Snowdin has started to feel less like a place to hide and more like a place to live. It's still hard—every day is a struggle to stay unnoticed, to keep moving without drawing attention. My brother and I have learned to blend in with the quiet corners of the town, but survival here hasn't been easy.
One day, while wandering the streets, I saw a building with a sign that read Grillby's. I didn't know what it was at first, but I watched through the frosted windows. Monsters sat inside, eating, drinking, talking with friends. It looked warm, lively—a place I didn't belong.
I never went in. I couldn't. Too many eyes, too many questions. Besides, I didn't have any money. For us, survival meant staying unseen and scavenging for food where we could.
It was during one of those scavenging nights that everything changed. I was digging through a trashcan behind some buildings when a flame monster noticed me. A young flame monster. I froze. My first instinct was to run, to disappear into the shadows, but instead of shouting or chasing me, he offered me food. Food for both me and my brother.
His name, I learned, was Grillby. The same as the restaurant. At first, I thought he might own the place, but he looked far too young for that. I didn't get to ask because, before I could say much else, I heard an adult's voice nearby. Panic shot through me, and I ran.
The next day, Grillby found me again. I thought he was going to lecture me or worse, but instead, he offered me something I never expected—a job. He said his family owned the restaurant, and they needed someone to help out. Serving plates, cleaning the counters, that kind of thing. He didn't make it sound like much, but it was more than I had ever been given before.
I accepted.
The work wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Grillby's father, the real owner of the restaurant, didn't say much, but he paid me for my work. Paid me enough to get by. Enough to feed both my brother and myself without having to dig through trashcans anymore.
For the first time in a long while, I felt something close to stability. It wasn't much, but it was a start. Maybe Snowdin could really be a place where we could build something. Maybe, just maybe, we wouldn't have to keep running anymore.