Alone

12th May, 11:58 PM

A million thoughts swarmed his already restless mind, as it usually did. In just 2 minutes, Henry would become an official adult. Although completely arbitrary, he was on the cusp of another phase of his life. The only light in the room was the dim glow from his grey smartphone. As usual, he was casually taking a stroll down the virtual streets of social media. He could hear his parents arguing over something downstairs. It had been like that for some time now. He was old enough to understand what was coming, yet he was completely oblivious to the obvious.

Everything is normal, he silently thought to himself.

It was his unnatural for him to be awake at this hour. As he kept his eyes on the clock, he was just hoping to get this done as soon as possible. He was awake for the sake of his friends who would, at any moment shower him with all kinds of birthday wishes. He thought that it would be extremely selfish on his part if he wasn’t awake to see what his friends would do. And so, he sat, waiting for his phone to spring into action like a lively call center.

Time drifted past midnight and no fireworks were waiting for him on the other end. There were no surprises, no stories, no phone calls. Nothing. It was as if his friends have ceased to exist. He checked to see if he was still connected to the internet. Twice. And yet, nothing came.

Everything is normal, he silently thought to himself.

13th May, 9:15 AM

Henry had no idea what time he fell asleep. He was surprisingly calm about the whole debacle. It was expected even. He was never the one to command attention. He lay staring at the beige painted walls of his bedroom. As he came downstairs, he could see that his dad was still asleep on the couch. He tiptoed around him to reach the kitchen, searching for something to eat.

‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY’, screamed his mom, rushing to hug him.

‘Fuck, Judy. Do you have to be so fucking loud?’, his dad screamed.

‘I am sorry. Am I supposed to fucking ask your permission to wish OUR son on his fucking birthday? Do you even care about him, George?’

‘Of course, I care. What kind of question is that? Don’t act like a righteous bitch right now. Even he knows you just did that to annoy me.’

And they started again, it was always like this these days. Once they started, everything else vanished. They even forgot what they had been fighting about. Henry found some biscuits on the counter and decided that he would have biscuits for breakfast today. It had been so many days that he had a proper breakfast, with his parents fighting all the time, no one seemed to care about food or nutrition anymore. He stood around the counter until he finished his breakfast. Sometimes, he was surprised by how much his parents missed during their fights. It became so bad, that he began to completely write them off from his life. He felt orphaned. That thought was somehow liberating, he stopped depending on anyone, always plotting his escape. He was impervious to the ways of the world and sometimes even felt that he was a mistake in the grand design. All he focused on was building a life for himself, far away from here, where everything would be perfect.

As he climbed the stairs back to his room, he checked his phone again. Still radio silence. Just another normal day.

Everything is normal, he silently thought to himself.

13th May, 10:15 AM

‘ So you guys just broke up? What happened man? ’, Sam asked as they walked together to class like they did every day.

‘Yeah, I guess. It wasn’t this big, horrible fight. It was all these small shitty things and in the end, it just wasn’t worth it. ‘, Henry said.

‘ How are you so calm man? Honestly, I am kind of surprised at your reaction to this thing. You guys have been together for 4 years and you seem fine. You don’t even seem sad. That’s just fucked up man.’, Sam said as they reached their class. They were already late and Mrs. Tuckerman had already started. She was too involved in her lecture to notice the 2 boys who had sneaked into her already crowded classroom.

Henry was quiet throughout the class like he usually was. He was thinking about what Sam said. In some sense, he was right. He didn’t feel anything when Natalie left. It was just empty. Maybe he was slowly losing his ability to feel. He couldn’t concentrate on the rest of the class as his mind was wandering into his psyche, trying so hard to figure out what was wrong.

Everything is normal, he silently thought to himself.

And in some way, it was the truth. He had always been like this. He never was one to keep connections with his friends beyond the walls of the school. He never felt the need to make his presence felt in the vast cyberspace. Unlike his many friends, who were so short of famous, he was a ghost. You could Google his name and not a single thing would come back at you. He was an enigma. An aberration.

‘ Guys, so what are we doing for David’s birthday party?’, Sam was speaking to his little group of friends. Henry didn’t know them very well. Most of them just happened to know Sam and sat with him during lunch.

‘ I was thinking we can all pitch in and get him something nice, like a cool mug or something?’ Katie, Sam’s girlfriend said.

‘I am sorry, who is David?’ Henry said.

‘ Who doesn’t know David? He is the new student who transferred here from Brookland High. Head of the football team. You must have seen him around, he is super famous. His parents are throwing him a surprise party and wanted us to plan it. ‘ Sam filled him in.

‘ Okay, cool’, said Henry as he returned to his void. His mind wandered off into the wilderness inside as his friends continued their discussions, impervious to how distant he was.

Everything is normal, he silently thought to himself.

13th May, 11:45 PM

He was back where his day had started. In his rugged bed, scrolling through the cyberspace, never making any real impact. His parents shouting downstairs, almost a whisper to him now. Completely shut out from the world, Henry lay in his bed, picking his wary mind. He had thought about mentioning the fact that it was his birthday to his friends many times that day. He was sure that they would have jumped to wish him, maybe even be sorry that they had missed it. He wasn’t angry or disappointed. That was the scary part, he didn’t feel anything. He didn’t feel anything when the entire world had forgotten his existence. He realized at that moment that he was truly alone. The world had not taken notice of his 18 years of existence.

It was unnatural for him to be awake at this hour. Not because he wanted to sleep early, but because he had nothing to do otherwise. Sleep was his excuse to escape the world of discussions, chats, stories, and whatnot. For as much as the world didn’t notice him, he didn’t notice the world as well. He didn’t know any of his friend’s birthdays and didn’t even care to ask.

Time drifted past midnight, and it was just another day.

Everything is normal, he silently thought to himself.