Scars Bleed Gold

Keeping The Monotony

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"Fucking hell..." I muttered, hardly awake as my ringtone jolted me to life. I climbed to my feet and snatched it from the shelf, checking the messages. A glance at the time display told me I was late.

where tf r u dude

ur late again and myers is going off

you still owe me lunch

Scrambling around to get dressed, shower-less but not without my headphones and phone, I was nearly out the door. I walked towards it, stopping to pet my dog Nahla, before jogging out to my truck to get to class.

I didn't take any special care to cut time as I made my way to school. Why run the risk of a ticket to cut time when you're already late? Not to mention college campus was only about two miles from my abode. I pulled into the parking lot and parked the car, inserting the headphones to make the walk to class a little less dreary. The moment I entered the professor stopped talking to glare at me. As soon as I took my seat he started talking again, albeit sounding slightly disgruntled. I paused my music and asked the person next to me a question.

"What'd I miss so far?"

The person sat up, apparently woken from a nap. They glared at me before putting their head back onto the desk. They weren't in a good mood so I let them be. I leaned forward and asked the same question to the person in front of me. They ignored me. That's not very helpful either. No one seemed to be interested in catching me up.

With a sigh I turned my music back on and just sat back, watching the lecture while not having the slightest clue what was being taught. An average day. The rest of the lecture felt like it passed rather quickly once my playlist started playing the better songs. I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. Maybe I could get some more sleep.

My eyes closed for no more than ten seconds before someone punched my arm. I opened my eyes and stared at them, before they motioned to the front of the lecture hall. The professor was looking expectantly at me as I paused my music.

"Curtis?" He asked impatiently.

"Uh yeah, can you repeat that, Mr. Myers?"

"Can you tell me the cause of a nuclear detonation?"

"Uhh... Pearl Harbor?"

Myers glared daggers at me, his permanent frown somehow deepening. "No, Mr. Curtis. Not even close." He shook his head and turned back to the board.

Myers continued on with the lecture as I sank into my seat, very self-conscious at multiple people snickering or laughing at me. I turned my music back on and tried to just drown everything else out. My eyes drifted shut again, with the plan to go back to sleep on my mind before an ad suddenly blared through the headphones. The music app just couldn't go ten minutes without playing seven ads. I pulled my phone out and closed the app to shut off the ad. A minute didn't even pass before I was bored again. With a sigh I pulled it back out and browsed social media.

It seemed like a good idea at first, I could catch up on the latest news, maybe make some new friends, or watch people argue. Unfortunately, nothing really caught my interest, my boredom intensifying as I just scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled...

That really didn't help.

Movement around me brought my attention away from the phone. Everyone was leaving the lecture room and Myers was packing his things. The lecture was over. To be honest there really wasn't even a point in me coming in the first place.

Ideas of how I could spend the rest of my day filled my head. Sitting on the couch doing my best impression of a potato, going for a run with Nahla, or maybe just doing something with Gannyn like the good ol' days. My mind blanked as I noticed Zoey walking out of the door I was heading towards. I jogged up to her side and started a conversation.

"Hey Zoey!"

"Oh, hey! Nick, right?"

"Yeah, that's me! Look I was wondering if you wanted to grab lunch together?"

"Like a date? You're asking me out?" Her expression became skeptical.

"Well, I... Not really a- okay, yeah, I'll be honest, a date."

"I'm sorry Nick, you seem nice and all but... Um..." She quickly walked off without finishing her sentence, leaving me in the dust. Someone walked next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Not gonna lie to you, it was kinda sad watching you get shot down like that."

"Fuck off, Gannyn." I said as I walked to my car. "Lunch. Where to?"

"Forget about that for a minute. What'd you do without your only friend?" He said with a grin as he got in the passenger side of my truck.

"You aren't my only friend!" I said defensively.

"Really? Name some of your other friends."

"Bill, Francis, and Louis."

"Bill hardly knows you, Francis talks shit about you behind your back, and Louis doesn't like you." Gannyn said as he put his feet up on my dashboard.

I sighed as I pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards my house, driving past some people leaving campus to get food.

"So, what's on the menu today?" Gannyn finally said after a few moments of silence.

"Whatever is in my fridge that is edible."

"Sounds delicious." He joked as I pulled into my driveway and got out. He slammed his door after me as I pulled my keys out.

"Remind me again why you can't just drive yourself? You have your own car, so why am I your damn chauffeur?"

"One, carpooling is good for the environment, two, buying that car took a chunk out of my duffel bag, three, I wanted to see Nahla." He said as he walked in the front door, getting jumped on by Nahla herself. "Speak of the devil." He chuckled.

"Down girl!" I said as I wrangled her off of him, before being smothered in kisses from her. That dog's breath stunk.

"Ugh. Nasty." I muttered as I plopped the big dog on the couch, before heading into the kitchen and making two bowls of ramen. I set one bowl down in front of Gannyn and gave him a fork, before grabbing one for myself and digging in. Sitting down across from him with my phone in my hand I browsed as I ate. I clicked on a post, or tried to, but the app assumed I clicked on an ad above the post, taking me to the app-store.

I grumbled in annoyance, clicking on the back button, getting sent to the app store home page. A few apps appeared front and center. Some popular ones, some more obscure ones, but one caught my eye. The image for the app was a simple black square, with the name of the app under:

Mal0 ver.1.0.0.

I clicked on the app and read the description, while slurping on noodles.

Mal0 is an exciting and interactive experience that will keep you engaged and intrigued. The anxiety of social situations can be nerve-racking, but after just a few hours of Mal0 you will soon forget all about those painful emotions of disappointment. Be part of the new craze that is quickly becoming the next social substitute. You'll never feel alone again.

It could be interesting, it sounded like some kind of social media app. You can talk to other people, make some friends? I'll give it a try. I clicked the button and watched the progress bar go up as I ate my ramen.

Downloading...