A boy lies in his room, wasting away and scrolling on his phone, the dark circles under his eyes a deep rotted gray color. Brushing his long messy hair aside with his hand, the boy reveals a piercing in his left ear. The boy’s clothes are kind of dirty, and his room is completely filthy, with open wrappers and empty bottles lying on the floor. A girl with hair dyed bright orange stands in the doorway, both judging and pitying him, and a knowing look crosses her face.
“Look Alain, you can’t just lie in bed for the rest of your life. I get that you’re still not over.. her.. but this isn’t healthy. You need to go outside, stop drinking this energy drink bullshit when you’re not even doing anything!” No response. “Look, we all miss her. She wasn’t just your girlfriend, but our best friend too. Ned’s at least trying to keep living, instead of,” the girl gestures to the floor littered with trash, “whatever you’re doing.”
Alain sat up. “What would you know about this, Rika? You didn’t love her like I did. Thanks for the advice, but I’ll pass on taking it.” He takes a huge swig of what looks to be a bottle of alcohol, much to Rika’s dismay.
“Alain, where did you get that?!” She storms up to him and snatches the bottle, sniffing the inside. “This shit smells like ass, it can’t be good for you. God, no wonder you’re like this. F**king take care of yourself, man.” Rika dumps the bottle out in a trash can, and Alain lies down again and begins to cry.
Rika panics and tries to console him. “C’mon, Alain. This isn’t helping you. You know that. You won’t find your solution in any bottle or wrapper or box.. C’mon, sit up. Talk to me. I wanna understand.”
Alain sits up and wipes his face with his already dirty sleeve. “I miss her, Rika,” he sobs. “I really, really do. And.. I wasn’t there for her. I was supposed to be her biggest supporter, the person she trusted. I don’t know what to do now. She was my best friend Rika, I loved her so, so much and now she’s.. She’s just gone.” Alain clutches his stomach. “Urgh, I don’t feel so good.”
Rika pats his back. “I know, I wish she told me too. And yeah, alcohol f**ks you up, you should know this. Where’d you even get it? You’re definitely underaged, and you look like a 16 year-old emo kid, so there’s no way that any store would let you buy this.” She holds up the empty bottle. “Also, you’ve been a shut-in for a week now.”
