Anon had never been liked by a girl.
His mother acted nice, but he knew that she hated him. Otherwise, she would have bought him those Pokemon cards.
And the girls at school, back when Anon was in high school? They had despised him. They would always whisper to their friends and giggle when he walked by them in the hallways. He could never quite hear what they were saying, but he was sure it was something nasty.
That's just how girls were. They didn't have physical strength, so they had to compensate by learning to cut with words. When the boys got mad at each other, they would fight it out in the courtyard after school, the stronger guy would establish dominance, and the conflict would be over. When the girls got mad at each other, though, they would engage in extremely sophisticated reputation destruction, sometimes for years on end.
Women truly were horrible creatures. They had no compassion.
And even if they did have compassion, there was no way that they could have liked Anon anyways. He was a loser—always had been, always would be—and no one with an ounce of sense would choose to have anything to do with him. The only reason his friends had hung out with him at all was because they were degenerates too—until Aidan decided to actually start pursuing things in life.
In their Junior year of high school, all of Anon's friends had made a pact: they would always be losers, forever, and never forget from whence they came. They would never become one of "them"—one of those snobby guys in a suit who tells everyone that they ought to be more "morally sophisticated".
Aidan had broken this pact, however. He had become one of those guys. "The pact was just a joke," Anon's other friends had said, but to Anon, it was no joke. It was a genuine agreement, not to be broken.
God, Anon hated Aidan. But at the same time, he missed him. A sour ache shot through Anon's heart every time he thought about Aidan, and about D&D. He really didn't know what to do.
Max still responded to his texts from time to time, but he seemed distant, and he was always busy whenever Anon wanted to talk on the phone or hang out. Anon had also never been that close to his other D&D friends, so he didn't have any of their phone numbers. Aside from relatives and "scam likely" callers, Anon's phone had just 3 contacts: Aidan, Max, and his mom.
In other words, no one cared about him.
So why on Earth would Evelynn be visiting him in the hospital?
—
Evelynn walked in, holding a wrapped present about the size of a shoebox.
She was so beautiful that Anon almost had to look away. He felt so unworthy, so much like a worm, in the presence of her celestial light.
"Hey Anon. Never really got to know you, but I hope you get well soon."
Her voice felt like Heaven on his ears.
"Anyways, the reason I'm here is to give you this present. Aidan tried to send it to you, but it was too big to go through the hospital mail. I swing by this part of town every morning before class, so I offered to deliver it for him. He didn't tell me what it is, but I hope you like it."
She handed him the present, then walked out.
"Bye," Anon said awkwardly.
He couldn't believe that Aidan had sent him a present. What could possibly be inside? An invitation back to the D&D group, perhaps?
Now alone in his hospital room, Anon ran his hands along the wrapping paper, shiny and metallic. It smelled weird, like someone had sprayed way too much Febreze into their toilet to try to make it smell less like a toilet.
Anon opened the present.
Inside, in all its glory, was a human shit.
His stomach did a somersault, and he instantly threw up in his mouth.
To be continued...
