Kenny Jacobs was bored.
Everyday felt the same to him, and his apathy was almost infectious, like a viscous liquid drowning all of his joy and life down to the Mariana Trench. Although his boredom, thankfully, didn't affect his family life. Even throughout all of his years of life, he can confidently say his family was one of the things that kept him grounded. No matter how bored he gets, he could never view his mother or father with anything short of overwhelming love.
Yet his boredom persisted.
His boredom gnawed at him, infecting his school and personal life. He barely tried in class and never made the effort to talk to anybody; as far as the world was concerned, Kenny Jacobs was effectively invisible.
It's not like he didn't look good. Kenny, at 13, was a handsome brown-skinned man, being about 5'5 with black hair and royal blue eyes.
But there was one hope, one antidote for his madness, one cure for this torment inflicted upon him.
ANIME
As soon as Kenny was introduced to anime at 13, his boredom was finally gone. The world gained color, the food he ate was better, his grades were improving, he socialized and met best friends that he never would've made before, and for the first time in a long while. Kenny was happy. Eventually he stopped watching anime and went out into the world himself.
But could that truly last?
Things were fine for a few years, even leading up to his seventeenth birthday. Kenny became a local "hero." Even he didn't expect it, but overtime he found himself relentlessly trying to help people and see them smile because of him. He didn't know if it was some sense of ego or some kind of martyr complex, but either way he was a "hero." Need help with something? Just call Kenny! And Kenny would gladly do it since he didn't really have any hobbies; he loved challenging himself and learning as much as he could. Hell Kenny's life improved on his own too. He got a job, started working out, and became at the top of his classes. For all intents and purposes, at only 17 years old, Kenny was on the fast track for the easy life.
But life is never "easy," isn't it? Aubrey Jallew had severe depression that he never knew about, and he walked in on her hanging corpse. She was the one who had gotten him through some of the worst of his boredom at times and was generally his protector considering his introverted personality. Carl was a generally great guy; he helped him with his homework a bunch and binged his anime with him. Kenny considered Carl his "heart," so to speak. But no good deed goes unrewarded, as Carl had been arrested on false charges of sexual assault. The charges were obviously fake, but the girl whom he had "assaulted" had very rich parents and bribed the judge and jury, leaving Carl with 25 years in prison. Why did she do this, you ask? Well, it's simple.
She got rejected.
And for the absolute cherry on top of everything he had been through in less than 12 months, both of his parents died in a car accident. A drunk driver had slammed into them at 70 miles per hour (112 kmph). Funny thing is, the bodies were so mangled they had to have a closed casket funeral. The even funnier part about this too was the fact that it was the day before his 14th birthday. The drunk driver was charged with the death penalty for his crimes, yet Kenny felt hollow inside. The funeral took place a few weeks later, but Kenny could barely notice what was happening; it was like it was all a bad dream to him. Barely anyone from his mother or father's side showed up, leaving him sitting almost by himself. At the end of the service, he sat in that chair for hours just crying into his hands.
He walked like a ghoul back to his apartment; his eyes were hollow and dulled out, his skin looked as if it were decaying, and his eyes and suit were stained with tears as he shambled his way back to his (now deceased parents') apartment and mindlessly went to his parents' empty room and laid on their bed.
He had felt boredom before, no doubt about it, but this wasn't boredom; he truly felt nothing. He lay in bed, recounting all of the events before the demise of his parents, his friend's suicide, his incarcerated best buddy, and he only had a single thought. 'Why not me? If I could, I would kill myself 1000 times, be jailed for 100 years, die 100 times...just.' He rolled over on the bed, and tears streamed down his face. 'Just to see them again.'. After hours of this, Kenny wiped his tears and went to his room. He sat down in his chair in front of his computer and looked up a manga site. and mindlessly started reading.
Kenny was never the same.
The 17-year-old boy grew into a husk of his former self; he only left the house for school, barely cleaned the place, and gained about 30 pounds (about 13 kilograms) in about 9 months. Thankfully his family had everything to him in their will, including the house and all of their assets, though Kenny still went to school to maintain some semblance of the "life" a young man like him was supposed to have. But one day Kenny just snapped.
It was an average Friday afternoon; cars were racing to pick up their children from school, and people were hustling back home from their workplaces, including Kenny. But kenny was standing towards the street with an apathetic expression on his face. And without warning, he jumped into the street as soon as he saw the fastest car he could speed down the highway. He instantly died, his body breaking like a twig and rolling down the highway.
'Finally...' He thought, as a smile formed on his face. 'Mom, Dad, Carl, Aubrey. I'll see you soon.'
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Nothingness. What awaited Kenny after his suicide was the endless void of black; he almost made a comment about it in his mind before an odd voice pierced his eardrums.
"HEWWO, KENNY!!!"