Have you ever wanted to leave the world behind, and start a new life somewhere else? Haven't we all? In my case it was all I could think of as I sat on the subway train ignoring the scrunched up noses and gagging sounds of nearby passengers.
Life in the big, expensive, and very loud city of New York wasn't as magical as all the movies and tv shows I had watched had made it out to be. When I first came here like everyone, I was in awe of the view, the potential to be something, but now I could only feel a sense of disconnection, that I didn't belong, that if I just disappeared no one would notice.
But hey on the bright side it could be worse, I could be living in New Jersey.
Earlier in the day, I had been walking home from school, school was, as always, boring.
Will I ever use these "skills" ever again?
Nope
Would I even remember them after I walked out the door?
Questionable at best.
Feeling the weight of my textbooks in my backpack I could only grimace. With my constant procrastination those books would take me hours to finish. Pushing open the door to my apartment I walked inside and while being mindful of my laptop in my backpack I placed it next to my desk, next I peeled off my shoes, then collapsed onto my bed.
Turning over so that my back was pressed into my blanket I reached for my pocket, with a few tugs I managed to pull out my phone, after that I started doom scrolling. While I was scrolling I came across a post talking about the new legends za game.
Last month Nintendo released the new Pokemon Legends ZA game, and to me the game looked like a mesh of previous regions crammed into a single city in Kalos. I mean yeah, graphics wise I had seen better looking and performing Xbox 360 games. Glancing over to one of my nearby shelves I could see one of the results of my poor impulse spending, my collection of games.
A wall made out of small plastic blue, red, and green boxes but unfortunately for my wallet, I couldn't resist the idea of Nintendo bringing back the greatest gimmick mega evolution. Looking over to my desk I could see my gaming pc, with a small smile I turned my attention back to my phone.
I didn't notice it, but time quickly passed until suddenly, someone sent me a text, the buzz startled me, and this caused me to drop my phone onto my face.
With a yelp I sat up while holding my forehead. Groaning, with one hand still on my head while the other kept patting my bed trying to blindly find my phone. For several moments all I could feel was my bedsheets. Getting increasingly agitated I finally looked down.
Just a few inches from my hand was my phone, sitting right there, mocking me.
With a frown I finally picked it up and could see who had dared to message me.
From Mark, "hey, Star called off tonight, can you pick up her shift?"
Eye twitching in irritation, my fingers clenched my phone, threatening to break the screen, while I was looking at the screen I looked at the date, November 21st, 2025. Going back to the conversation I started typing my reply , just before I hit send a notification popped up. Deposit successful, plus $800.
For a moment I paused, blinked to make sure I wasn't seeing things, then rapidly deleted the text and replaced the words on screen.
From Hikari, "of course, I'll be right there."
Checking the time mentally guessed how long it would take me to get dressed, then get to work. Once I was done I sent a quick reply back to my manager, then I scooted off my bed and started getting ready.
When I was done, I stood in front of the mirror while adjusting my glasses. Dressed in all black with gold name tag there I was, Hikari Tanaka, standing a solid five feet tall, short black hair that barely reached the bottom of my neck, pale skin, and a face with Asian features. Despite being 20 years old and in college, I had never even had a date before, which on one hand saddened me but on the other made sense, I was the weird kid that definitely spent more time talking to myself and game characters then actual people.
Shaking the thought off I grabbed a small purse, locked the door, then left for work.
Three hours into my shift I found myself contemplating my life's choices, as I found myself debating whether or not to strangle a customer, or one of my coworkers? Honestly I couldn't decide which would be better for my sanity, then again sanity is overrated.
—
Dragging my exhausted body down the street I wanted to barf, in the final hour of my shift when I took out the trash, one of the bags exploded on me. Covered in food stains, I could tell I reeked, the only thing that prevented me from crying was my manager Mark, who gave me a bonus mainly because I threatened to hug him.
Standing on the subway I gripped the handrail, while rotating the 50 dollar bill in my hand. As I did that, with a rumble the train came to a slow stop. Letting go of the handrail the other passengers noticed that this was my stop, and wanting to touch me let me go first.
Walking out people made way for me, kids pointed at me. Even the homeless looking guy in the corner packed up his stuff and moved away from me. For once in my life people noticed me and of course it was for the wrong reasons.
Climbing up the stairs I returned to ground level, the big city came back into view, being familiar with the route I took a small detour from my home. As I turned the corner, the local Gamestop came into view, quickly walking in I dashed towards the red Nintendo section. I wanted to get home and take a long shower as quickly as possible to get rid of this stench, grabbing a copy of legends za, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that even the employee noticed the smell.
Wanting to get me out of the store they quickly processed my payment, and the moment I had my receipt, I raced out the doors and sprinted towards my apartment. But I would never make it to my door as upon going up the stairs I heard a shrill scream, spinning around I saw a girl running from what looked like a man in a ghost-face costume.
Before I could react she grabbed me by the shoulders, then threw me down the stairs at her assailant, I screamed the whole way down. Even the ghost face guy chasing her paused for a moment as he looked at me, even he was mentally wondering what the hell was the other girl thinking.
As I felt a pain in my lower back from the impact of being tossed down the stairs, I saw the ghost face guy run past me, then he leaped to the side of the stairs. The last thing I saw before it all went black, coming down the stairs was a piano?