Misery begets Hope

Introduction: Lucious

The sun didn't have to worry about waking up yet another lost cause because this one never sleeps.

Lucious's night knows nothing about resting. It's him in his loose shorts and a baggy T shirt with his barely functioning earphones.

He doesn't even know the genre of the music that he listens to so loudly. In fact, he doesn't listen to it. He just puts on some loud noise to cancel out the constant deafening buzz of loneliness that he's vulnerable to.

Lucious doesn't want some flesh to touch,
He doesn't wish for nothing much,
He just wants some fresh breath,
To rescue him from this undying death.

He ate whatever crumbs were left by the neighbour's sneaky cat. He consumes them as if they are infested with second handed love left by the cat. But no matter how much agressively he licked this stinky plate, all he could taste is tasteless glass and sour despair.

Lucious's bed borders a window that looks unto the whole city,
He stares at the city that never showed him any pity.

As soon as the sun goes down, his phone's volume goes up.
During the day, the cars and the machinery blocks the buzz, and
During the night, angry music does the job.

Lucious often tries to strangle himself with his baggy T shirt. But whenever he's close to finishing himself, the city's LED and Neon lights peer through the window and convinces him to stop.

The lights that never sleep like him give him hope.

He lies down on his stomach to supress it's ugly cries to stare at those lights. He stays like this with loud music blasting in his ears until the sun comes up and the lights go off.

He stops the music as the neighbour's alarm goes off. He gets up but refuses to look around this empty apartment and makes his way towards the sink while making eye contact with the floor.

He nonchalantly brushes his teeth while carefully evesdropping on his neighbours.

The walls aren't thin here, but his ears can pick up anything that resembles a home.

He brushes his teeth as long as the neighbours take to get ready to head out to live their lives.

He spits some blood as he hurt his gums again by brushing them too hard.

He washes his face quickly and goes to the kitchen even though he knows that the fridge is empty and probably has some rotting bread.

He drinks only stored cold water because it reminds him that he's still alive as the liquid takes away the empty warmth inside his intestines.

Appearance is very important to him so he puts on some decent blue trousers and an attractive white shirt. He doesn't comb his curly hair much but he over powders his face to temporarily hide the voids on his cheeks.

He grabs his college bag and goes down a dozen stairs to begin his perfect act to veil his imperfect life.

He takes a deep breath before opening the door to head out.