Learning Purpose [Unus Annus Fanfiction]

Part 9- All Work No Play

(Pic Credit: https://www.zedge.net/wallpaper/528b7d53-ace2-4759-9cd4-20d872e8f5f7)

(Hello. I think I am going to stop putting messages at the top and just put them at the end of the part from now on because I don't know what to say at the top lol. You probably don't care. Anyways, yeet!)

-Ethan

It's been about four days since we discovered Mark can see through lenses. I went to Walmart and bought him some fake glasses so that he could see everywhere he goes, and now he frequently takes walks outside, admiring the view. He tells me that it's like VR; that you can see wind and snow and rain but can't feel or hear any of it.

This week I've gone to school a total of 8 hours, or 1 day. It was yesterday, because my mom found out I had been skipping and she forced me to go to school. Things weren't as awkward as I imagined, but maybe that was because I still ended up skipping half my classes in favor of sitting in a conference room looking up video ideas.

For some reason, I have never been more invested in a project. Maybe it was the fact that this would be my last goodbye to the world, a final memory of me before I succumb to my inevitable fate, whatever it may be.

Or maybe it's the fact that I just find brainstorming and editing and making videos fun. I've found myself so amused in particularly editing and filming the videos, they just seem to grab my full attention. I don't have to think about my failing relationships, or my bad grades, or my slowly approaching death when I'm hard at work. It feels good to have a direction in life for once.

I sit at my desk now, practicing editing a random video I created to help me get better. Mark is off on another of his walks, studying the sunset as if making up for lost time. It makes me feel happy knowing he isn't suffering as much anymore. Every time I talked to him before, I could practically feel his agony and pain in his void. Now he has something to focus on.

I smile as I zoom in on my stupid face, adding in some random block letters for when I stutter. I never really realized how idiotically funny I am. Like, I am comically dumb. Not regular dumb or stupid, but it's funny. Mark tells me I'm a natural in front of a camera, and I can't help but be proud of myself for discovering this strange "talent". Maybe if I wasn't going to die in a year, I could have made this into a career like Mark did. I guess I'll never know now.

I continue editing as the sun starts to set and the dark purples and blues litter the sky.

-Mark

The sky is so beautiful.

The bright colors of the sun reflect off the clouds as it sinks into the horizon, leaving small patches of blues and grays and deep purples that feel warm against the cold. The clouds hold layers as they move along the sky, spreading and morphing with the silent wind. The swaying trees appear black and darker against the beautiful sight, as if trying to fade into the background, to not take too much attention off the remaining sunlight. I smile. Even though I can't feel, hear or smell the crisp air around me, I know that it's there.

I'm infatuated with its existence, not caring how much the sun is supposed to hurt my eyes. I'm dead, not like it would matter anyway.

I remember all the fun times I've had under this very sky, and tears well up in my eyes, glazing them over and creating a glare like a spotlight on something in the distance. I smile and breathe in deeply, pretending I can smell all the scents of autumn and winter colliding in Maine.

I'd never been to Maine, but now I wish I had when I was alive. Maybe I could have gotten the full experience.

As I walk down the sidewalk, observe everything around me, making up for lost time. I almost feel alive again, like I'm taking an evening stroll with Chica. There are an assortment of colorful houses, varying a lot, but at the same time not at all. I feel confused at this, and it must be the two sides of my brain; one thinking that this is normal and disregarding the past 9 days in a solitary void of nothingness, the other side seeing the days as years, and now I am desperately trying to make up for what I missed by overanalyzing. It seems to be a wonderful battle between the two.