…It’s raining again…

Anon groaned loudly as his phone started to vibrate, blasting “Princess of the Dawn” by Accept right next to his ear to let him know that it was 7:40 am. The lean, lengthy young man groaned again as he quite literally rolled out of his bed. With a loud flap he landed on the cold floor, letting his bald head rest on it as he groaned a third time. Groaning three times before he even got on his feet? That must have been a new record for him.

He used the flimsy frame of his bed to pull himself on his feet. It was a rainy Sunday, so his plan to walk through and explore some of the city he will be living in for the next 5 months fell apart. Anon sighed as he dragged his feet towards his closet’s drawers, getting out some fresh clothes before aiming for the shower. At least his hygiene had improved over the last 2 months due to his father’s constant nagging and scolding. But who could blame his dad for being pissed when he left his sweaty clothes lying around on the floor for days on end? Anon himself had to admit that it was kind of nasty to not get rid of dirty clothes just because he was lazy

Anon inhaled sharply as the semi-warm water hit his skin, washing away a night’s worth of sweat. He wasn’t gonna get used to the blistering heat of this place anytime soon…but he had to deal with it. At least until he finished his last year of highschool. After that?...Well, anon had to admit that he didn’t really know what he should do after finishing this year of education. Maybe the army, like his dad had proposed?...Or maybe college?...Nah, that was way too much busy work for him. If he were to choose, he would definitely take the military, since that would take care of his feeble stature as well as his mild social anxiety. He would have to share a room with multiple other’s while there after all.

But all of that didn’t matter at the moment. What mattered was that he found a way to kill time. Since his plan to get a better picture of this hellhole had fallen apart before he could even prepare, his only other option was rotting away at his PC. At first Anon grimaced at the fact that he had to waste his time like this, but then that frown turned into a sly grin as he realized that it was pure comedy seeing internet strangers froth at the mouth and lose their shit when he purposefully made them angry. It was his main hobby after all. So why the hell not? He dried himself off and threw on the clothes he had pulled out of his closet earlier

He booted up his PC and spent the next 15 minutes browsing through some internet forums to find some easy prey. Someone on Reddit was arguing with another virgin about some cringy anime. As he typed out his reply, he couldn’t keep that sly grin from returning to his face. Upon pressing enter to send off his reply, it didn't take long for the entire thing to blow up. Both of the users who were arguing before were seething and typing out more profanities then anon could count. “Jesus christ, what a fucking loser” Anon laughed to himself as he just left the forum on mute after having laughed his ass off. God, this was so much fun!

He would spend the next 2 hours like this. Scrolling forums, rage-bating some chronically online bitch into losing their shit, and then just leaving. The young man meanwhile was having the time of his life. He stopped for a few minutes to eat some breakfast, and then got right back to it. “Man, i could do this for hours” anon chuckled to himself as yet another poor soul was tricked into turning into the online equivalent of the hulk. After making someone so pissed that the whole thing got shut down by moderators, anon finally seemed satisfied for now. “Hahh…shit i needed that” he mumbled before turning to look at the clock silently ticking on his wall. Shit-...already 9:40 am? Time just seems to fly when you’re having fun.

He got up from his chair with a grunt, stretching out his back with multiple nasty sounding cracks “ARCK-...arghh…Shit!” Anon stammered as he had trouble breathing from the pain shooting through his back. Note to self: don’t crack your back like a fucking moron. Now he was pretty pissed again. This day was off to a “Fantastic” start. He kicked a soda can that was laying on the floor in frustration, which bounced off the wall with a small bonk. Still not calmed down, his face contorted into a pissed frown.

“god fucking dammit…” he sighed before letting himself fall back on his bed. Staring at the ceiling wasn’t exactly the most exciting thing to do though, so after just 5 minutes he got back on his feet and started dressing appropriately for the weather. A coat, a warm pair of jeans and an umbrella. Screw the weather, he wouldn’t just rot away in his apartment the whole day. After finally tying his shoelaces, he grabbed the umbrella that was leaning next to his coat hanger. As he headed through the door, he remembered his neighbor’s warning from the other day. He was lucky enough to not have some loud asshole, but a pretty chill Granddad as his neighbor, who told him to “Bring something to defend yourself if need be”. Anon knew better than to ignore the genuine warning of someone who’s been living here for two decades now. So he quickly ran back inside, grabbing the small switchblade that his dad had given him as a birthday gift a year prior. Anon turned the polished wooden handle in his hand, before stuffing it in his jean’s back pocket. He prayed to Raptor Jesus that he wouldn’t need it, but better safe than sorry.

Walking through the street wasn’t as bad as Anon had originally imagined. Barely anyone gave him strange looks since most residents of skin row seemed to be able to mind their own business quite well. The tall human didn’t mind…less anxious overthinking that way. As he turned the corner towards a more densely populated, and of course much safer part of the large city, he saw a bus stop that was less than 2 minutes away on foot from his place. Maybe he could use that to get to school tomorrow? He walked towards the sign that was glued to the bus stop, showing the vehicle’s routes and stops. Anon silently cheered as he saw that a bus stop noted as “Volcano High” was on the list of stops this bus would make. The only issue that Anon had was that the bus left quite early, meaning he had to get up earlier than he thought he would need to. “Shit…ah well, at least i got a reliable way of getting to school…god forbid i need to bike through that shithole of a suburb every day." Anon mumbled

He almost caught himself smiling as he continued his walk. The rain had gotten less pissy during the time he spent on his Computer, so now the constant downstream of water was more of a drizzle if anything. He caught a tram heading into the center of the city, since there was no way he wasn’t gonna walk all the way there. After paying for the ticket, he sat down in one of the suspiciously clean seats. Was everything about this city so unnecessarily fancy? Eh, he wasn’t gonna complain about a clean seat.

As the tram glided through the streets, Anon was looking out of the window, while listening to some music. But even with the boomer rock that was playing through his earphones, he couldn’t help but notice just how gorgeous the city really was…The giant lake in the middle of it? The streets that were so alive despite the fact that it was raining, the vibrant colors of the different shops and businesses…it made him feel sick. Why the hell was this shithole of a city so happy even though he wasn’t? “Fuck i hate this place…” Anon muttered to himself under his breath as the Tram stopped abruptly. The skinny human was flung forward, barely able to get back up due to the sudden shift in movement. And as the doors swung open, people started flooding in. “Hell. NO.” anon thought to himself as he immediately got out, leaving his seat to someone else. Looking around, he realized that…he had absolutely no fucking idea where he was. But he was too late, as the tram's doors where already shut, taking off without him.

“ShitShitShitShit” Anon started panicking, searching for some way to orient himself. His shitty smartphone was already starting to run low on battery, so he couldn’t use it. “Fuck…” was the only thing the human could say as he deflated on one of the benches that where placed next to the bus stop. After collecting himself a bit, he finally got up and started walking again. He had to admit that he had absolutely no god damn idea what to do. Maybe he could ask one of the pedestrians where to go?...Fuckl no, no way in hell was he going to ask one of these meteor dodgers for help. He was 18 now, he shouldn’t have to panic this much just because he didn’t know his way around. After debating for a while, he decided the best idea was to get some lunch for now. It was almost 12:30 pm after all. Scanning the street, his eyes picked up the giant Letter M, shining in a bright yellow and illuminating the street. Perfect, some cheap stuff that goes down easily was exactly what he needed right now. With less awkwardness in him, he pushed open the doors to the McDino’s, as he was immediately slapped in the face with the smell of sizzling meat, fries, and lost causes. Ahhh…right at home. He didn’t even bother with the thought of going up to the register to order. He just went straight for the self-checkout. After ordering, he went up to the register to pay, since he didn’t have a card to pay with. After counting the coins and bills he had in his wallet, he realized something. “God fucking dammit…i’m so broke it’s sad…” he muttered, staring holes into the money in his hand. Just as the employee was starting to get pissed that Anon was holding up the line, a small hand found it’s spot on the human’s shoulder.

He turned around a little too fast out of reaction and stared at the girl who seemed to have absolutely no concept of personal space. Anon immediately noticed the glasses, the aggressively blonde hair that was cut into some kind of half-assed bowlcut, as well as the nerdy clothes the Parasaurolophus wore…especially that little red bow she bound into her shirt. Hell. No. This was exactly the kind of People that Anon absolutely despised. But before he could even think of something to say like “Why the fuck did you just touch me” or “Please help im being harassed by a fucking nerd”, the small lady extended her other hand. In it was a $5 Bill. What? The? Fuck? The confusion seemed to be written all over Anon’s face, because the girl started giggling. “You don’t have enough change for the meal, right? I don’t mind giving you some money. We all have to eat after all, right?”

As the human listened to her talk, he immediately recognized one thing. He absolutely, and 100% despised this pretentious bitch. Her Happy, go lucky attitude seemed so forced, it almost made him throw up. But hey…he wasn’t gonna turn down free money “T-Thanks…I’ll give it back to you if i ever run into you again” He said as he handed the now visibly pissed Cashier the money, before finally moving out of line. He stood near the register as he waited for his order to finish. “God…that blonde bitch ordered a vegan burger…of course she did. She looks exactly like the kind of person who would order such an affront to nature” he mumbled. But who cares? He just had to wait for his food, and then he never had to see her again. As the number on his receipt was called out, he pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on to finally get out of here. Said and done, and before he realized it, he was already standing outside, in one hand the paper bag with more cholesterol than what he’d usually eat in a whole week, and his umbrella in the other. Welp, if he wanted to eat this while it was still hot, he should probably get going to find a bus.

Anon was trying his hardest to not accidentally drop the bag of burgers that was still warming his fingers, as he fidgeted around looking for the key in his pocket. With a sigh, he finally felt the cold metal against his skin. After unlocking the door, he hung up the completely soaked coat and put the umbrella into a corner to dry where it wouldn’t damage the floor. Sitting down at his PC with his still fairly fresh meal, his eyes widened as he looked at the clock. “It's already 6:20 pm?!” jesus fucking christ how long was i out for?” Anon sighed as he started eating.

After he was finished, he realized just how absurdly exhausted he was. But he only went out for a walk…how was he this tired already? Maybe it was the dreaded thought of having to wake up early tomorrow that pushed his body to want to sleep as early as possible. Maybe it was the shitty meal he’d just eaten, that took a lot of energy to digest. Anon didn’t care though. He just layed down on his bed and groaned. “Hahh…I dont wanna wake up tomorrow…I don’t wanna go to that shitty ass school…” he complained to no one but himself. But deep down, a slightly comforting thought ran through his mind. He just needed to survive for 5 months…5 months, and then he was outta there. “Just…keep your head down…don’t repeat the same mistake you made last year…just…stay out of trouble…and you’ll be…you’ll be…”

He couldn’t finish the thought though, as his bodily needs finally took over, pulling him into a deep sleep. Tomorrow was going to suck…and hard.