Chapter 1: Life Sucks

DARREN VALDEZ, APRIL 2028

Life sucks. It totally sucks. Could someone just tell me that things will get any better? Whatever... It doesn't matter anymore... I had to break up with my unfaithful girlfriend. Why does it have to hit so hard? Nothing even matters anymore. It feels like I wasted everything. Indeed, everything became a waste, and I was the one who had been letting this happen all along. After our nasty breakup, I had been drowning in my misery, without finding the meaning in anything I had done, I did, or might have done. I did whatever came to my mind recklessly, without a care in the world. I lived my life that way onwards.

My pleasant sleep ended when the shining light struck me that this girl paved the way as she spread the curtains wide open. Oh God, what time is it that the sun has to be so annoyingly blinding today?
“Will you close the fucking curtains? Someone’s trying to get some shut-eye.” I complained as I tucked my whole body into the blanket.
Begrudgingly, this girl-What was her name? Samantha? Cynthia? Sylvia? Whoever this girl was, she pulled the blanket right off of me—making me expose my stark naked body to the blinding light yet again. I quickly grabbed a pillow to cover my member.
“Well, that ‘someone’ had enough shut-eye already and needs to leave. It’s almost noon, for God’s sake.” The girl retorted, and I could almost see her eyes roll.
“Alright. Fine.”
I sluggishly gave up and reached for my clothes scattered on the floor.

It sure was a wild night, but not special. They never had been. Each wild night I had with a different girl hasn't ever been special since the breakup. I frequent random bars, ending all with transparent one-night stands, and forgettable memories in the morning.

No strings attached,

No ties,

No connections,
It was that simple. As I was fully dressed, I opened the door to leave, turning my head back at the doorstep. I asked her.
“Call me?”
She gave me a sweet smile and waved goodbye.
“Never.”
I smiled back.
“Good.”

PHELOTHEA VALDEZ, JUNE 2028

I’m late.

Now, that’s just perfect. I’m late on my first day of work. How on earth did I manage to turn off three alarm clocks and sleep like a baby? I should have set up a fourth alarm clock. Or maybe a fifth one, just to be sure.

When I woke up and saw the time, I immediately bolted out of my bed and hurried to work. By ‘work’, I mean going to school. Funnily enough, I’m not going to school as I’ve always done. I’ll go to school not as a student but as a teacher. Who would have thought that Phelothea Valdez, the high honors and top student, would end up being a teacher at her own alma mater? Certainly, not me.

I think I could still make it to the flag ceremony. I put aside the nostalgic feeling I have when I pass by the classrooms I once went to as a student. The quickest route to get to the gymnasium is to pass by the principal’s garden. So, I ran like my life depended on it. I just need to turn the corner after passing by the garden–’ THUD!’

Luck is definitely not on my side. This sucks. Life sucks.