The night sky was slowly being dyed a deep, rich blue as the sun began its ascent, casting the clouds on the horizon in hues of soft orange and pink. Dawn was approaching, and the birds were the first to notice.
A robin stirred from its nest that was carefully tucked beneath a rooftop banister and, with a flutter of feathers, shook off its slumber. It prepared to take off and met the cool morning air as it soared into the open sky, free. Meanwhile the world below, a sprawling maze of roads and houses, was still fast asleep.
The robin scanned the urban landscape for a place to perch. It spotted one of the many telephone wires webbed between the houses, sandwiched side by side along this road, a perfect place as any amidst the concrete jungle. It gracefully descended, and proudly began to sing. Its cheerful notes cut through the petrified wasteland, starting a chorus of life to join in.
Inside the house connected to that very wire, a teenage boy sat hunched over his desk, his gaze locked in a trance on the glowing monitor before him. The artificial light from the screen, flashing in bursts of colour, barely lit his face, casting shadows that accentuated the exhaustion etched into his features. His skin, sickly pale, clung tightly to his bones and his cheeks were slightly sunken . Bloodshot eyes, framed by dark purple bags, peered out from behind a mess of unkempt, uneven black hair that fell haphazardly all over his head.
The sudden sound of the robin's song snuck through the open window, overlapping with the hum of his headset. Startled for a second, the boy removed the headset from his ears, his heart beating with a slight rush of adrenaline. He searched for the source of the sound, peaking through his curtains cautiously. But upon realizing it was just a bird outside he shut the curtains quickly, cheeks flushed a bit red now.
But having been snapped out of his daze, he glanced at the time in the corner of is screen, panic setting in for real this time. What had begun as a short gaming session had stretched into the early hours of the morning. A wave of guilt washed over him, heavy and familiar.
He hastily finished his game, closing his computer for the night, the sound of it powering down resounding in the quiet room. As the screens flickered off the room was plunged completely into darkness.
While he was familiar with the layout of his room he had been neglecting cleaning up which had made the floor an inaccessible terrain. He didn't wish to wake up his parents, so carefully felt around his desk for his phone, prudent to avoid disturbing the balance of precariously stacked items that could be likened to a house of cards.
After narrowly avoiding a deafening crash he found the little black box, which he lovingly picked up, using its torch to reveal a path through the obstacle course.
Stepping over piles of clothes and scattered debris, he reached the light switch near his bed and flicked it on. Light erupted from the ceiling exposing the full extent of his remorseful depravity.
Oli's room was a chaotic mess, with an abundance of half-eaten food and empty cans cluttered the desk with some pouring over onto the floor to make room, mingling with crumpled papers and schoolbooks tossed aside. The shelves, once organized, now overflowed nerdy merchandise and neglected memorabilia covered in a layer of dust and abandoned among scattered stationery. A pile of clean clothes sat at the foot of the bed but had spilled outward looking like it had been carelessly knocked over, left to mix with the littered dirty clothes strewn across almost every surface. A printed out inspirational poster stuck to the door had one corner drooping over itself covering the meaningless words printed at the top. The air was thick with the stale scent of neglect, old food and unwashed laundry,
He had meant to clean up for a long time, but he couldn't bring himself to start. Cleaning up meant reorganizing and reviling more mess, besides what was the point. Despite this justification, he felt disgusted and ashamed.
Adding to his sorrows, a break from the dopamine had removed his minds suppression of hunger, His stomach growled loudly, and a ting of empty pain reminded him that he hadn't eaten properly today.
A deep sense of frustration and self-loathing settled over him. There was so much he felt he needed to do, and yet he had wasted his time once again. His mind, still racing from the adrenaline of the game, buzzed with all the things he should have accomplished. It was overwhelming, too much to process in his exhausted state.
Without thinking, he crawled into bed, pulling the blanket over himself in a feeble attempt to block out the world. He picked up his phone again, intending to scroll through social media to distract himself, just for a few minutes. He told himself he would get up and at least brush his teeth, maybe tidy up a little before sleep. But as he scrolled, his eyelids grew heavy, the pull of sleep becoming irresistible.
Soon, his grip on the phone slackened, and it slipped from his hand, landing softly on the bed beside him. Within moments, he was asleep, the unresolved tasks and guilt fading into the background as his mind finally succumbed to the exhaustion that had been lurking all night.