The Night Of The Stars

"Another fail project, huh? Adding more to this was the harsh comments afterward, they really didn't hold back their words"

Even though I was smiling while saying those words, truthfully, I was suffering. A 23-year-old who tried to pursue his ambition had just recently added another fail attempt. 

"How many attempts has it been? I'm getting quite close to a hundred if I keep this up"

I knew some have far worse experience than me. A typical example is Thomas Edison as he used to have thousands of fail inventions. It had taken him over a decade to create a storage battery, which, in our current days, is absolutely usable. However, for me, it had been seriously heart-breaking every time my project got rejected.

"Maybe I was meant to be a plain office worker, working for this decaying world."

I was in my apartment while mumbling to myself, couldn't even take another step. I sat down instantly after returning to my home, which was next to my door. Returning with a straight face from work to home was painful, but having people see an adult crying might have been even worse. 

"Crying in front of everyone? How pathetic I am"

Despite being all alone at the moment, I couldn't shed a tear. Maybe I knew sobbing about all of these wouldn't change anything. Despite that, the feeling I felt was enough for me to cry for hours. Adding to the fact that I was being burnt out, couldn't maintain the same energetic feeling when I first started. 

As I pulled my head upward, there wasn't much to look at. My apartment can be compared to a dorm room in uni. It's little over 50.0 square meters, including the kitchen, the bathroom and the living room. Seeing how I couldn't even have enough space left for my bed, I bought a couch and slept on it. My coffee table was essentially my work place. I drew drafts and constructed all of my projects. 

" I guess I will be eating another cup of instant noodle, this time I will be trying a different flavor"

With such a small apartment, I had to cut a lot of corners and, unsurprisingly, that included my breakfast, lunch and dinner. At the extreme, I only had two meal, which were lunch and dinner. Despite that, I had maintained essential nutrition such as vitamins by adding some greens so that I didn't have to pay for medical bills. That would be terrifying.

...

"Maybe I should try something other than broccoli, it's getting stale even for a cheap guy like me."

In spite of the fact that I tried to eat as cheaply as possible, there wasn't much left in the fridge other than a few expired greens. I tried to check my wallet but inside were my debit cards and a couple photos of my family. 

"Nah, I don't need those greens anyway. Those have always ruined my appetite as a cup of only noodle is plentiful. I heard that some guys actually survived by eating only noodle during their college life"

I shrugged my worries away with some facts I learnt on the Internet. Furthermore, I even laughed how ridiculous and extreme those guys were. 

"Soon enough, I will be on the news like those guys or far worse"

My laughter went down immediately but I couldn't do anything much about it.

Suddenly, when I was checking the cabinet for which type of ramen for dinner, a pitch-black scene hit my entire apartment.  

"Huh? A blackout, during this time? Maybe it's my electric bill, I told them that I would pay it"

A blackout happening during this time meant that I either add more debts to my banking account or stay hungry for the night; the latter is the one I didn't want the most as I already skipped breakfast.  I opened up my phone and checked the bills for the month.

"Wait, I already paid this month electric bill, did the guys over there assumed that I wouldn't pay it and, therefore, cut it anyways? At the very least, I can shave 3 meals tomorrow if they can recognize their mistake"

Whatever the case, I couldn't do much in this situation. When I looked around, my window was also in pitch-black. I went to take a look and found that the apartments surround me didn't have electricity.

"No, everything seems to have lost electricity"

The buildings, the streetlamps, the billboards in my neighborhood were all black. Even when I looked further, the city was paint in black, no signs of light whatsoever. The only source of light was the moon, the city was based solely on the moon as its light source.

This was unexpected as this was the first time for me. I was so used to this modernize world that I forgot that this was nighttime, which is the time of the day when there is no light. Everyone should have gone to sleep and this sudden blackout made me realize that. 

Suddenly, it hit me. A view that was so unexpected and magnificent, I couldn't even comprehend it. Stars from the above shined brighter than I had ever thought. Thousands of them shined across every angles possible, filling the sky with only stars. Among the darked city, this was truly beautiful. 

"Were the stars always there?"

I wondered that question to myself. While it is true that this was the first time that I have seen so many stars in my life, I had looked at the sky before but it was always in pitch-black just like this city. I had known stars were always in a lot in numbers, but going up to the millions?  Never thought it was possible. Seeing this in person was truly once-in-a-lifetime. 

"I guess there are still wonders for me to enjoy"

...

"How long has it been? From two to three years, perhaps"

As I was sitting on the bench, I looked at the sky, remembering my first time observing it. Hilariously, during the blackout, thousands of people called the police to ask what were on the sky, not knowing that they were stars. I can't blame them as the sky was always black with nothing to see.

"One of my most pleasant memory involves people freaking out for what stars were? How ironic this is"

Thanks to that night, I gained most of my motivation back and kept going strong. Even after a thousand years later, they still shine bright as I remember. It looks like we are going the right direction for an ideal future