Published: 2025-08-04

Monday, 11:00AM, he wakes up, as the day before, and the day before that, he slowly moves his naked body from the bedroom to the bathroom, swishes his little cup of alcohol-free mint mouthwash and then spit it, washes his face and then heads for the kitchen, he opens the refrigerator’s door and takes a bowl of overnight oats, sits in the kitchen table, and eat it right away, no time for savoring, that would get in the way of proper nutrition. After finishing, he takes the bowl to the sink and drags his still naked body from the kitchen to the bedroom, turns on the PC, and starts playing video games, as he did the day before, and the day before that. I. In fact, he has forgotten how long he has been doing this, five years? Eight years? Maybe ten? He doesn’t know, and he doesn’t care, in his little bubble, he has everything he deems necessary: bland food over the table, a leaky roof over his head, and four crumbling walls to keep him warm, what happens in the outside world is of little concern to him, it’s been like that for a long time, and it will probably continue to be for many years to come.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, at 11:00PM, he will wake up, swish his little cup of alcohol-free mint mouthwash, have overnight oats for breakfast, and play video games the entire day, as the day before, and the day before that.

It wasn’t always like that, of course, he too was a functioning member of society, he too had to work from nine to five for an unlivable wage, he too had to pay his taxes, he too dreamed of being indebted to a bank for twenty years so he could own his own cookie cutter house in a middle class neighborhood, he too wanted to have his own kids, a boy named Billy and a girl named Sally, and occasionally take them to Chuck E. Cheese on Sundays, not only for their birthdays! He was like you and me, another cog in the well-oiled machine that is society under capitalism, so what happened?

It was 12 years ago, that day too, he woke up and dragged his naked body to the bathroom, swished his little cup of alcohol-free mouthwash, and had overnight oats for breakfast, but he didn’t stayed home playing video games all day long, as the day before, and the day before that, he put up some clothes, wore his best smile and left for work, he was going to make the best out of the day.

The sun was shining bright, and the gentle autumn breeze felt like a soft caress in the skin, it was the perfect weather for a morning walk, and as the day before, and the day before that, that’s what he did, slowly but firmly put a foot in front of the other and made his way to his office. Except he never made it. Five minutes away from work, he was run over by a pick-up truck; the driver ran away, and to this day, he is still on the loose. That day, he lost both his legs.

THE END.