One More Beat

Click click click...

Click click click...

Click click click...

Shoot.

That's the end of that match. I'm out.

Well, I'm hungry now so I best cook myself breakfast. I push a button on my PC with my toe and shut down my computer. Glancing to my right, I notice a certain trophy.

'Exemplary Student Of The Year: Yusei Susumu' it says oh so triumphantly. How arrogant. Yeah, that Yusei isn't me. Or at least, he was me, just not anymore.

As the monitor's screen fades to black, I pull up the blinders and look out the window. Gosh, the sun burns. Maybe living as a recluse for so long turned me into a vampire. I won't say I'll sparkle anytime soon because that's just plain stupid.

Geez, from this height, all these people look like ants. Wish I could stomp on them... When did I start hating people this much? Maybe you could say I merely dislike them but honestly, I don't really know.

My stomach growls, begging me to put some food in it for it to digest. This isn't the first time I forgot to eat.

I stand up from my wheeled chair and leave that clean room I always lock myself in. To be honest, it's just clean because I don't have much clothes or knick-knacks to mess it up. There's only one pair of jeans I ever wear which is actually convenient because I tend to leave money in my pockets and when I need some cash, they're always there.

After leaving that strangely clean room, I turn to face a stove, a counter, a sink and a refrigerator. Or to put it short, the kitchen.

There are only two things magnetized to the fridge. One piece of paper and one photo. Leaving them on the only place I store my food... I wonder if I forget to eat because I'm just forgetful or is it just to avoid looking at these things? I'm such a masochist...

That piece of paper is my diploma. It was just a year ago that I was studying medicine at the college where I met her. It was my first step to achieving my dream of becoming a doctor. Now, I don't even walk by that place. My first step to my dream is now hanging on my fridge, laughing at me mockingly. What a jerk. And yet I allow it to continue doing so.

As for the photo... It's a picture of a couple. The boy has neatly kept black hair and looked rather good despite the slight nerdy vibes. The girl... She's drop dead gorgeous. Silky blonde hair (dyed), a beautiful supermodel face (buttloads of makeup), a cute little nose (plastic surgery?) and a 5/5 figure (also plastic surgery?).

You know that one saying? 'Every rose has its thorns'? Roses don't have thorns. They have prickles. But the saying is true, and I learned it the hard way. I picked a rose and ended up bleeding.

To be honest, I don't want to elaborate anymore on this. I don't even want to remember her name. But that boy in the photo... Poor guy. I wish he found out sooner. If he did, he wouldn't have drowned in depression and locked himself away from the world in his apartment room until his college gave him the boot. Now, the poor idiot leeches off his parents' money and is neither studying nor working. The last conversation he had was a flame war over the internet, and that was months ago.

That smiling guy who has his arms around the shoulders of that pretty girl... That's not me. This lonely idiotic hermit? That's me. Put us next to each other and you'd think that there's no way we're related in the slightest. Well... We are. That smiling idiot was me.

A piece of paper to represent my broken dreams and a single photo to represent my broken heart.

I'm such a masochistic idiot.