colors ↠ h2ovanoss [discontinued]

iii.

(warning: short chapter)

iii. twenty four hour hell

It's quiet, minus the humming of the car as it drove past other cars and the tapping of Evan's fingers on the steering wheel; the car radio was nowhere to be found.

He's driving home by himself, having dropped off Jonathan at his girlfriend's house with a painful smile and a hesitant wave. He could remember it exactly, the moment repeating and repeating until it would be stuck in his brain forever.

The house was a small one-story home but nice nonetheless with large windows and clean front yard. A tree swing hung from the lone tree in the yard and Evan remembered seeing a pretty girl sitting on a chair on the front porch, book in hand.

Jonathan asked him to stop in front of the cement pathway leading to the door, and he did, his friend opening the car door almost immediately and sprinting over to the girl on the porch. He watched with this sort of, sinking feeling stuck in his chest, the pain on loop as he gazed at the couple.

It wasn't because he felt anything for Jonathan - he really only thought of him as a friend - but it was because he felt cold reality creep in; he was rather alone, wasn't he?

Evan sighed, rolling down the car window and honking a goodbye to Jonathan before driving off. He didn't check if he received one in return as he tried to leave as soon as he could.

He's back in the present now, still sitting in the driver's seat in the driveway of his house. It's no longer the moving car that he can hear, but instead a ringing in his ears that made his insides ache.

It was trying to fill in the empty space surrounding him, but it only made it worse.

He sighs, resting his forehead on the steering wheel and feeling the coolness of it seeping into his skin. It's comforting in an odd sort of way, but then the cold turned warm and it didn't feel so nice anymore.

He pulled back, head against his seat and eyes trying to find something to stare at besides the empty seat next to him.

He couldn't.

xxx

Evan suddenly realizes at eight pm, right after dinner, that he's been awake for more than a whole day. Considering that he had videos to record and edit along with basic human needs to fulfill besides sleep apparently, it wasn't good; he had to fix up his sleep schedule for the nth time that month.

A low groan escaped him as he chugged the first can of redbull, cringing at the thought of having to fix his sleep cycle. It wasn't a fun time for him and it always led to some sort of thing that he regretted; it always did.

He crushed the can before tossing it away near the trash can and made a mental note to actually put it into the trash later. He booted up his computer, checking all of his equipment to pass the time as he waited for it to start.

A sudden vibration in his back pocket took Evan by surprise and he furrowed his brows in slight confusion; he was used to being texted all the time, but not after eight as almost everyone knew his schedule.

Jonathan: hey, you okay? you looked kind of sad when i left you so i wanted to check up

Evan: Yeah, no worries, man. I was just sad that I didn't get to hang out with you more, but hey, life.

Jonathan: lol, was that seriously it? let's record a bunch of videos together tomorrow. my girlfriend basically has all of my travel recording stuff set up.

Evan: Sure, let's play at around 2 pm? I have some errands to run before that.

He shut off his phone and slipped it back into his back pocket before facing his computer. Evan sighed at the hours of recording and editing needed until he could fix his sleep schedule; it wasn't going to be pretty.

He shuffles back to the kitchen, taking out a pack of Redbull minus one and bringing it to thr coffee table near his computer; like hell he was going to put liquids near all of his technology when he's half asleep.

He took his seat at his desk and browsed through the games he had; he needed quite a few if he was going to actually do this.

xxx

It's four am and Evan's eyes are half-lidded, barely registering the video that he was watching. He'd given up on games some time ago when he had a hard time reading the instructions, let alone the game, so he had chosen to watch some of his friend's videos.

That's what he was currently doing, watching some video half-asleep.

It wasn't until he heard a loud, maniacal laughter in his ears that he became fully aware again. A groan escaped him and he felt emotions piling up inside himself again.

Luckily for him, he didn't realize that Jonathan never texted him back earlier.