Chapter 1
The Honeymoon's over
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It was a chilly early morning near Crystal beach as a silhouette appeared in the distance.
It was one of a young man taking a walk at the beach while staring at the sun rising on the horizon, smelling the scent of saltwater as seagulls flew overhead. He then slowly sat down on a rock carefully avoiding the wet sand next to it. As he sat down he brought out a notebook from his blue bag, the sound of the zipper disturbs the peace if only for a second.
He then started writing; it was something he did these cold mornings as something troubled him. And yet he seems fine. The scenery of the place was not much inspiration for him as the wind blew against the featureless landscape while waves crash into the rocks near the cliffs.
"Hey Louis!" a voice rang out as another man ran towards him. He replied softly "Hey Raniel" as the man got to him, though he tripped in the wet sand. Raniel looked down on Louis' notebook and sighed.
"Writing about Lauretta again?" He then asked as Louis was starting to get irritated. "Raniel, why must you and the guys keep asking rhetorical questions?" Louis sneered as he looked at Raniel's eyes.
His stare ever so intense and yet lacking a true soul. "Hey I was just asking. What's up with you today?" Raniel answered as Louis put away his notebook, the zipper making a sound so identical to the one which passed several minutes ago.
"Oh nothing's up, just the same thing for the last 6 months! Now like I said yesterday what makes you think that my answer to that question will be different from the one I gave yesterday and every other day for the past months!" Louis passionately shouted as he restrained himself from lunging towards his friend.
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Louis was, well physically he was of moderate build though had a bit of stomach.
He had long hair, long enough that its fringes covered his eyes to the point where it added a bit of mystery to his character.
He wasn't bad looking but he wasn't that handsome either. He liked wearing dark colors such as browns, dark greens and blacks.
What his friends tease him most about physically was his height, his friends averaged 5'7-5'9 he was only 5'4.
As simple and plain his physical description was his character on the other hand is completely and utterly unexplainable.
Louis was a romantic, and quite an odd one at that. His love you could say was out of its time, if it had its time at all. His mind paced faster than himself, he liked thinking of things so many things so many possibilities. He thought about tomorrow to the point where he no longer enjoys today.
Recently he's fallen in love with a girl named Lauretta.
I may also add that Louis uses the term "recently" loosely for he has fallen for her for over a year now.
She's a foreigner whom he met the summer before.
For some odd reason almost none of Louis' friends understood why he was immediately drawn to her in a passionate way.
The "Endless summer" as he called it lasted for 8 months from April to November. In which time he drowned himself in emotion, he became unpredictable though that trait has been with him for as long as anyone could remember.
He longed for her everyday, he felt empty in a sad kind of way everyday which passed that she didn't contact him but at the same time every time she did he still felt empty, as if his heart felt full but he feels something's wrong in his gut. This "Endless Summer" was filled with Louis and Lauretta, Lauretta and Louis both talked only about the other.
Louis felt love for a week but then she went back to her country and Louis' mind was still stuck in that summer.
The two remained in communication for months on end until he heard that fateful day. Someday, maybe around August Louis checked his mail and found out that she has a boyfriend back home named Charles.
Louis didn't weep, he didn't feel suicidal.
There was something about his character; he had a feeling that greater powers were on his side and that as long as he persevered he knew that fate was on his side.
Although everyone saw this straight-up feeling of confidence in him he was in fact concealing the truth that his heart was bleeding. It was as he saw it a war of attrition where he could go on for as long as he can bear the bleeding and as long as he still had blood to be spilt.
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After his one week break Louis had to get back to work, being 25 well he needed to have a job and like many other regular guys out there he's been working a dead-end job for so long that he doesn't even know what he does anymore.
The only thing he knew for sure was that he had to be there by 8am and that he gets to go home at 5:30.
That Monday as usual he got up a bit late, tripped off his bunny slippers and fell face first into this partially eaten pizza in its box on the floor. He gets up, looks around and sees the total mess his flat is.
He drags his feet through the carpet and into the bathroom where, unsurprisingly once he turns on the light he sees dozens of roaches scurry along the floor trying to hide.
He then picks up his razor which mind you had bit of rat hair stuck on the blades and starts shaving. He accidentally cut his face.
He gets into the shower for 3 minutes and then partially dries himself with a towel which still has the tag from the hotel he stole it from. He got it from his friends wedding at the hotel they stayed in.
He puts on his polo shirt (dry cleaned mind you) which is crisp and clean, courtesy of his friend Raniel who owns the Wash n' Dry across the street. He then accidentally steps on the pizza on the floor. But he still gets a slice from it for his breakfast.
He got out of the door of his flat, not forgetting to greet his landlady Miss Lennie Jerimae a good morning. "Where's my rent you lazy bastard!" she yelled out as Louis started jogging to the bus stop.
He took a bite from the pizza and a sip from his styro cupped coffee as he waited for the bus.
It picked him up and he just sat there for 30 minutes until he got to work. Outside his window were images of your typical rundown city.
You had some hobos huddling next to a flaming barrel, cars emitting exhaust smoke among others. He found his life to be quite droll.
When he got there he was 10 minutes late and his boss, Martin Fargo was having a fit. You see this was the 3rd time Louis was late that month but it wasn't easy for him to fire him because they knew each other since 4th grade.
As Louis got into his workstation he sat next to his two college friends Josiah Joseph and Fernando Laluna.
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Josiah was slightly shorter than Louis and he's a bit stout. He met Louis back in college when he accidentally crashed his car on Louis' parked motorcycle which in turn fell on Old man Dan's poodle. It almost died if not for the mailbox which held the bike up a bit. The two gave each other a bad look, especially Louis whose bike needed fixing. The two settled the case with a beer drinking contest. Whoever loses will have to pay for both the bike and the cars paintjob.
Louis won. But at the same time the two enjoyed the contest (and the beer) so mush that they ended up becoming friends in the end.
Fernando on the other hand had a dubious past as his record claims that he was sent to a mental correction facility once and tried to escape several times. The strange thing about it is that every time someone asks him why he went there his reason keeps changing. One week he says he got his hand into someone else's pocket the next he says he killed a man.
Either way he was a kind man, if not a bit crazy.
He met him in an amusement park/circus while Fernando was on a stint there. He had a low paying job cleaning up after the animals. Louis was depressed and had a hangover that day. He talked to Fernando while sitting on the bench and thought that he was charismatic. He then talked to his boss and got him a job answering phones or what not.
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He then sat on his chair inside the 3-man cubicle before Josiah rhetorically asked "So Louis, are you still waiting for that
Email?" Louis then just sighed and he knew the answer.
The guys really didn't like their boss and he didn't like them in return. It's just that Martin has known them since High school and his parents who own the company say it's wrong to just fire them.
Just for a little info Martin is the third generation to own his parents telecommunications company. They used to do telegraph, then telephone and now they're a mobile phone service.
He's a bit arrogant and has a big head, metaphorically though. He was literally fed from a silver spoon since he was little and really never had to do anything. But the one thing people remarked about him was his height. He was 6'9 and everyone called him "The Lamppost"
He and Louis met at 4th grade when they both planned to do a student film together although they didn't have the resources to do so. Upon reaching High school their relationship soured as both were good in their respective fields.
Both liked writing, both were charismatic, both were kinda strange but most importantly both of them think that they should be the centre of everything that went on between their friends. Little by little it deteriorated.
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Later that day the boys were called to the assembly hall for some announcements but as it was almost the end of the working day and most of them were already tired.
In fact the announcements were going to take up extra time and a lot of them were already starting to get unruly. As Martin got on the podium the employees were already starting to jeer at him.
"Attention all employees" he said to get them all quiet.
"This week the results of the labor efficiency tests have arrived and unfortunately due to the competitiveness of the industry I'm afraid I'll have to lay some of you off next week." He continued as the workers were starting to worry.
"Secondly I must also tell you that my younger brother is running for councilman and I'm urging all of you to the polling stations next week."
"And lastly, please welcome some new members to the team. Secretaries Olivia Lynn, Alyssa Lara and Anne Dela Cruz"
As the three new secretaries stood as their names were called the last one, Anne looked very familiar to Louis. He doesn't know it but somehow he thought that he'd seen her before.
So afterwards Louis tried to approach her but then Martin stepped up in front of Anne and started talking to her.
Louis then went away got on the bus stop and rode back home but before he got there he had to stop by Raniel's place to get his clothes. He came in and greeted him.
"Hey mate so are my clothes ready?" Louis asked as Raniel who was expecting him crouched down under the counter to grab the clothes.
"Hey what about we get wasted? I just got my cheque yesterday and I feel like a beer binge." Louis asked as he got the polo from Raniels hands.
"Sure I'm always up for a good drink, especially if it's not from my own pocket." He replied as both laughed their way to the nearest pub.
As they got there they saw that Josiah and Fernando were there and took a seat with them. They ordered some Guinness and soon started chatting.
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Fernando finally gave Louis a letter which he received the day before.
As Louis sniffed it he was sure it was from Lauretta and immediately tore the envelope open. What he read inside shook him.
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Dear Louis,
All these past few months have been really, really uhm… I don't know what to say anymore.
I try to pretend it doesn't bother me much but it really does, I hope you understand.
We live two separate lives now; I don't want to hold you back.
I think it would be best if we just stopped, I'm sorry……
-Lauretta
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Louis then, with a tear in his eye laid a few bills on the table to pay for the guy's drinks and immediately left. As he got out he started walking back home. After a few minutes it started raining so Louis lifted his hood up and quickly ran to the nearest awning.
As the rain started to lift he then ran as fast as he could around the corner, so fast and he suddenly bumped into something and fell over.
When he got up made eye contact he found out that it was Anne and her friends. He then helped her pick up her things and ran back through the rain.
As he came into the flat he turned the light on and laid himself on the sofa and slowly drifted to sleep. That night was the most uncomfortable he has slept for a long time.
For once it's as if he finally felt the sheer magnitude of what he's lost, his time, his money, his effort, those sleepless nights and most importantly his peace of mind.
It haunted him; it's as if all those voices who urged him to stop started taunting him in this, his most vulnerable time.
At around 3am he woke up and got a beer out of the fridge. He opened it and started drinking to drown away his sorrow.
He started to notice that something was missing as he clutched his pockets and found out that his wallet was missing.
He searched his pocket, his jacket, it was nowhere.
"Now where the hell did I put it in!?" Louis said until suddenly there was a knock at the door.
He dragged himself to the door, kinda wondering who could come this late.
He opened the door and saw Anne.
"Is this yours?" she asked as she brought out a wallet from her coat.
"I found it on the ground when we bumped into each other and the Id led me to this address."
Louis then asked "Thanks a lot, would you wanna come in for a cup of coffee?"
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"Sure." She answered…..
A/N: Well that's the first chapter, I hope you guys liked it! By the way I'd like to thank anyone who'll review this, it would mean alot.
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Well I'll update next week
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Diego