In the lonely streets at night, a man dressed in soiled jeans and a moss coloured shirt walked along the concrete path. It was obvious the way he walked he had been drinking as he was stumbling across the road.
The night lights illuminated his face to reveal the unkempt beard and the dark bags under his deep blue eyes which had lacked any form of resolve.
The man continued to trudge along to his destination with his head pointed down, so he didn't see the couple in front of him which he collided into.
"HEY WATCH IT!" The boyfriend yelled.
Taken by surprise, the man looked up to see what looked like a man in his 20s, 6'2 feet tall with black hair and black eyes that radiated conviction and rage.
"Ah I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bump into your girlfriend, please accept my apology" the man quickly blurted out while bowing his head.
He was only met with silence and when he looked back up, he felt a powerful blow to the side of his face sending him tumbling to the floor.
"Disgusting pig, watch where you're going!"
The man however did not hear this as his head was ringing from the earlier blow and when the boyfriend didn't get a response he continued to beat the man until his girlfriend pulled him off.
"It's okay babe, I think he's learned his lesson. Let's just leave." She pleaded
The boyfriend gave the girl an apologetic look turned his back to the man who was covered in lumps and bruises and walked off like nothing ever happened.
Meanwhile the man lay there, barely in consciousness as his body ached from the repeated strikes of the boyfriend. And slowly about 20 minutes later, he started getting up regaining his balance.
"Fuck what did I do to deserve this. When did I fall so far down?" He muttered
He then sighed and continued trudging to his destination until he came across an empty plastic bottle. To vent his frustrations he took a big wind up and kicked the bottle with his right foot.
"Argh!"
The man then clutched his knee wincing in the familiar pain as he slowly limped towards the nearest building for support. The bottle continued to roll before coming to a stop not even 3 meters from where it had been kicked.
Not long later when the pain subsided, he continued back to his destination past the empty bottle which he looked at with in despair and anger before arriving at the door of his apartment.
He quickly fished for his keys in his right side jeans pocket and opened his door revealing the stench of alcohol accumulated from the years of his drinking problem.
He walked in kicking several cans of beer out of the way to clear a path to his studio which had a bathroom, a kitchen, a single twin sized bed, a single, rectangular, wooden table, and a tv.
He placed his keys on the kitchen table and took off his clothes and limped towards the bed before turning on the TV. He didn't even bother washing up, not that he ever did, what use was it to wash up when he would inevitably smell again from the alcohol in his room?
The TV displayed a football game, it was the El Classico game with the 2 top Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona facing eachother.
"Bzzz bzzz"
He reached for his phone in his pocket and checked the notification.
"Ren why haven't you contacted us in over a year? We're worried sick, give us a call when you can."
It was his mum again, I'll give her a text after this game he thought, knowing damn well he never did.
As his attention focused back to the game, in the 90th minute the score was 0-0. Then Vinicius Jr received a elegant through ball from Valverde from the half way the line all the way to the left wing.
Vinicius was through on goal before sending a curled shot from the left side of the penalty spot past the keeper who had his outstretched hand milimeters away from the ball into the bottom right of the goal.
"GOALLL! Vinicius JR gives Real Madrid the lead in the 90th minute of the game. Unbelievable scenes at the Camp nou stadium! The fans are going wild and some are even leaving the stadium as we speak!"
As Ren watched the entire sequence in fascination, he could feel his heart beating wildly inside of his chest. He could remember that feeling of being the hero of the match in his younger years, but as fate would have it, he would receive an injury that would ruin his career forever.
With this sour thought' he turned off the TV and prepeared for bed. He took some sleeping tablets as he always did before he went to bed, but even with the sleeping tablets he couldn't fall asleep due to the pain from the beating earlier and his injury. So he got up and took some of his military grade painkillers as well before lying back down to his bed.
A few moments later, he fell asleep and rhythmic breathing started to slow before stopping altogether. Meanwhile Ren was still fast asleep with the sedatives taking full effect causing him to suffocate and die.