life

"Life has become so boring, ever since I reached my 20s I have been looking more and more lifeless. Eating, watching anime and tactok is all I do lately. I dropped out of college to pursue my so-called dream but failed miserably. Why is life so hard? Is this how people have been living or am I just unfortunate? Whatever, at least I have a roof over my head right?"

"Jony!!, come down here!" 

"Coming mom!.....Dammit,  her tone just now, I have a bad feeling I will get chewed out again." Jony walks out of his room and goes to the kitchen where his mom is sitting waiting for him. "I am here mom." 

She looks at him for a few seconds before staring at the dirty dishes. "Why is everything in the kitchen dirty? Did you not see them?" Jony knows that if he answers she will get very angry so he just remains quiet. 

"Answer me, why did you not do the dishes? Or are you waiting for me to do them?" She looks at his body and looks back at his face. "Do you realise you are throwing your life away? Look at your body, you are overweight because all you do is eat and stay at home. Is that really how you want to live your life?" 

Jony looks at her and looks outside not knowing how to answer that question. "Why does she always bring that up, i know i am messing up my life, i know that more than anyone but….i am really trying my hardest, is that not enough?" He thinks to himself while still staring outside. 

"Sigh, when you dropped out of college and decided to pursue online work i didn't mind because you are smart, top of your region in almost everything, i was sure you would make it if you really tried but never would i have imagined my son would become a lazy person like this. How long do you plan to stay here? Don't you want to buy your own house and live happily with someone you love?" She stares at him waiting for his reply. 

"Not really." He nervously replies, refusing to look at his mom.

She looks at him with a disappointed expression on her face. She stands up and starts walking out of the kitchen. "It's your life, I tried my best to help you but you keep refusing, if you wish to ruin your life then go ahead, just to come running back to me. Oh and clean the kitchen please, it's a mess." She walks into her room and closes the door behind her. 

Jony looks over at the dishes and sighs before walking over and starts cleaning them. "Dammit dammit dammit!!!" He screams inside while tightly gripping the sponge. "I know she is right, she has a harsh way of saying things but i know she cares but what can i possibly do at this stage. Our country is limited when it comes to jobs, there are people who finished college and haven't found any work yet. Online work is my online hope."

While lost in thought his cousin shows up and starts helping him with the dishes. He looks over and sees her leaning on him with a smile on her face. "Heh, look at you. Did you come to help me out?" A smile appears on his face as he pats her on the head. 

"Yeah, you are always being overworked, I feel bad everytime so I decided to help you out." 

".... thanks Anna, out of everyone in our house you are by far my favorite. You don't have to help me, I can do everything on my own, there are not that many dishes anyways." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yeah, go and watch tv, don't worry about me." 

"Ok." She hugs him and runs off to watch tv. 

He looks at her running and looks back at the dishes with a smile on his face. "She always brings me happiness. I need to try even harder to make sure she has a bright future."

He finishes his chores and goes back to his room to continue making content for social media. The day goes on and night time arrives. The whole family is sitting in the living room watching the news, all except Jony. He is in his room watching tactok, he believes the information on television is fake and they are just manipulating what people see and hear. 

He goes out of his room to pee but as soon as his mom sees him she calls him over. He heads over with a neutral expression on his face but he is screaming on the inside. 

"I want soda, can you go buy some for me at the station?" She starts looking for money in her purse.

"Huh? At this hour? There are thieves out there, always waiting to jump someone." 

"Yeah but you are fast and you know how to fight too so you will be fine." She hands the money over to him.

"Dammit." he thinks to himself while taking the money. He stares at her before going back to his room and taking a jacket.  He goes out into the night with his headphones on. He takes his usual path which he considers to be the safest but not tonight. He sees figures standing in a tree from a far and instantly know they are thieves. He stops and starts walking back and that's when they started chasing him.

  They catch up to him because of his overweight body. He leans on his knees trying to catch his breath while the thieves laugh at him while surrounding him. "I told her it was not safe out here but noooo…." One of the thieves charges at him but he dodges and trips him. They all run at him and start punching him over and over but he endures all of the hits and counter attacks by punching them all one by one until only he is left standing. He sits down while aggressively trying to breathe. 

"Phew, can't believe I struggled to beat 5 punks. I really am becoming rusty, I should start working out starting tomorrow." He gets up and continues to the service station. After 30 minutes of walking he arrives at the station and buys the soda and some snacks for himself.  He exists and his phone starts ringing. He looks at it and sees that it's his mom calling. 

"Hell-" Before he can finish his word he hears people shouting at him. 

"WATCH OUT!!!!" They all shout at him while looking above him. 

Confused Jony looks up and sees a steel bar flying towards him.

"Huh-" The steel bar completely crushes his head, killing him instantly. 

"Hello…Jony, are you there? Hellooo..." Jony's mom tries over and over but no reply was ever made.