A/N: I'm not dead. Also, does anyone even still read this? Probably not. Oh well, I'm still having a good time writing it. Oh, and we hit 8K reads a little while ago! So thank you all as always! Long note at the end explaining why this chapter is kinda short. 

Sometimes when you wake up, you just already have the drive to go somewhere and do something, even if you weren't quite sure where or what.

And when you woke early on that gloomy Saturday morning, that was exactly the feeling you were experiencing. You had almost completely forgotten that you lived with two other people that would be on your heels the moment they woke up. When you did remember that, getting out of the house seemed all the more desirable to you. In fact, the sooner you left, the better it would be.

So you quickly dressed yourself in your room, and grabbed your purse/drawstring and filled it with a couple snacks, a water bottle, and the book from last night, just in case you found that you were actually unbearably bored. Lastly, you grabbed a (favorite fruit) to eat for breakfast and left through the front door. You were already in your car and down the road when you realized that you had absolutely no idea of where you would go. You took the next parking lot as an opportunity to stop for a moment and actually think through what you were doing.

You had just shut off the car's engine when your phone rang, making you jump in your seat. The caller ID boldly displayed that it was a call from your home phone. Well that's just great, you thought as you answered.

"Hello," you spoke, utterly annoyed.

"Mettaton, she answered!" Frisk's voice shouted from the other side.

You could just about hear another person about, "Really?!" and run to Frisk's location.

"Hiya, (Y/N)! We were just kind of worried about you, so I suggested we call-"

She was cut off by a crinkling sound, which you assumed to be Mettaton stealing the phone from her.

"Darling! Where are you? Are you okay? Have you been kidnapped? Are you hiding from someone? Tell me where you are so I can come save you right now and give them a piece of my mind!"

"Glitterbot, calm down. I just decided that I wanted to go out and do something on my own today." You explained, trying to calm him from his hysterics.

"Then why didn't you bring me?" He demanded. You thought you could hear Frisk trying to get the phone back.

"Did you just miss the part where I said, 'On my own'?"

"Then you should have told me!"

You scoffed and rolled your eyes,"Sorry, mom."

"Please, beautiful, don't treat me like that. I was only worried."

You could hear the concern he was feeling. Maybe you had been just a tiny bit harsher than you should.

"Yeah, okay. Just take care of Frisk for me, please."

"Anything you need, darling."

"Thanks, Glitterbot. See ya." You moved the phone away from your ear.

"Wait!"

You picked it up again, "Mhmm?"

"What time are you coming home?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll try to be back by eight."

"Alright. Come home on time or else Frisk might get worried."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll see you around."

You tossed your phone quite carelessly onto the passenger seat and sighed. You had known that would happen. Just a small part of you felt almost guilty for leaving them alone in the way you had. Only a little bit. Mostly you were grateful for a break. Not to be misunderstood, you loved your sister to no end. However, filling the shoes of a parent was quite the difficult task, one that you hadn't been quite prepared for. 

You realized that you were still sitting in a stationary car in the parking lot with no idea where to go or what to do. Anything outdoors wouldn't do because of the weather. It was't too bad, but the gray clouds and dark skies threatened to open up in a downpour any minute now. You could run some errands, but you didn't have a shopping list with you. Frisk was a calm-tempered girl, but when you forgot to get her the chocolate chip cookies she requested, you saw an entirely different side of her. 

You glanced at the clock on your dashboard to see that it was already 6:32. You had been in this parking lot for more that fifteen minutes now. Was there anything to do in this town?!

You recalled your brief excursion into the underground and wondered if it was perhaps still open to visitors. You figured there was only one way to find out and pulled away from the parking lot you were in. It was going to be a very short ride, but you turned on the radio anyway. You hated the silence.

The ending of another song played from the speakers before a familiar intro reached your ears and you were singing along before you had even realized what song was playing. (A/N: I'm leaving the song up to you guys.) You tried to match the vocals of the singer, but you couldn't quite do so, which resulted in your voice cracking horribly. You laughed at yourself and gave up, singing the rest of a song in a nonsense voice that you normally would never use. The song reached its conclusion and you giggled slightly before stopping as you remembered that there was nobody there to laugh with you. 

The next song came on after a break for commercials. You didn't know this one as well, so you just tapped your fingers against the steering wheel and hummed the few words that you did know. The site with houses under construction came into your view and you pulled the car to a stop near that area. You grabbed your bag and your phone before exiting and walking down the road, pretending that you were entirely certain that your actions weren't illegal or in violation of some code or anything. 

You stood in front of the barrier, recalling what your last voyage underground had done to your life. You walked ahead resolutely, still frantically hoping that this was legal. 

You retraced the steps you had taken to the best of your ability and you were only slightly lost a few times. You managed to make it to the point where you had taken the boat last time and only considered it for a moment. However, the river-thing that was steering it had not moved at all from the spot it was in during your last encounter, and you still did not completely trust it. You walked directly past, following a seemingly designated path. You noticed that many monsters were still residing in the underground. Upon questioning, you learned that they preferred to stay in their homes until their community on the surface was built. 

You soon regretted your decision to walk as your legs grew increasingly tired. The scenery of Waterfall (which you had just entered) was nice, and the soft sound of rushing water was calming, but this path of magically lighting crystals was starting to annoy you. You didn't particularly like the dark in the first place, but having to scramble around to find the next spot to light the path made it all the more trying on your nerves. 

At the moment, the light was dwindling and you rushed forward to attempt to reach the next light in time. You slipped on the wet ground and felt your ankle roll, before you yelped and slammed onto the hard ground beneath you. 

A/N: I decided to start making the chapters just a bit shorter, as it's kind of hard to get the story going when each massive 3,000 word chapter is all focused on one thing. Hopefully you all won't get peeved because of this. Also, there is a chance that shorter chapters will lead me to update more often. Sitting down and knowing that I'm gonna shoot for 1,000 words makes me much more willing to write. Finding the time and an idea for a 3,000 word chapter is just a bit daunting. All in all, I think writing shorter chapters is definitely a change for the better. See y'all soon!