Chapter Text
You woke up sometime around sunset, still half-buried in your blankets. Your window faced west, and your dark-coloured, old-fashioned burgundy curtains did not save your nap from the aggressive beams. The only thing you liked about golden hour was that it was a time for snapping every single soul on Earth.
After sending a few snaps to your college situationships, you got out of bed, took your green cardigan, and headed to the Smiths' house.
Your parents had made it very clear that summer break did not mean unlimited spending money. You literally expected that they would be happy to see you, like a hatiko waiting for their papa or something. However, they somehow stopped eating because the fridge was filled only with Coke Zero and cheap flavoured yoghurts most of the time.
That is why you picked up tutoring. Tutoring paid better than it should have. But you know what paid even better? Selling weed. You especially loved tutoring for Summer Smith. Not because u liked her, no, this bitch was annoying af. She was also one of your side-hustle customers. Second, Summer, as well as you, preferred tutoring at night.
A few years younger than you, she was not particularly book smart. However, she had an annoyingly sharp tongue that always irritated you to your stomach. If she thought she was that smart, why would she even be failing school? It seemed like she was more interested in partying than trying for her exams. Well, it was not her choice to hire you, but her mom's. That is why she had to deal with me as long as you were being paid enough.
You knocked on the door of the Smith family house. Luckily, they were your family's neighbours, only a few blocks away. No answer. You knocked again. You heard the quick, irritated steps. You quickly pushed your hair out of your face and immediately regretted not tying it up before leaving.
“Can you please stop knocking? I can hear it, I just don't wanna answer.”
“Yeah, sure. Well, if u don't wanna study today, I could organise u a good bottle girl position in a country club after graduation.”
Summer sighed.
“Ok, well, come in.”
You stepped into the house.
“So, did you do any homework I asked you to—AH, WHAT THE FUCK”—some small creature that looked like a garden gnome ran right through the doorframe outside with unnatural speed—“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT.”
“Ha, that is prolly some grandpa's Rick alien little helper or something”—Summer smiled mockingly—“What, don't know nothing 'bout that kind of science?”
“30 percent accurate, as always, Summer”—your most reliable customer nonchalantly walked into the kitchen—“Tutoring is—burp—cancelled. We got shit to do.”
“Well, you can't just cancel it like that! There is a cancellation fee.” There was no cancellation fee, but he didn't need to know 'bout that…
“Yeah, sure, sweety. If I were Beth, I would not hire you in the first p-place. You should really focus on your other business. Maybe you will have—have more luck there.”
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CHOICE:
A: Answer back
B: Stay silent
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A:
Apparently, you'd never learned when to stop talking.
“Sure, this town is full of old farts like you for whom drugs are the most interesting part of their miserable life.”
“Yeah, you know what? You would seem m-much smarter if you would just stay silent. Your overcompensating confidence—burp—makes you look like a dumbass.”
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B:
You stood there silently. You didn't wanna escalate the conflict.
“What, noth—nothing left for you to say?”
“Have you been silent or have you been silenced?”—laughed Summer, snarky.
“Summer, you're just as dumb as her. I am the only smart p-person here, so shut up and prepare to leave for a family trip.”
The smirk disappeared from Summer's face as she went upstairs to her room.
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“Well, you know what? I might have a use for you today! I need a spare set of hands. Wanna join us?”
Well, without the tutoring for Summer, my evening would just be empty. It's not even Friday, so I couldn't go to the club or sell stuff at the parties.
“Yeah, sure, fine.”
“Then come over to the garage. We will be there in 2 minutes.”
You sighed and obeyed the directions.
What a disappointment. I will fucking prove to him how smart I am so he would shut up about it. Fucking asshole. Dipshit. He thinks he is the smartest man in the universe or something. I WILL prove to him he is wrong. I think. Maybe. Because I think I am not that stupid? Right? Am I not? Or am I?
You entered the garage. Morty was standing there, texting on his phone.
“Hey Morty, what's up?” You always liked Morty because he was not as rude as Rick and Summer, and talking to him was not a fucking competition of whose dick was bigger. If it was even a competition with Rick.
“Oh, h-hey, Y/N. I am fine, I think. Whatcha doing here?”
“Oh, your grandpa needs a spare set of hands for your quote-unquote adventure.”
“Oh, so u gonna go with us? I heard it's gonna be something really different this time.” He smiled unconfidently.
“Yeah, sure. I am looking forward to this”—you were surely not, but Morty was such a sweet child that u wanted to hold him in your arms and sing him a lullaby.
You heard a sound of footsteps.
Summer and Rick entered the garage. Summer was wearing her school backpack and the same clothes. Rick was holding a pistol with a compartment of green liquid in it, ready.
“Okay, fuckers, everyone ready? I don't really care”—he shot green liquid from his pistol, and it formed a green hole in the wall.
“Wow, what the fuck…”—it's not that u were that shocked. The small running gnome scared more shit out of you, but like WHAT.
“Y/N, your first”—said Rick, looking at his portal gun, seemingly uninterested in your response.
“What??? Why??? Wait!”—Summer gave you a push on your back, and you stumbled through the portal.
It felt like you were covered in moisture for a split second. However, the feeling disappeared as you emerged on the other side of the portal. You felt disoriented as hell and tried concentrating your eyes on the blinks of blue light in the darkness.
What… what is that?
You heard a sound from the portal as Rick, Summer, and Morty were catching up with you.
As the portal disappeared, you finally could see through the darkness.
Wait….
It seemed like you were in a cave. You had never seen anything like this in person. Wait, even on the internet. You didn't think any single suicidal caver with a loving family on Earth had experienced such a place before. You were surely underground. Most of the cave was covered in soft moss and fucking giant mushrooms that glowed blue in the dark. The air felt damp, and you needed to adjust your breathing to bigger inhales. The cave—or what you assumed was a cave—was cool, like an early spring evening. The wind was slightly pushing your back.
That is weird. Why is there wind in a cave? Are we near the entrance?
The cave seemed mostly empty, but you could still hear its sounds. You heard a stream of water in the distance. Everything around you seemed to pulse like different heartbeats.
Could it be the mushrooms?
When you squinted your eyes, you could really see them pulsing. Or were you imagining it?
What scared you the most was that you were standing right near a big chasm. You instantly regretted looking at it, as u felt nausea coming to your throat. Far away, you saw spores floating in the air. Different places were covered in different coloured spores. Behind the spores, even farther away, you could see something glowing a different, luminescent kind of blue.
Rick took a step towards the lights.
“Okay, kids, stop staring—burp—and move.” He motioned toward the blue light.