Prelude of Humanity

Chapter 1

Deviate by a degree, and it's way different miles away.

"Let's face it, lies are what makes the world go round!"

"You think? I mean an average human can't immediately figure out if knowledge is such a lie."

"Mhmm, but if you lie about a lie, doesn't it turn inside out to not make a lie?"

That was our run-of-the-mill video call with my acquaintance, Ala-chan. We usually have sentimental talks very early in the morning, 'tis out of the question if we stayed up late or we just plain woke up early for the sake of doing it. Well actually, we would always stay up late for stuff like this.

All of our talks range from non-sense, theory-making, to talking about our sorrows.

"Hey uh Ala, it's 4 o'clock a.m. already, I'll be resting up now."

"Oh y-yeah I see, I get'ya when you're tired..." Ala-chan added with a chuckle, "Heh, so uh good night, or morning I guess?"

"Good night, thanks for today."

I ended the call, closed the laptop and unplugged my laptop (well it's always plugged in, but the battery might hurt—that happened on my old one, so I unplugged it before I went to sleep) and rushed to bed. The early morning is cold and breezy with early birds chirping in the distance, reminding me to really sleep because there's class later.

But for some reason, I can't sleep.

Well I'm not an insomniac, it's just that I have a lot in mind in bed at this moment. It's like how people complain online nowadays that once you're in bed ready to sleep, it's an ironic time to think about lots what'll happen tomorrow. For pete's sake, it's time to rest up, why think about it now?

Maybe it's just us being too overly-conscious about our image for the next day, who knows maybe I'll become a bully later in school, then be a good samaritan the day after tomorrow, then give out my answers the day after that... That's just how basic—or rather complex—our inconsistencies are.

Just like me, you know what I'll head to sleep.

Remembering when I slept, it was actually 4:30 in the morning, and now having woken up at 6:00 to prepare for class, I got up from my futon (without having to fold and keep it back at my closet because it's tiring) and do all the usual things what an average student would do: take a bath, wear my uniform, and cook my breakfast.

Yes, I do cook, well at the very basic sense, it's just a matter of the power of the rice cooker, eggs, and frozen hotdogs that I'll need to heat up.

When you talk about my apartment room, it isn't all that dandy if you would ask me. It's a 6 by 5 meter single room apartment. One corner of it right now where I am is the kitchen, surrounded by some kitchen counters, an aging but functional stove, and some slightly yellowed cute fridge with letter magnets the former renter had apparently left. Another corner adjacent to the kitchen is a good ol' table with my laptop on top, with two chairs. The opposite corner of the room that of the kitchen is my closet and the spot where I have left my futon, with the center of the room a nice and wide full-height window that's facing the door. In short, it's a really simple room of mine, nothing fancy I would say. I believe in the saying of my Communications teacher, "Less is more."

My breakfast isn't anything fancy either, rice with fried slices of luncheon meat, if anything, I'll never get fed up eating this meal.

I left my dish and cup on the sink, left water on it so that it'll be easy to wash later on. "Later on", that meant I was already rushing off to the university as I hurriedly left my apartment.