Chapter 0
Last Day
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"Damned router!" I had half a mind to kick the thing or maybe even rip off the antenna— but that would have just made it worse, and I didn't even know if it was malfunctioning.
I'd of called an electrician had even my phone's data worked- it wasn't, I couldn't even load a youtube tab with it,
"Well the air conditioning is working. So is the microwave. God damn it." I gently placed the router back onto its perch in the corner of the apartment room. Time to ask around, see if the neighbours were having the same problem. The benefits of an apartment; the very, very few benefits. I usually wouldn't talk to anybody other than the person in room Six-Fourteen mine being Six-thirteen.
Of course being six storeys up I could hear the unusually loud crowd below, a result of what I expect to be a city wide wifi outage. Whether they were protesting or simply enjoying the outdoors- or hell, maybe there was some festival or rally nobody told him about. He hadn't gotten anything about his parents, though they said they'd be in the eastern part of the city by La Fine, a great Italian restaurant I remember going to before. When was it though? If I'm twenty now, then it would've been thirteen years. Thirteen years and I can still remember that place– must have served some good food if my mind could still remember it.
I hurried back into my apartment from idly thinking outside. I still can't believe I forgot I was having a meet up today. The first opportunity to meet my parents in the last few months- can't believe I forgot. I'm a fool.
We agreed to meet at half four, about an hour- no, forty minutes from now. I had to hurriedly change into my last set of proper enough clothes in less than twenty minutes.
Quickly dragging things out of two drawers of clothes separated simply as 'tops' and 'pants', and above both of them was where I kept most of my old or private stuff, broken phone here an old DvD disk there, most of the usual old junk not worth the effort to throw out.
I decided on a plain white t-shirt and black shorts to put up with the August heat wave, over thirty celsius! Though I heard over in the U.K it reached forty– maybe the world was coming to an end? Ha! Maybe when in twenty years when I had lived out the rest of my able life to forty
I took the stairs instead of the elevator– always had a phobia of moving up and down in mechanical stuff, even things like roller coasters and escalators were forbidden to me, even if sometimes I wished they weren't so I didn't need to walk down over 600 steps every time I needed to get in and out. It was good exercise at least.
The roads were filled with cars, trucks, taxi's etcetera, making getting a lift or uber there impossible. I quickly bring out my phone, only thirty minutes left. It's about a half an hour long walk, so I should be able to get there in time. The sky was bright and clear of any clouds, I couldn't get the weather from the TV or my phone, but I'm pretty sure it's not going to start raining.
I made my way through the city, taking small shortcuts and staying far away from shady alleys. The sidewalks were bustling with people too, almost pushing one another onto the road, and most likely would have if there weren't any barriers– though I wasn't the one pushing. That stated, I doubt anybody would willingly push somebody in front of a car or truck, even if it would be incredibly easy to get away with.
La Fine was just around the corner if I remembered correctly it was down the street from the red-pink candy store, though it definitely looked more run down than I remember it, the small sign that popped out must have either fallen off or been removed.
Here it is, La Fine, a traditional Italian restaurant that looks like it was ripped straight out of Rome or Naples.
"I'd like a table for three." I told the girl at the register. I'd already looked around– most of the tables were full, and the pizzas were big, as in family sized. Which would be good, since his parents were coming. Right?
Dah, of course they would.
"There's one in the back of the store, sir. Please use the chairs from the empty table if you need to." She didn't even look back, turning to an elderly couple with a child.
I took an extra chair from an empty table next to my table. Speaking of, the tables were round, and if I had to guess I'd have to put the pizza in the middle.
About five minutes passed. I ended up ordering on what little money I brought with me – about one hundred euro. A menu was brought a minute or two after I asked for one.
"Where the hell are they..?" I pondered. Most likely just stuck in traffic. I'll be sure to save them a few slices of… what did they like again? Sausage and pepperoni, not a personal fav—, actually, I've never tried it, so I'll just shut up and try it..
I ordered it anyway, large size and made sure there were extra sausage slices on it, along with some sauce and spices and the glass of water on top it came up to forty-five euro— and damn it was painful to give away three or so hours of work.
'Where the hell are they?'
The pizza was getting colder by the minute, and the two thirds slowly dwindled down to half. The sausage and pepperoni –or salami. I couldn't tell the specifics– was halfway melted into the cheese, and the grease stains had mostly sunk into the cardboard pizza box.
People were starting to stare at me weirdly after thirty minutes, and the two chairs opposite me were dragged to more populated tables. I had finished off the food, crust and all.
"What's he doing, Mum?" I heard a child say. I didn't have to look to know he was probably talking about me. The mother quickly apologised for whatever reason.
'Have I come too late?' Right, I've just been sitting here with an empty box for ten minutes. I checked my phone's clock. It was five now. I have the message screenshotted, just in case. Let's see here...
Yeah I got stood up by my own parents.
Is that even the right phrase? Whatever.
I put the needed forty five euro onto the closed pizza box. The pizza was good, and can basically be a substitute dinner for tonight. If I'm lucky, maybe breakfast tomorrow too.
The streets really cleared up in an hour, huh? Maybe the internet came back on. There were... still cars and people about, but not as absolutely packed as it was an hour ago. Whatever– I'll ask my parents why they weren't there. Hopefully nothing bad happened. Perhaps I'm just thinking too hard, and- and they just didn't come for their own reasons.
I wish I didn't get out of bed today. If I had stayed I wouldn't of had to climb over a thousand steps to get back to my three room apartment. Well, it's time to 'unwind'.
How would I do that, though? Video games? Well that's mostly a gamble, I might actually get angrier. Maybe I'd use my dumbbell rack– that'd make it twice in one week. Could be a new personal record.
Eventually, I'd settle for lying on my ratty cheap ass bed, pretending to be asleep so I could actually fall asleep. Ah, shit. I've got to go to work tomorrow. I grabbed my phone from beside my bed, flinching at the brightness before lowering it to a more suitable level.
In at eight and out at eight? Fuck me. At least I'll probably have enough to scrape into college come the end of Summer. I put the phone back down onto the matted floor. Oh– I ripped out the charger. Let me just put that back in—
A flood of white filled my apartment, courtesy of the two way window.
Next thing I knew, I was dead.
