"Sometimes our fall becomes our new beginning."
-Serised
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The clock reads two in the afternoon, yet Ken is still sleeping. His manager, slash editor, and a long time friend, came to his house in person to nag at him non-stop as she regularly does.
"Ken, wake up. The sun is setting, you're still on your bed?" she says, tapping Ken's shoulder.
"hmm..." Ken reacts, slightly waking up. He tries to fight the weight of his eyes, blinking it away. But the comfortable bed makes it hard for him to gain complete consciousness.
"Are we still on that 'no inspiration' pace?" says the editor, voicing out her frustration.
"Dia, you're here," Ken barely sees with his half-asleep eyes but recognized the person in front of him.
Dia looks around and saw the mess on his friend's room: crumpled paper that unsuccessfully reached the black trash bin, old comics Ken did as a child, and a dusty workspace. When her eyes reaches the television on her right, that is across Ken's bed, she saw the movie adaptation of Ken's one-time famous webcomic, playing on mute. Her eyes went back to Ken, looking pitifully.
"What?" Ken finally won against his fight with own two eyes, now started glaring to Dia and sat down.
"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't need that kind of look. It...doesn't help." Ken expresses with a weak voice, turning his head down.
Ken removes the blanket around his lower body, and stands up without much energy. He reaches for the remote control and turns off the television.
"I know it's pretty ironic for me to tell this after giving you that look again, but I just want to remind you that there are still few offers left from your sponsors. They want to publish another piece under your name," Dia says with evident sadness on her tone.
She saw it all; Ken's frustrations, his mood swings, his hopeless state, and sleepless nights.
"I'll go home since you're awake. Eat something, or walk outside. Rewatching that movie over and over the whole day won't get you anywhere," she continues like an older sister instructing her little brother.
Ken insists on not giving Dia even a glance after her long sentences. He stares at hidden to their reflection in the television, following Dia's movement with his eyes until she reaches the door.
After Ken hears the door clicking, he slowly went back to his bed and lazily lies down surveying his plain white ceiling with his eyes.
"You look just like my canvas, all plain and empty," Ken blurts out lifelessly towards the ceiling.
A minute passed, he lifts his left arm and tries to move it to create a line in the air, but he can't bring the whole picture in mind like he used to. He stops, feeling upset at how frustrating not to be able to create an image.
"Just when?" he whispers, "When?!" then starts shouting.
He bumps his both hands on his side, shouting even more: "When will this torture end?!" his voice echoes in his room, while he tries to catch his breath for a moment.
"Start by going outside that room, moron!" Dia's voice shouts back from the other side of his room.
Ken stands up in a whim and opens the door in shock.
"Oh, you...haven't left?" Ken replies, sticking his body against the half-opened door.
"I forgot my keys," she briefly says, waving the keys she is holding.
"You better be outside once I give you call after two hours," is her last statement before closing the door so loud.
...Or so Ken thought, because not long after,
"Oh! and wait, try to walk around the nearest university here, you might find the inspiration you're looking for," Ken waits for five beats before confirming that finally not another sound from Dia will suddenly be heard.
"Should I go out?" Ken ponders, pinching his head.
He walks back and forth slowly inside his room, trying to decide whether to go out or not. Until it's already half an hour after Dia left; yet he's still stagnant just on the thought.
He opens the television so he could eject the connected hard drive in the TV's setting, it plays a local channel news the moment that he removes the settings tab.
"The center city is expected to experience some heavy rains this afternoon according to the weather--"
*toot*
He clicks the switch off button and finally made up his mind to go outside when he only had an hour left before Dia calls.
He did a quick bath, wore sleeves with a powder blue shade over his white shirt, pairing it with a black pants. He fixes his hair that's left untouched for an unknown time.
He didn't bring any bag with him, but only has his wallet, phone, and an umbrella that he grabs near the shoe rack then hangs it around his arm. When he's all set, he went out and locked his door. He turns around to see his surroundings, he felt how the air is much more different.
The clouds were gloomy, yet the people look lively.
'It should have been nice if I could tell one of their stories' Ken internally wishes, just on the sight of others.
"Haa..." he releases a deep sigh to give himself a last push to walk around, because he's having second thoughts at the back of his mind.
"Where should I go now?" Ken asks as if someone could answer for him.
He recalls Dia's words about going on the nearest university, and starts taking some calm steps in that direction.
"It's a bit chilly, dying here is silly," Ken mumbles out of no where.
*BUUUMP!*
"Oops! sorry!" a girl says after crashing harshly on Ken.
Her things scatter on the ground, Ken bends down to help her. She hurriedly put back everything in her bag, while repeating how sorry she was.
"I'm fine, don't worry. How about you? The impact was quite strong," Ken checks on her.
She looks at Ken in the eyes and says: "I'm glad you're okay, I feel fine too," looking relieved, she seems to be catching her breathe and is slightly flashing a smile.
Ken foolishly looks back, stunned for a minute. It was his first time to meet someone with amber-colored eyes. It sparkles life, something that he's lacking.
The staring contest is disrupted when tiny raindrops starts falling.
"Ugh! it's raining," the girl stands up and covered her head with her one hand.
Ken looks around him to spot his umbrella--he was then aware that it fell on the ground because of the collision with the girl.
Beside the umbrella, he notices a flyer and suspects it to be owned by the girl since it has the university logo, so he grabs it too. He opens the umbrella, but when he looks back at the girl, she's already running towards the school.
"Ah, but this is her's," he says, looking problematic at the flyer in his hand.
He didn't pay much attention on the flyer's content since the rain gets stronger, so, he starts stepping towards the university, thinking 'I am going there, anyway'.
When he arrives, the gate is locked, so he decides to look at posters in a bulletin board beside the gate instead.
'Should I make a story centered in university?' his thoughts while reading every poster he sees.
"Ah Sir, are you looking for something?" a security guard notices him peeking, Ken seems to be searching for something.
The guard went closer and saw the flyer Ken was holding, he slightly nod his head as if understanding the situation.
"That event will be tomorrow, sir. For all I know, you can register online," the guard straightforwardly says.
Ken is too puzzled to understand what he meant, so he just smiled while nodding to acknowledge him. He turns around when the guard went back to his post.
He glances at the flyer he holds but a vibration from his pocket caught his attention. He takes it out, saw the caller ID and clicks the green button.
"Hello, Dia?" Ken's greetings, starting to trace back his steps away from the school.
"Where are you?" Dia asks straight on the point.
"I'm on my way back," Ken replies in a manner Dia would understand.
"Wow! so, did you find some-" Dia's excitement was cut short by Ken.
"Bye," he ends the call and starts striding back to his house.
He texts Dia when he reaches the front of his door, it reads: 'Sorry, I was too excited to go home. I'll tell you about it some other time'.
He hurriedly takes his sleeves off, left himself on boxers, and went straight to his workspace. He dusts off his workspace with a cloth standing by far too long on his table.
When he finished, he starts drawing.
"Amber eyes, not a bad idea," he mumbles, recollecting his encounter.
When he finishes a quick sketch he had in mind, he leans on his chair's backrest to measure it farther in his view.
He stands up and is about to go on his bed when the flyer on the ground caught his eyes. He picks it up and went back on his computer.
Ken remembers what the guard said. He input the web address and registers for the event without any second thoughts.
He looks at the lower right of his desktop and saw the date.
"Tomorrow's Saturday, will she be there?" Ken wonders, light from the computer lits up his curious eyes.