Wasted Time

The rapid tapping of buttons on a controller, along with the sound of arcade esque game noises filled the room dimly lit only by the light coming off the monitor. Scattered about were various packaged meals: cup ramen, bread loafs, premade lunch boxes, pizza boxes. Other varieties of objects scattered about were clothes, blankets, books, a laptop, and various other electronics.

"Tch." A line figure in the room clicks his tongue. His eyes -which his messy bangs nearly covered- squinted at the blue screen that constantly flashed bright lights as he struggled to regain his advantage. The bags beneath his eyes became even more prominent, as he didn't even dare blink at this moment.

Sadly it was all for naught as the screaming of his character played, leading him to scream equally as loud in frustration.

Giving up on the game he closed the game and went over to his computer to check out forum pages, or anti-social social media as he likes to call them with a tiny amount of self derision. Talked about the latest superpower anime come into his view, but he quickly shuffled past that and went on to low effort posts to see if he could find a mild chuckle after what was a miserable game.

After thirty minutes of browsing, the quality of the posts did not increase, and his enthusiasm slowly decreased. Realizing once again, all he is doing is scrolling for the sake of it, with nothing satisfying him.

It was only thirty minutes after that moment did he finally get off the site; instead opting to type the url for a different website.

When he was tired of that website he switched to a different site, and proceeded to chat online with other people who are similarly switching through sites.

Once he was done with that he started back on the forum.

Once he was left thoroughly unsatisfied with everything that just occurred, he collapses onto the bed, ready to end his day.

An average day, a meaningless day: for the past year this has been his life. Surrounded by junk, with all the time in the world to clean it up. At the same time, there was never any time. These were some of the thoughts that arose in his mind every day.

Looking around the dark room, his face bore a pained expression as he becomes tortured by all the regrets. He closes his eyes to try and block out any incoming thoughts. He slowly lets himself fall into the sea of blankets and memories, finding himself unable to find rest there, yet at the same time unable to find a way back out; it was almost as if there was an alarm going off preventing him from doing so.

Actually, there was an alarm going off, opening his eyes, looking at his phone, his eyes softened in nostalgia, with a hint of regret completely mixed within.

"November 26th was it."

The alarm set off for an old reminder, one set back 3 years in the past. Apparently his loose programming knowledge did not tell him the correct way to set a reminder, because it went of 3 years after the date he intended to set it.

He still managed to make it, as that thought came to mind, his smile fell.

Throwing himself back into the waters, he continues to seek, trying to find an island of meaning within his life. His body became heavier and heavier, slowly sinking before even seeing the even a speck of earth to find refuge on.

Barely able to open his eyes, his vision was clouded by purple snow. Gradually, it became difficult to even breathe as he was paralyzed by the weight of his own body.

As his eyes become heavier and heavier, a thought surfaces to his mind.

"I really wasted my time, right...?

"Okay mister, you don't have to BM me just because I lost okay?" The voice calls him out of his stupor, causing him to turn his head towards the girl who was previously mashing the buttons on her controller furiously.

"Sorry, I was just spaced out." His apologizes sympathetically in order to appease her.

"So you have the time to be spaced out in the middle of a match, and you still somehow still manage to win." She rolls her eyes and goes back to the character select screen

"I didn't mean it like that."

"You never mean anything." She gives an unfounded insult off the top of her head just for the sake of it.

The boy gives a wry smile and starts up the match. The room being a lot wider than his own, yet at the same time feeling a lot closer.

"This time, I'll do something with the time I'm given. Right Kyrie?"