of palm trees, mountains, and the likes, everywhere. Although they were not real landscape, they gave off the vibe of being some kind of nature. With the budget Nick had, some kind of nature would do.

The bear cub looked up in awe at the rollercoaster, which tracks were slithering, up and down around the park. The ride started from a high up position decorated to look like a waterfall, above it was a sign read "Roar-a-Coaster". The attraction ended a few meter away from main the entrance. At the last few meters of the tracks, were an elaborate system of water hoses and a waterproof camera with a cutout of Nick saying "Smile". The bear family waited patiently; they wanted to see how this ride would play out. As the train was reaching its destination, the hoses activated. They were set in a gentle, fanned out spray mode, instead of the traditional forceful single stream. This made the experience of getting water on their fur similar to friends having fun with super soakers rather than a surprise assault. The splashing water was enough to generate a feeling of suddenly crashing into a river. All the predators responded to that with an amused (and caught-off-guard) yell; the camera clicked the moment that amusement reached its peak. With unbridled excitement, the bear cub said, "Mom, I want to try that!"

That day, the cub and his family tried everything Wild times had to offer.

Underneath the starting point of "Roar-a-coaster", was an attraction called "Catch me if you can". Alex created this by recycling an old merry-go-round. He had it surprising cheap because the motor was beyond repair. Instead of finding a replacement, Nick suggested that Alex turned the old piece into a generator, powered by predators' energy. With the experience provided by dozens of lawnmowers generators, the cat did just that. From the outside, the ride was a glorified circle treadmill that three predators could use in one go. With three hoops suspended by bungee cores held the predators in one spot, they just needed to run and keep the floor underneath them moving. This spun the makeshift generator hidden underneath and churned out electricity to help powered Wild Times. The energy created were transferred to a rack of industrial batteries hidden somewhere in the ground. In order to make the customer do not feel tricked also to encourage them, the amount of energy were displayed on a screen as "score". Whoever gained the highest score in the shortest amount of time would have a free souvenir. However, some customers said they could not care less about the score. Instead, the idea of an endless chase interested them more.

In a standard amusement park, the roller coaster is the highest point of the facility. However, things were a little different in Wild times. The highest point here was a series of rope drawbridges connected to each other into a long racetrack. These bridges, like the ground below, were decorated with cutouts of tree and foliage, which gave the racetrack plenty of places for predators to take cover. With the name "Cheetah run", it is obvious whom this attraction was made for.

"Jump and Stick" was an idea that all Wild times employees (all four of them) doubted at first, but once put in motion, only three were skeptical about it. It was essentially a trampoline laid in front of a giant crash mat wheel, which surface was covered in Velcro. When asked, Suzy, a seven years old customer described the experience as, "Instead of the stuff stick to your fur, you stick to the stuff". Nick painted a bull eye on the wheel, making the game essentially mammal-sized darts. To give some form of variation to the attraction, Alex installed within it a bigger version of his university project: "the Infinite wheel". At its core, the wheel had the structure of a slightly adjusted bicycle wheel with multiple moving iron balls at different locations. As the wheel began to turn, so were the balls. Since the balls were at different locations at all times, their weights would constantly be shifting around. This along with the balls' momentums became the force that kept the wheel turning forever. With only four employees and one president, an attraction that could run itself was welcome.

The attraction that gave the Wild Times crew the most trouble was called "Go fishing". A predator would step on a few stones in the middle of a huge lake and waited for (fake) fish to shoot up from the water. The goal was to simply, catch as many fish as one could. This seemingly simple concept took the crew a full week to complete. Created compressed air cannons to shoot rubber fish was hard enough, but laid those cannons underneath the water and have a reloading mechanic to top it off was near impossible. If not for Nick's constant encouragement, the crew would not have completed it. In the end, Nick was right for keeping this idea going, for it was one of the attractions that predator enjoyed the most. Even if predators were just mucking about, slapping the fish instead of catching them.

"Upstream" was a much simpler version of "Go Fishing". Predator would only need to run on a log placed above a shallow pond. As the log turned, it triggered a system of cogs and gears that tossed plastic fish toward the predator. The challenge of the attraction came automatically with its design. The predator needed to achieve a certain speed for the fish to start flying. As they picked up speed, so were the fish, and it became harder and harder for them to juggled multiple tasks at once. Catching the fish, keep running along with the log, maintaining speed and keeping balance on a wet log; only those who could master these tasks would earn a picture of themselves on the Wall of fame and a free souvenir.

Of course, not everything in Wild times could be big and grandiose. With the shoestring budget and the tight deadline provided by Koslov, Nick had to cut some corners and created some relatively low-tech attractions. Some of these attractions were even self-sufficient and required little to no supervision.

One of these attractions was the "Scratch and Sniff", which was a collection of tall palm tree nailed to the ground. The predators (mostly bears) would use these trees as a way to scratch their backs.

There was also the "Nocturnal Maze", which was exactly what its name implied. It was the only attraction with no light source, except for the title sign.

There was also a carnival style strong mammal test called "Bite Me". Instead of slamming down a hammer and ringing the bell on top, predator, big or small would bite on a mock burger made of hard rubber and wood. The bell then determined whether you have the force of the mightiest of predators or of a tini tiny house cat. Apparently, Nick's fennec fox friend was the former.

There were a few attractions for those in the cat family as well. These included the "Ball of Yarn Pit" (again, very literal and concrete with its name) and "Laser Tag" (not the painless paintball kind but the cat chase after a laser dot kind). Because of the lack of smaller cats in the city, the top customers for these attractions were all larger cats like lions and tigers.

Wild times also had a small arcade section, filled with machines that Nick's gangs salvaged and repaired by Alex. The most popular machines were the "So you think you can prance", a modified version of the traditional arcade dance game. The old exploitations of "frustration become coins" and "competition become coins" were still in use in this area.

And of course, no amusement park would be completed without a souvenir shop. Being the second place with a cashier machine, it was supervised at all time by a badger with the nametag Honey. She did not want anyone or anything to bother her (nor did she cared), so let respect that leave her some space. This shop had everything you would expect, there were clocks with Nick's sly mug on it, snow globes with miniature Wild times, key chains and the likes. On the shop, there were three signs with messages on them. The first sign read, "Keep a part of Wild times with you" written by hand, consistent with every other sign within the park. Next to it were two signs that were printed out by a computer, the letter came in a rigid, bold Bodoni font. "Just remember not to show it to the police." and "No seriously, just don't."

Walking in between these attractions was Nick, president of Wild times. He was on his way to reset the park's last attraction "Howl along". A fancier (and shorter term) for karaoke-stage-for-wolves-and-howling-enthusiasts. The stage was in front of a few rows of recycled cushioned seats. On the sides were two speakers and two TV screens. Nick stepped on the stage, gathered all the wolves (and howling enthusiasts) attention. "All right everyone, wolf or not, it's time." With a tap on his phone, he deemed the light around the stage and lowered a moon model. Which was actually a disco ball covered in paper mache, paint, and industrial glue. He pressed "replay" on the DVD player, making the text "Ohhhhh, ohhhhh, ohhhh" with some night mountains background appeared on the screen.

Nick then said. "On three. One, two, three, howl."

The wolves (and howling enthusiasts), did what their biological mind and the screens told them too. The sound of howling was starting to rival that of the Roar-a-coaster.

He poured all of his energy into the next encouragement, "C'mon you guys can do much better than that!"

They indeed did a little better, but still, could not top the roar from afar.

He applauded then gave everyone a thumb up, "That's was amazing. You guys should be proud of yourself."

(Song end)

The mock clinic's back door swung open as Alex to drag himself in. The familiar gym bag was not far behind. The lunch plastic bags in his free hand had increased in size these past few months.

"Hey, look at what the cat dragged in." The fox commented on Alex's torturous trek to the Collar check shack.

Alex fake laughed run in accord with his heavy breathing. "Ha, ha, ha, that one would never stop being funny." Finally reached his goal, he laid the plastic bag on the counter. "Good day, Finnick, Ben." He took a deep breath. "I brought lunch, as always."

Clawhauser said. "Thank you. I was starving up in here."

While Clawhauser was enjoying his Bug burger, Finnick said. "Kid, you need to sit down for a moment. You look like hell."

Alex pointed, rather smugly. "That's a compliment if I've ever seen one." Alex sat on the counter and proceeded to lay flat on his back while his legs dangling on the edge. Feeling his back loosened up somewhat. "Yeah, maybe that's a good idea,"

Finnick said while gently kicked the kid in the side of his head. "Why do you keep working for wherever place anyway? We already have Nick's little show to worry about."

Alex chuckled. "It's complicated. Let's just say I worked really hard to get that early shift job. It would be kinda wasteful to just, quit. Thanks for the concern, though. Now, would you excuse me, I gotta get back to work." Alex then sprang up and got his feet back on the ground. He then grabbed the plastic bag with only two boxes remained.

He walked through the lake of predators in Wild times and headed for the gift shop. The early shift had and always drained so much from him, that he virtually felt no urges to be involved in Laser Tag and Ball of Yarn Pit. However, the sight of his own kind and some species of big cats enjoying those kinds of attractions always brought a smile to his face.

There was a family was five cats standing in front of the gift shop. He could see Honey gave a snow globe to a small kitten; she was five or six years old. The thing was much larger than her hand, so it was no surprise to see the globe tumbling on the ground afterward. The globe rolled and stopped at Alex's feet. He picked up the snow globe and shook it about a little. The "snows" reminded him of the days he used to live in that mega cheap apartment in Tundra Town. Saw the girl's image through the globe, he stopped staring at it and kneel down. He clasped on the globe with two hands and the girl instantly mimicked him. He then gently placed it on her palms. The little kitten said. "Cam on chu" with a smile that was missing one tooth. It had been awhile since he had heard his mother tongue. Thankfully, his memory was still sufficient to say "Khong co chi" before giving the kid a pat on the head. He gave the cat family a typical smile and wave.

He walked behind the gift shop counter, leaving a box on it. Honey's number one policy was "care for nothing" so Alex did not waste time trying to make small talks with her. With the last box in the bag, he searched for Nick, who had just climbed on the starting point of Roar-a-coaster. After Nick had finished setting up the ride, Alex gave him a light tap on the shoulder. Nick turned around. "Hey, Nick, how is everything going?" Alex asked him.

The fox shrugged, "Pretty good, like always. You."

"Just" Alex paused a bit "dandy". He gave Nick the same "a few seconds before punching you in the face" grin.

"Uh huh, with that face, I doubt it."

Alex whispered under his breath. "Gosh darn foxes." He then said. "Anyhow, I'll take my shift now; just go take a break, sort out finance and all that jazz."

"Are you sure you can take it? You looked really beaten down."

"Pf, that's just my natural state of being. I'll be a good for nothing bum if my hands are not moving."

"Okay, you're now in charge." Nick gave him a few pats on the shoulder.

"What's up with the formality? We have this conversation every day." Alex then handed Nick his gym back. "Can you help me put this bag to my workplace? I can't be bothered with it today."

"Sure, no problem." Nick took the gym bag and headed to a small box-like room in a corner of Wild times.

Alex then instantly assumed control. His job only needed him to repeat the same job as Nick. Open this gate, pull this lever, turn this knob, trigger this, replace that, reload this, simple tasks. The only different was that his levels of enthusiasm and energy were much lower than Nick. However, as long as the attractions were functioning and the lines were moving, Alex was good enough. "Thank you and please enjoy the ride," Alex repeated the same line (with some various for obvious purposes) throughout the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes, his work was shaken up a bit when one of the machines having issues. However, he and everyone else wished instances like that to happen as scarcely as possible.

Despite the job being tedious, boring and did not feel like that world changing, the happy faces he and the gang (as Nick put it) received, made it all worthwhile. When closing time was coming, Alex suddenly changed his greeting line into "Oh, Master Koslov, What, a surprise."

Koslov loomed shadow over him. "The feeling is mutual, Alexander. I never knew that you were interested in the entertainment business."

"Well, you know, gotta put food on any available surface somehow. This guy was hiring anybody so why not?" Alex looked around for a way to escape. "What brings you here sir? Our president told us that he had taken care of all the payment and debts a few months ago." Alex then turned to the left. A quick way to escape Koslov's judging eyes, also an attempted to tell the line behind Koslov to wait for one cycle. The self-made rollercoaster could only hold one Mr. Big. However, Alex realized the Koslov was the only customer in line.

Koslov said, with his hand on his chest. "He is not wrong and that is not why I am here. I have heard that this place is an amusement for all predators. Am I somehow, not welcome here?"

Alex's spine stiffened. "No sir, absolutely not!" Noticed how loud that answer was, Alex lowered his tone. "Sorry, sir, it's just, a, a," his eyes started shifting "quite a sight, to, to see someone of your stature, I mean status visit a place like ours."

Koslov put his paw on Alex's shoulder. Though that was a gentle pat for Koslov, the force on Alex's shoulder made him bit down, hard. "Son, you need to calm down. I might be Mr. Big to you, but outside, I'm just like any old predators. No need to be so alarmed. I'm just here to relax, like anyone else."

"Yes, sir, I'll get the rollercoaster ready in a minute."

Alex opened the gate, allowed Koslov to step in the cart. He then snapped the seatbelt as quick as he could and escaped the cart before Koslov could say "Thank you, Alexander." Koslov's accent was still as thick as a tank shell, but Alex could feel it soften up a little.

Dumbstruck by his words, Alex said "Yui welcome, sir." through an awkward smile.

The bear then popped a few knuckles and said. "All right, let's see how "wild" your little park can be."

Alex would be lying if he said he did not feel some sense of satisfaction upon clutching that lever. "Let's find out, sir." With a genuine smile, he pulled the lever.

Koslov's "enthusiasm" was so loud that the remaining customers decided to visit Wild times on another day. With the distinctive lack of customers, the gang gathered around the number one (and only) source of sound in the place.

Seeing a humongous polar bear with his hands in the air while yelling at the top of his lung, Clawhauser commented. "Don't know if I should find that disturbing or adorable."

Nick approached them and asked. "Eh, can anyone tell me why is Koslov riding the Roar-a-Coaster?"

"He's a paying customer, I know that much," Finnick answered.

Clawhauser, could not let the question unanswered, said, "Guys, do you think it's disturbing or adorable?"

Honey kept her stoic expression and said, "Let's vote on that." She then followed. "Adorable" only the Leopard raised his hand. "Disturbing" and the latter won 3 to 1. "Motion carries. And like all governments, that changes nothing."

With Koslov being the last customer to return home satisfied, everyone breathed a sigh of relieved and closed up the main gate of Wild times. Usually, with any Friday night, they all purchase a respectable amount of alcohol (enough to have the buzz going and a tolerable hangover the next day) and a two soda bottles for Alex. That night, however, they decided to buy a little more. Maybe it was because of Koslov or maybe because they had been keeping Wild Times running for so long. Either way, one of them is not going to work tomorrow. They gather around Nick's old worktable and start occupied its surface with beverages. As Nick was about to make the first toast, he received a call. After a quick look at the screen, he said, "You guys go on ahead. I need to take this one." He then headed for his office upstairs, which was originally the control room of the factory.

The remained mammals did not make the toast. What was the point of doing so, if they were one short? Instead, they drank individually. Alex popped a bottle of soda and drank half of it. He let out a satisfied "Ahhh" when the mild burning sensation hit his throat.

Finnick, who had finished a bottle of beer on his own, said: "C'mon kid, there are times in your life when you need to mammal the hell up and get some booze in your system."

"Finnick, I have told you hundreds of times, cats have very low tolerance for alcohol."

Honey stepped in, putting some peer pressure on him. Usually, when Nick was around, he would get the kid out of this. Might as well have fun with it, she thought. With a stern face, she said. "That's a load of hogwash. You know who say that a lot-Politicians. Do you know why? Because drunks are the most honest of animals. What do you have to hide, Alex?"

With a face that screamed: "I'll show you" and pure grit, he grabbed a beer bottle. Juggling eye contacts between Honey and Finick, he popped the bottle open, letting the foam erupt. Alex shut his eyes tight, bit down on the lip of the bottle and quite literally made the bottom go up. He started drinking down the cold, heavy liquid as fast as he could. At the half waypoint, his gag reflex kicked in, but he kept on going until there was nothing left in the bottle. He yanked the empty bottle out and started coughing. The back of his throat was now truly on fire, he could felt it stinging and swelling up.

Finnick slapped Alex in the back. "There we go. That's wasn't so hard isn't it?"

Alex nodded and picked up another bottle of beer and repeated the process. Just like that, he had downed another bottle.

"Woah, slow down there little buddy, you're going to"

"Shush, Clawhauser, he's just proving himself. C'mon, don't be shy. Let's see what you are made of."

Alex took that as a dare and gladly accepted it. He struggled a bit with this bottle; it took him much longer to finish it. Alex heart rate was telling him to stop, but his numbing mind, Finnick, and Honey were saying otherwise. Soon, another bottle was done, then another. For a moment, the world around Alex turned to this static comic of black and white, as if the alcohol had washed away all the colors. Without warning, he fell from the chair and laid flat on the ground.

Clawhauser said. "Eh, is he, supposes to do that?"

Honey said before getting back to her drink. "Heh, maybe he was telling the truth after all."

Clawhauser said, clearly concerned, "Should we get him to a hospital?"

Honey said, "Well, Nick is the doctor here. He'll check on the kid later. How about nurse Finnick, what are your thoughts?"

Finnick jumped down and checked on Alex's vitals. He was still breathing normally. It was a typical case of drinking too quick and too many; Finnick knew about that all too well. "Follow my diagnosis, the kid will wake up, with some actual hair on his chest. It looks like he is not working tomorrow."

Nick stepped in his office. He closed the door to shut out the noise from the party below. However, he forgot to lock the door once again (a terrible habit that Alex claimed to be regrettable at some point in one's life). Nick had missed the first call, but soon, another one came. He swiped to answer. He said in his traditional tone. "Heyyy, Carrot, how are you doing?" He waited for a reply, but what he got was strange watery sound. "Eh, Judy, are you crying?"

It took a while for her to respond. "No, hic, I'm, just, freaking out right now, hic."

"Okay, that's definitely worse." Nick locked the door of his office. "Tell me, what happens?"

Judy suddenly screamed, "NO YOU TWO SHUT UP!". The bunny's fury rattled Nick's eardrum.

After the ringing sound in his ear had subsided, he asked, "Eh, who was that?"

"My neighbors."

"Ohhhhhhkay, how about we get to the core of the problem before too many animals get involved in this?" He took a seat behind his desk and asked, "So, again, what's the matter?"

"Nick, I don't know. Just everything."

He winced, "Um, I know it's a bit much to ask, but can you be specific?"

"It's just so. Everything is just so hard. I keep telling myself to stay strong, hic, and everything is going to be okay. Baby steps, you know. Climb that ladder. But it just doesn't work. I have been working as a meter maid for over six months. Six months Nick! Six months and I am at square one. That and everyone hates me."

"Oh c'mon Carrot, it's can't be that bad. I don't hate you."

There was a long pause, mixed in with some sobbing. "Thanks, Nick. What I meant is all the mammals in the force hate me, and chef Bogo just despises me. Anyone who got a ticket detests me and, hic, some even threaten me. Your friend's reaction was tame compared to some of them and they were preys. It has been six months and nothing had fundamentally changed. Same streets, same angry reactions in and outside headquarter."

"Wait, inside the force? Don't they have like, HR department for that? You can sue them."

"No, it's not that kind of hate Nick. They just either turn a blind eye to me or give me that "look", no one bother talking or listen to me. As if, I don't exist to them. As if I'm just a piece of furniture that was not supposed to be there."

"Judy, maybe"

"I can deal with skeptics, heck, even my parent are skeptics. I can get, through, just , FINE! But, but, I have not done anything, but sticking tickets to mammals' cars and, just make their day a little worse. That's all I have done during the past six months." Her voice was slowly drowned back in tears. "My parents said they were coming over next week." She took short gasps for air. "I can't tell them that their little daughter, who used their hard-earned money to go a police academy, is a meter maid, lives in a rundown apartment with neighbors constantly screaming at her. I can't, Nick. I can't tell them that the dream I have been working so hard toward, hic, is actually worse than being a carrot farmer." Nick could hear some slamming sound. Something told him that was not the neighbor banging on a table. "I should have just quit when I was ahead"

Nick stepped on the ice, despite knowing how thin it was, "Sorry, but I got to stop you right there." Nick gave her a few seconds, just to confirm that she was listening to him. "It's okay, Judy. It's okay."

"No, it's not, Nick. I'm just, I'm falling apart. I can't keep this up."

"No, I understand, I'm not going to tell you to hold on to your dream and sing a pop song about it. You are talking to a guy that had given up on him and his dad's dream. But, I can see you are, getting, erm, what is the terms? Emotional and exhausted. I feel you, it's hard, yes. But, it would be much harder if you are tired and got all worked up. Freaking out would only make matter worse. Now, breathe."

Nick can hear those short breaths mixed in with "Okay. Okay."

"So, before you decide to give up on your dream or doing anything else, have a rest. And NO, not a quick nap or anything, have an ACTUAL rest. Sleep through for once, call a sick day, I'm sure the world is not going to blow up without a few parking tickets. Maybe when your body is strong and your mind is clear, you will be able to think it through."

"I don't know, Nick, I can't do it on my own. I have tried similar things. I'll just fall back to this state again."

"I see, so," He opened up a notebook on his desk. "how about, I'll take you out to dinner tomorrow?"

There was another long pause. "You mean, like a date?"

"Woah, woah, woah, gotta slow down there, Carrot. No, it's more like a counseling session. Instead of with an expensive old guy taking notes on you and your relationship with your mother, you have a friend listening to you and help you figure things out. I can't do that on the phone right now and well, with you all soaked in tears like this. So, what do you say?"

"I think, hic, it's a great idea. I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say it, just rest, okay?"

"Uh huh."

"In that case, I will see you, tomorrow. Are you still sobbing?" He sighed, "Who is the cry baby now? Anyhow, bye."

"Goodbye, Nick and thanks again."


Author note:

Thank you so much for reading. If you enjoyed what you have just read and wished to see more, please follow or leave a review. They would give me the motivation to write more for everyone. All feedbacks will be appreciated. If you find anything lacking or flawed in my story (grammar, word use, etc.), please tell me in the reviews as well. I shall do my best to update these chapters sooner and make them more polished. This is one of my first stories so please forgive possible mistakes in the future and help me fix them.

Thanks again and have a pleasant day.