Stalk to me

Prologue

Day 710 since the catastrophe unfolded.

Oh, my beloved last friend, how I wish you could be here with me. I wouldn't need to suffer trough these hard times alone. Now all that's left for me to do is preserving my genius for the generations to come by writing these words down, forever making them a part of history. My time has almost run out, I fear. Now I just wish to enjoy these last days before I finally die.

Of boredom. In fact, you are not real - as you'd know, if you were a real living person which you aren't - and I'm painfully aware of that. Despite this I write this note because it's still better than browsing through social media for the fifth time in twenty minutes.

Also this isn't a record of a zombie apocalypse or a gruesome war (I'm glad!) and I'm also not the last person alive on this planet, somewhere far, far away from other habitable places. Wait. Actually, that might be true, i wouldn't have noticed. That also would make for an awesome story arc. A green little creature with big ears, which bears a powerful force, simply referred to as The Force that it uses to get starships outta it's swamp. Yeah, that's a great plot. Wonder why nobody has thought of that before?

Oh, I'll add that to my list of projects I will DEFINITELY finish during quarantine. Quarantine? Here's what really happened in the world, in case you lived under a rock the last two years: It's been 710 days since a virus broke out. It developed into a full fledged pandemic in no time! Now I don't want to hear, read or write it's name ever again but just so you can fully catch up on the latest news I'll give you the name one time.

Covid-19.

Do your own research. Google it, bing it - whatever you fancy, just don't mention it to me ever again.

All conversations and especially small talk only revolve around that topic nowadays. And small talk has sadly become my main form of communication with other people. But almost everyone experiences that lack of social interaction. At least that's how I explain the increase in so called "content" on the internet. Frankly most people put something out there out of pure boredom or to gain attention. In these times where everyone just sits at home with the internet as their only escape, everything can go viral in a few moments. But nothing really lasts longer than one or two weeks. Honestly I'm not mad about it. Cancel culture is thriving and every remotely famous person gets accused of some scandal just so there is anything happening here. Actually I can understand that so many influencers decided to take a break from creating content or they just stopped altogether. Sometimes I still wish for the simplicity of a greatly manufactured YouTube video of my favorite blogger tho.

I even tried to do something productive with my time myself. So I came back to art and was sketching almost every day. You know how it is though, it wasn't long before I was hit by major art block. Now I try to gain back my motivation by drawing mushrooms and funnily enough it seems to be working. Still, I feel burnt out most days...

The thing is living through such an impactful event sounds either like fun or like a dystopian fantasy. But no one tells you about the part where people would kill each other over some toilet paper, an amazon subscription or where some idiots start spreading conspiracy theories about the "world elite trying to enslave humankind through vaccines". I swear this pandemic only made me realize how dumb people are. Lucky me, I don't have to see most of them. Occasionally I do have to go into the outside world tho. Mainly to go grocery shopping. I try to keep it to a few times for two main reasons: I do not want to catch the disease. It may not be that deadly anymore and I am vaccinated but I still could live without feeling sick for at least a week. Secondly because people are dumb and I like to limit my interactions with them. I rather spend my time here at my desk, just thinking about the uselessness of my existence.

Now you might not wonder "hasn't she just finished her fourth semester of university two weeks ago? Wouldn't she have to have at least some form of human contact there?".

I'm glad I made you ask: As you definitely remember yes, there were some pretty nice people I met at Uni and we even did some super fun activities last summer. Such as going to an escape room (super cool!) that was Saw themed (not so cool).

The thing is my last lectures actually weren't taking place solely as an in-person course.

You could choose for the one subject that was not an online meeting to begin with. So either you came to campus once a week or you could stay at home and continue staring at a screen littered with profile pictures instead of faces just like all the other days.

And what can I say? All of my many, many friends (three) chose to stay at home.

Well, I'm not mad at them. If I hadn't felt the urge to socialize at least a tiny bit I probably wouldn't have driven over one hour to campus either.

But I did.

Another advantage it gave me asides from not falling asleep during lectures was that I at least knew when it was Wednesday. A Wednesday I spent mainly with sitting in a bus but anyway. I loved the subject and the professor so it wasn't as bad. If there was anything that could've been improved it'd be that more students could've come that were my type of people. In the breaks I was regularly browsing through social media instead of talking to the others. Like the good Gen-Z I am it also may have happened that I was on my phone during the lecture. But unlike other students I didn't post pictures whilst our professor talked about the dangers of constant comparison on the internet and the threat it posed to our mental health.

So even university didn't bring back the normality I craved. Now I just gave it up and haven't left my apartment. Yes, it's very boring in here. But it's better than seeing the posts of my classmates' vacations.

Okay anyway, I can't concentrate any longer on this piece of paper after spending so much time on the internet getting constantly bombarded by stuff. I guess I could need more food and snacks I can eat instead of cooking a proper meal... to the grocery store!

Until I find you again in a stack of unfinished work!

Take care my beloved friend

- Me

Light brown eyes scanned over the paper, reading the note and examining the doodle of some fish on the backside. It obviously wasn't finished yet but you could make out the concept and even the build of the animal quite well. An impressed hum came over the rather pale lips of the shadowy figure that stood in front of the desk, the paper in it's hand. The person was clothed in dark flowing fabric, so you couldn't really make out their build.

The face of the figure was so pale however, you could make it out pretty well even in the dark room. But even with the help of the light that came trough the window from a dimly lit school playground outside it was hard to say wether the person was a man or a woman. The long, slender fingers on the free hand were also no giveaway as they picked up the ballpoint pen from the desk to inspect it further. It was obviously the same pen that was used to write the note as both the ink and the cap of the pen were of a vivid orange color.

The lips curling back in a slight smile, the person lifted the note and the pen up to their nose, taking in the scent of both. After a few deep breaths the figure opened it's eyes back up and took another quick glance around the room.

Suddenly almost as startled by a noise the figure quickly turned its attention back to the paper and pen in its hands and putting them back onto the desk where they were laying earlier. They person was concentrating, slightly furrowing their dark eyebrows and almost frowning whilst making sure everything was in its place again.

The pen was resting on the border of the paper, looking like it was just left there. The writer must have gotten up hurriedly from the green chair that has been pushed as far under the desk as the back rest allowed.

Turning to its side, the figure took a look at the dark winter sky out of the window. It wasn't that late yet but now in the winter months the darkness fell pretty quickly even over the city. So even though it only was late afternoon it seemed like midnight has already passed. Once again with a slight grin on the lips the figure followed some crows, mere shadows on the school playground, with its gaze before its eyes lit up for a split second, unnaturally glowing in the dark. Then the person simply vanished, leaving nothing behind but an amused whisper traveling through the room.

"You're bored "Me"? Well, I'm sure i can help you get over that."