Until late 2021,
Clayton lived in his parents' basement.
Of course,
the millions of people who idolized him online
would never have guessed.
Nah, that famous YouTuber
(what was his name again? Dream?)
must live in a huge, perfect mansion.
Not yet.
...
Back then,
the basement was everything.
Why would I move?
My parents and my sister are here.
He coughed.
...
His other two siblings had already gone off to college.
Soon, he would be the only one left.
Well, everyone had thought,
with four kids
was it really a surprise that there was
one rotten egg?
At least his parents didn't complain.
...
So,
the basement.
The ceiling was low.
The carpet was light gray
and had a bit of gradient, like a chalkboard.
Two short windows at the top of a roughly painted gray wall
let in white beams of warmth for half the day.
And a door,
which looked like it was cut right out of a tree trunk,
led to the bathroom.
The bathroom had a bathtub.
Remember that.
...
The yellow grid of glowing circles on the ceiling
buzzed and sometimes flickered.
The basement was always a little bit colder than the rest of the house.
He liked it.
It was the only place that was truly... his
on the whole earth.
...
Back when Clayton finished high school,
he had carried a few boxes down the basement steps.
That night, he went to sleep on his newly built black couch,
which may not have been as soft as a bed,
but was good enough for the next three years.
That night, he set up his monitor and keyboard.
He placed a box of sparkling water next to a tiny trash bin in the corner.
...
Nobody would ever have guessed.
But reality doesn't care about guesses.
And later,
this little place would be where Clayton would think
and he would dream and he would
live.
But back in 2019, he was just passing through existence,
day after day after day.