dan
dan stared at his phone, vibrating on the table.
his mum was calling him.
"sorry, mum. not right now." he said to himself, sliding the phone into his pocket and trapping a cigarette in his lips. he grabbed a lighter and walked out of his front door.
the sun was shining. it was a warm day. the sky was cerulean, and dan felt at peace. he smiled at the sky, enjoying the rare feeling of calmness.
he only stopped smiling when he arrived at the music store.
"dan! ay, mate, we've missed you!" josh said.
"hey, josh." dan grinned as they did their familiar handshake, "i've been busy. school, and stuff."
"ah, sure. getting lots of ladies, i'd guess." the man chuckled. "we've got some good new stuff here, check it out."
dan looked around the music shop. this was where he most felt at peace and happy. music meant to him and helped dan way more than any type of therapy.
he shuffled through the cd's, finally seeing a radiohead cd and a fall out boy cd that he had not gotten yet.
"fuck yeah" he muttered under his breath, grabbing them.
as he handed them to josh, the man nodded in approval of his choice.
"that'd be 20 pounds, but i'll charge you just eighteen. i'm feeling nice today." josh winked.
"thanks.." he handed him the money. "don't know if i'd be able to live without music, you know?"
"yeah. same."
they did their handshake once again and dan walked away and out of the shop. the sky was a boring grey now. dan's face fell as soon as he left the shop. he couldn't last a few seconds without feeling down again. or just feeling strange, like something inside him had shifted and was wrong.
he walked home clutching his cd and humming a muse song.
when he arrived at his building, rain was pouring down aggressively. ugh. it was cold again. fucking english weather.
dan lighted a cigarette and felt his insides warm up. at least he had the cigarettes and the drugs. thank god for them.
the rain had made the windows foggy and the air biting cold. the boy pushed himself off his bed, and went to look at
the view. on the window, he drew a sad face.
looking down at the people on his street, he saw multiple situations. a man was being chased by a cop, and he held a bag in his hand. he ended up getting away, and the cop shrugged and went into a coffee shop. a woman was holding her little girl's hand, and the girl was bawling her eyes out. another man was sitting on the pavement breathing into a paper bag. dan stared at him in disbelief. he was probably hyperventilating and stopped to help himself in the middle of a downpour of rain. there was literally a coffee shop behind him he could stay in. maybe he didn't want people to see him hyperventilating, whatever. it didn't matter to him. but that was when dan heard the sound of thunder and rolled his eyes. he'd have to go help the stupid man.
he grabbed a coat and ran downstairs. he lived on the eighth floor and the elevator had never worked ever since he moved in there two years ago, so lucky him. why he was going to help the man he didn't know, he just had a sudden empathy attack.
he ran across the street, his clothes soaked through in seconds.
"hello?" he shouted at the man over the loud sound of rain hitting concrete.
