Effervescent

"Kalau hidup ni air gas, we're just tryna fizz before we flatline."

Zaman tu,
Kita bukan nak jadi hero.
Kita just nak survive without losing ourselves dalam dunia yang makin hari makin noisy.
We were the noise. The glitch.
The static kat radio bapak kau yang kau sengaja tak betulkan.

Ini bukan cerita budak straight A's yang tahu hala tuju.
Ni cerita budak yang lukis nama band kat meja kelas,
yang gelak membabi buta bila cikgu marah,
yang call member pukul 2 pagi just to say,
"Bro... kau rasa kita ni real ke?"

We grew up pretending we weren't hurting.
Cakap sakai, buat lawak bodoh,
tapi deep down semua orang ada one question dalam kepala,
"Is this it?"

Kat luar nampak macam tak kisah.
Sarcastic. Lawak bodoh.
Tapi dalam kepala semua tengah nak meletup.
We're all just soda cans shaken too long.
Waiting for that one buka penutup - then boom!

This book is about that fizz.
The chaos before kau jadi flat.
About how we found magic in mamak tables, found therapy in bus stop talks,
and how even the sengal-est among us felt too much.

There's no villain here.
No superhero nak datang selamatkan kau.
Cuma manusia.
Manusia yang tengah belajar cara nak hidup bila dunia suruh kau diam.

Kau nak love story? Ada.
Tapi cinta kita bukan peluk bawah hujan.
Cinta kita, tolong simpan lighter aku bila mak aku rampas.
Bagi aku earphone kiri bila dunia tengah pekak.

Kau nak happy ending?
Tak janji.
Tapi aku janji satu -
This book will sound like your friends.
Feel like your thoughts.
And hurt just like your memories.