Is there a better way to spend a rainy afternoon, other than playing video games?

Back then I didn't think there was.

I was firmly convinced about that.

Well, now that I look back, I really was a spoiled boy.

But even for someone as spoiled as me, what happened that day was unforgettable.

Anyway, that's how I was spending time that afternoon. Or wasting time, if I look at it from my perspective right now.

School ended earlier than expected because last classes' teacher didn't show up.

I think she got sick or something like that, but still, as soon as me and the rest of my class heard that she wasn't coming, we simply celebrated. Furiously.

Thinking about it now, it's a bit sad to celebrate teachers' illnesses. But, for the self-centered boy that I was (and by classmates too, I should say), these creatures only existed within the school grounds, and only existed to torment us.

After the last bell, they disappeared completely from my mind, and therefore, from my world. It never came to my mind that they had a life outside of the classroom like, you know, I do. I didn't even imagine that they had feelings and emotions, like any other human being who breathes oxygen and pollution. Yeah, that explained a lot about me at that time.

So ok, just like that, immersed in this ignorance about other people's lives, and lack of interest in any existence other that mine, I was playing for long hours in my console.

Until, without prior notice, the ringing of the bell interrupted me.

Now, the bell is that prior notice, that someone's at the door and wants to speak to me, but for some reason I thought there should've been a prior notice to the prior notice. Well, of course I thought that...

I wondered who could it be.

At this time... It couldn't be my parents. They only get home much later.

On top of that, they have the key. Obviously.

Was it food delivery? I glanced at the remains of fast food on the floor... No, it couldn't be. I already ordered food before.

Could it be... Anyway, instead of trying to guess, it's better to go look myself.

But, because I've been sitting for such a long time, I could barely get up.

I think I need physiotherapy for my legs. And my back. And while I'm at it, for my entire existence too.

I headed to the hall at a slow pace, basically dragging my body, hoping that whoever was there would leave before I got there.

Finally I got to the door, and peeked through the peephole. On the other side, someone was still there.