Your eyes flutter open and you feel like you've been dragged across the pavement. Your eyes and your head hurt from crying and your limbs and back are sore from the awkward positions you've fallen asleep in during the past weeks. Sleeping on the cold hard floors you can find isn't exactly pleasant. Struggling to get up to your feet you grunt some incoherent complaints at the dull pain in your empty stomach. You haven't eaten in a while.

Outside the alley you spent the night in you bend over to look at yourself in a parked car's side mirror. You brush your fingers through your hair in a desperate attempt to look less dishevelled but you fail miserably. You straighten your wrinkled clothes and sniff at your jacket. It doesn't smell terrible to your surprise. Or maybe you've just gotten used to your own scent. You can't be sure. But you try to keep as clean as you can. Sneaking into gas station bathrooms and using the sink to wash away most of the grime. You need some new clothes but you haven't got any money.

Walking past a tiny coffee shop you see a "HELP WANTED" sign at the front. A hint of hope flashes inside you and you instantly regret it. You've tried this before. It's not like you just resigned to living in the streets and beg for money from the random strangers that walk past. You've been trying to get back into society. Walking in you ask the waitress who you can talk to about the job offer and she points you to a nice looking lady behind the counter.

"Um… Hi… I saw your sign out front." You gesture in the general direction with one hand while the other rests at the back of your neck.

"Oh yeah, one of my girls just quit, I'm in desperate need of a replacement." She's handing out a cup of coffee to a man as she says this. "Do you have any experience waitressing?" She smiles at you and you try to smile back.

"No, not really… Not at all actually…" You admit. You've never really had a job before.

"Oh." Her smile fades. "I really need someone who can handle themselves around here… What with the monsters flooding into town, business is getting quite busy and I don't have the time to teach you. I'm sorry…"

"No, it's fine, I understand. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me though." You look at the tasty looking pastries and your hand goes to your aching stomach. "Mind if I use your bathroom, please?" She shakes her head and points to where it is.

Sighing you make your way to it and do your usual routine. You remove your jacket and splash some water on yourself, using some soap and drying yourself off with the paper towels. You stare at yourself in the mirror. Your eyes have dark circles underneath them and they look lifeless. Your cheeks are sunken and your bones protruding out of your skin. You look more like that skeleton than you look human. At the thought of Sans a small smile creeps onto your lips. Maybe you'll see him again tonight.

That smile slowly dies down again as you continue to examine your body. You run your fingers over the thin scars that form a map of your past. A few on your arms, others on your stomach, you have some on your back and legs as well. But out of the many you sport, the one that sticks out the most is the one in your chest, right over where your heart rests. You trace it with your index finger, closing your eyes and pushing memories further down into your subconscious, never wanting to reach them again.

You shrug your jacket back on and zip it up. The hope that maybe your newfound… acquaintance (?) will make an appearance later is what gets you through another long day of failure to get yourself a job to get back on your feet.

As the night falls once again you start making your way to the park you've grown accustomed to. Some kids are still leaving while holding on to their parent's hands and laughing cheerfully. You look at them sadly, wishing you had something like that. You look around hoping to find Sans there but he's nowhere in sight. Your expression falls and your heart aches. Maybe he's just coming later… After all it was 3 a.m. the last night, you allow yourself to think. But deep down your spirit starts to crack.

You sit down on your usual spot at the swing set and you look up at the vast sky. The twinkling dots start to show up and your mind starts forming images by connecting them. You start swinging back and forth. Just a little at first, but soon you start building up momentum. Sometimes you do that to pass the time. You like the feeling in your stomach when you come down.

"Hey kid." You hear that voice from behind you and you stop swinging, dragging your feet on the ground to lose speed.

"I'm hardly a kid." You say looking at Sans as he sits down next to you.

"Yeah? How old are you then?" His question takes you by surprise.

"Uh… 21, I think…" You sound unsure of yourself.

"You think? Now there's an odd thing to say." He chuckles.

"Yeah, I kind of lost count, I suppose."

You go back to swinging and he joins you. "I tried to think of something humerus to say to make you laugh. I've got a skele-ton of jokes but you probably wouldn't find them very rib tickling." Sans smiled at you and you felt yourself giggle at his lame jokes, a snort coming out of your nose.

You nearly fall off the swing when you quickly stop to cover your face embarrassed. You felt your face heat up and Sans' smile widened. "Cute."

"It's really not…" You mumble through your fingers. As if that wasn't bad enough your stomach decides this would be the best moment to make its emptiness noticed, grumbling loudly and making you bend over in pain.

"You hungry? We can go somewhere you can eat." He offers, getting up to come closer.

"No, I'm fine!" You say quickly, getting up as well, your hands held up in front of you. You didn't want to admit that you hadn't eaten in days, that you had no money, no friends, no family. You had nowhere to go, and no one to help you, and you didn't want to scare the only person, or monster rather, to ever show you kindness away.

"I should get going. There's something I have to do." You mutter the words while turning to run away the same place you had gone the day before. But in your desperation to go as far from him as possible you trip over yourself and fall to your hands and knees with a soft 'Oomph', ripping your only pair of jeans.

"You don't look fine." Sans walks up to you and holds out his skeletal hand, which you take, feeling foolish and useless. He helps you up to your feet and his brow bones droop slightly. Despite the grin plastered on his face you see sadness in his eyes. "Tell me where your home is so I can take you there." He asks politely.

You look down at your feet. Your hands stung slightly from digging your nails into your scratched palms, hands balled into fists. You don't want his pity. You don't want anyone's pity, that's the reason you haven't resorted to panhandling in the streets. You don't want anyone to look at you and think "Poor thing, she must've fallen on hard times." Because that's not you. You had the opportunity to leave your past behind and you took it. This was your choice. You weren't weak. You weren't helpless. Far from it.

And yet… you feel yourself crumble. Tears well up in your eyes and fall down your cheeks and to the floor beneath. Your shoulders shake as you sob softly and you feel bony fingers slide through your hair to pull your head to his own shoulder, his other arm wrapped around the small of your back pulling you into a tight embrace. Without thinking you pull your hands up and hold on to Sans' blue jacket tightly, crying quietly into his chest. "I… I don't have one." You finally manage to answer through fits of sobbing.

"Guess you'll have to come to mine then."

NOTE: Sorry if chapter cuts off at a strange spot, I've never been very good at separating chapters, hopefully I'll get better. Either way I hope you enjoy it, any feedback is welcome, thanks for reading :)