Sitting up with an exhausted groan, he leaned over to roughly shut off his alarm. He stretched a bit, sighing as he felt a muscle pop, and fell back against his pillows. Attempting to rub the blurriness out of his eyes, he stared up at the plain, white ceiling above him blankly. It was finally Saturday which meant— thank the stars above— he wouldn’t have to show up to his boring job. He'd been working in finances for the company ever since he graduated college some years ago, but it had never truly felt like a career. 

It felt like a boring, back-damaging, nine-to-five job that he so kindly volunteered to do just so he could earn enough to live on. And earn enough money to live on, he did. Making around sixty thousand dollars annually, he earned just as much as the average American household all by his lonesome, even. After all the years he'd spent as a teen calling bullshit on every celebrity raking in cash in the seven figures and their seemingly humble words, he finally realized they'd been right.

Money really didn't buy happiness. 

Speaking of his teenaged past self, that Chris would probably glare at his looming future in disgust. Life really hadn't turned out the way he'd planned. As a teen, he'd always thought he'd end up with a super exciting job as maybe an influencer, or dancer, or a racer or literally anything else. Anything that wasn't some white-collar office job, but luck had never really been his greatest savior. 

Instead, against his wishes, all he'd gotten was a crazy amount of student loans— his father had stopped supporting him due to the aforementioned wild behavior—  and many years of wondering where exactly he was going in life. 

Sometimes, he missed his youthful years. He missed the parties, the drinking, the rule-breaking, and his countless flings. He missed the reckless fun he used to have and how untouchable he felt with his former best friend. He occasionally fantasized about returning to that past life, but then he'd remember he was a grown man with adult responsibilities and then that beginning spark of a flame was well and truly smoldered, amounting to nothing.

Honestly, it was probably for the best.

Not allowing himself even one more depressing thought, he slowly got up to take a quick, cold shower if only to wake him up more. Once finished, he brushed his teeth and shaved his face until it was clean and smooth, the strong, minty scent of the aftershave heightening his senses.

Breakfast didn't come easy. The refrigerator and cabinets were mostly empty and a lot of the things he did have were stale and well passed expired. By the time he finished junking everything that was no longer safely consumable, he realized he had no choice but to either go shopping or starve. While starving to death did sound quite appealing at that moment, he decided to go with the former option.

He had nothing better to do, anyway.

The ride to the store was the normal; Chris contemplating running over a few jaywalking pedestrians, trying to race red lights but failing every time, and waiting for minutes on end in frustration for the lights to turn green again. Same old.

Chris turned into the parking lot of the store. It was packed, but that was to be expected. It was the weekend, after all. He cursed under his breath and flipped a guy off when he stole his parking space. He knew he was only being cranky and a small part in the back of his mind hoped he wouldn't come across the same guy while shopping. 

Upon entering the store, he grabbed a shopping cart and searched through the aisles for the countless items he knew he would need. He paused, digging in his pocket for his phone when he felt it vibrate against his thigh. 

[Crank ass]: Hey, Chris! Think you can come into work today? Linda unexpectedly took off due to a family emergency and we're low on helping hands.

Chris stared down at his phone for a few moments, rereading it a few times as if expecting the words in the text to suddenly change. He put his phone back in his pocket, choosing to not reply because if he did, he was sure it wouldn’t exactly be kind and, as much as his boss constantly pissed him off, the guy didn't deserve it. Not at that moment, anyway. Chris was sure he'd regret his restraint the upcoming Monday when had to deal with the humanoid version of a kabob that was his boss on even the best of days, the man constantly prancing around with what had to be a gigantic stick up his ass. 

After paying for the bags of groceries and placing them in the trunk of his car, he drove back to his apartment. Once he arrived, he started to put everything in its respectful place. He thought about the other things he could do to pass the time. Chris didn't want to just sit around at home all day alone. If that were the case, he might as well go to work. At least then he'd be doing something productive and earning money while at it. 

Ultimately, Chris decided to pay a visit to the park. Sure, he wasn’t a child anymore, but that small detail didn't make a bit of a difference to him. The park had always been a soothing place for Chris; a place where he could think. 

When he was younger, his mother used to take him to the park every other weekend. They'd invite over friends and he'd play kickball at the baseball diamond while the adults barbequed and gossiped. Those times, when he'd been around seven or eight, were the height of his most fond memories. At that time, he hadn't known how horrible the world truly was.

Not to mention, his early years were graced with far more quality time with his parents than the many years that followed. To the present day, Chris still didn't communicate with his parents as much as he probably should have.

Nonetheless, he needed to find some peace of mind, and he figured that leaning up against a park bench with music flowing gently throughout his ears would be exactly what he needed to calm his frayed nerves.

The walk there was relatively short. He ran a hand through his tousled, black hair, sighing as he felt the sun’s hot rays beam down on him. It was scorching hot in the area in which he lived, and summertime was terrible. He preferred the cold, hence winter being his favorite season, and he was counting down the days in his head until it rolled around again because the heat was practically unbearable.

He glanced up at the sky, wondering, with how cloudy and windy it was, how the temperature could possibly still be so high. He gave a startled grunt at the back of his throat when he suddenly bumped into something. He turned his attention away from the clouds and to said something that happened to be a someone in front of him. He felt his heart flutter in his chest as the weirdest feeling he'd ever experienced overcame him.