Date: 14/11/2022, Location: Karhögstorg, Lund, Sweden.
Heath walked along Järnâkravägen Street after collecting his usual order from Rekas Burger:
- A Cheese n Chilli Burger, Lökringar (Onion Rings) and a can of coke.
He walked across the street to the Hemköp Supermarket to buy a beer for home, a timely tradition he built up over the year he'd moved there. The locals were friendly, and the food was good for its price.
It is quite a calm environment, though Ulf Kristersson is going through a turbulent political career currently with some of the stunts he's pulled. While Heath agrees with some of them, he understands the sentiments of some of the people opposing him.
"It's quite cloudy today, guess that's the usual~." Heath muses in English. Walking out of Hemköp, he walks along Ringvägen Road to the Söderlyckan Skateboard Park. He finds a park bench to sit on and sees the teens playing. He waves at them, some waves back.
"These kids could seriously injure themselves at this rate." Heath says in a murmur after noticing many of them are doing more stunts and tricks than usual, while a tripod is set nearby. One even attempted a backflip off the ramp before he sat down.
"I'll just watch them along, and if any get injured I'll help them with the bandages and plasters I bought along." Heath muses. Because of his habit of helping the injured, he's preemptively brought a medical kit if necessary to use.
He enjoys that they find happiness in having a passion for such exploits, and they trust him enough that they're fine with him helping them after gaining each other's bondings over the past 4 months. Some even letting him come around their homes so they could game together.
He loved the times they'd play on their PC and consoles, though he usually had to play through violent games like Fortnite and Call of Duty. He especially liked the times he'd play some of their sandbox games, like Minecraft and Roblox.
Heath doesn't really enjoy some of the games they'd play, like Rust either, even if it had nice building mechanics, a setup for the standard killing of other players never really sat well with him when on multiplayer. They'd usually kill him or grief his bases.
And because he never retaliated, he'd usually be seen as weak, thus targeted continuously over a game period, which he
They'd play for a few hours once every two days as a break for him, and the rest of the time he'd spent studying new topics and relearning how to exercise and diet. After spending so long sitting down during his travels, his osteoarthritis felt less severe.
Heath took out a large journal from his rucksack and started writing his 5,583rd Entry. After 15 years of daily writing, he had to get many new journals he kept at home. There was an entire bookshelf that filled his workspace, it helped keep his memory in check.
"'The teens have been continuously pulling crazier stunts since their search for 'clout' became a normality to their beliefs. I find it disheartening that they only see worth in themselves if they feel the need to pull something better than what others could do.'"
Heath paused his writing, soon to start a new sentence. He checked the ink in the pen, seeing it only had a quarter left. He planned on checking his 'stash of stationary' later on tonight. He chuckled to himself before beginning to write again.
"'Much of what they do nowadays dictates their 'need' for self-gratification, believing only in a herd mentality, their habits have led to many losing their patience and attention span from what I noticed, it's sad we older people have allowed or even incentivised these actions.'"
He had written something similar before, but he never knew it personally before the past year began. He travelled too much and didn't develop any personal relationships until after he stopped and moved to Sweden. "I should've checked the news more often." Heath wonders.
Soon, while writing his third paragraph, Heath heard a *Thunk* and noticed a teen by the sidewalk, looking glum. He saw a small reflective object on the floor, which he realised was a phone. "Hey guys, just checking on the new guy over there," Heath spoke in Swedish.
"That's fine, we'll call you if we need help!" Adrian, one of the more excitable teens called back, before starting a somersaulting trick by the backboard once people moved out of the way. "Hey man, what's your name?" Heath asks calmly, so as not to startle him.
"It's Elias, sir." Elias says in a mumble, he looked aggrieved and stressed out.
"I see you broke your phone, Elias. Do you want help?" Heath states.
After thinking, "Yes, sir, it seems I cracked my screen below the protector." Elias says.
Heath checks the screen, seeing the protector shattered, and that there is cracks on it, with a white light he'd assume was because there was no focus for the images to view upon. "First, let's go to the repair shop, we'll see if it can be fixed, eh?" Heath pats him gently on the back.
"Of course, though I haven't gotten your name?" Elias says questioningly, now calmed down.
"Oh, right. Forgot, name's Heath, Heath Dollen." Heath soon asks Elias to follow him to the Kjell & Company Repair shop by Stora Södergatan Street. They enter and provide the device.
"Seems your device luckily didn't need any serious repairs, it's just damage to the screen itself. It'll be fixed up in 2 to 3 hours." The clerk states in their usual customer care voice. ""Thank you, sir."" Both Elias and Heath say it at the same time.
"Hey kid, how much money you got?" Heath took out his wallet, counting his bills to ensure Elias had enough. "I left it at home." Elias comments, almost like a whisper. "That's shot up, I'll give you some, then." Heath says in a no-nonsense tone.
Elias clicked is jaw in surprise by the kind offer. "No, sir-" "Call me Heath, please." Heath interrupts to say. "-Heath, I don't like getting others' kindness out of nowhere." Elias says, flustered. "That's fine, think of it like family giving you an early Christmas present." Heath dials jokily, then stayed silent in waiting for a 'yes' or 'no answer. Elias checks on Heath, waiting for a 'gotcha' moment. He sees none. "*Ugh* Alright old man, but I'll pay you back later." Elias states with conviction, now trusting him.
"*Heh* You're quite a stubborn one, aren't ya?" Heath says, liking that they are friendly now.
They banter back and forth in a comfortable manner. Soon, Elias opens the backpack he has on. "Hey, Heath, you want to play some games with me? I got a laptop with Steam on it." Elias asks unsurely. "Sure! Maybe you could friend me, too. Let's see what you got." Heath says.
They scooch using two available chairs and using Heath's phone data to provide some internet for the laptop, they play some Steam Games, Elias has a library with close to 230 games, many being about Sandbox and Open World Building.
"Why've you got so many games, Elias?" Heath says, knowing he couldn't play so many.
"I think of it like collectables, but digital. Like non-scamming FunkoPops." Elias says, with a bit of mirth in his voice. They both chuff to each other, not to disturb the workers.
"Huh, what are these?" Seeing that some of the games are separated by 3 or 4 bars, Heath asks. "Those are games I separate by how I like them. I have my top 10 favourites in the top bar here!" Elias says proudly, knowing his collection is immaculately stored.
"Quite a nice portfolio you got there. These 40 games in the 4 decabars you got. . . I don't know well, could you explain some of them?" Heath asks, knowing he's still got the mentality of a man who plays games before 2010, the young teen lists off many of his favourite played games. "-Then there's Graveyard Keeper at my 37th, it's my third to last favourite because of the connotations of using non-legal dead bodies for labour, but it's well done. The designs are friendly like Terraria (12th), Necesse (15th) and Core Keeper (21st)!" Elias said passionately.
"Yeah, I can imagine why it's one of your last choices." Heath grimaces from his imaginative speculation if made to real life, knowing that while they are dead and have no free will in not affecting his consciousness, they would spread gunk and rotten smells wherever they walked.
"*Eh*I treat them well by giving them a bedroom setup with multiple storage units with buckets of water for cleanup, so you don't need to worry that badly about them." Elias says, as the LARPer he was. Heath stalls by pointing towards parts of his map, reviewing the many different constructed medieval manufacturing systems. "Well, let's continue. 38th is Shop Titans. I like the idea of running a shop and allowing for adventurers to be armoured to battle monsters. But it's too grindy and is run as a Pay-to-Win system." Elias forays while laughing with no amusement in remembering the many nights spent upon his 'first-ever' shop save he showed Heath that had over 470 hours spent.
"Aye, corporations can be quite pissy in terms of making games cash grabs sometimes. Good thing you chose F2P choices for most, eh? How much did you spend?" Heath follows with another. "None, trying to keep it as 'natural' as possible." Elias says proudly, yet as if it's natural.
Heath raises his eyebrows. "*Oh*You're better than me at your age, most would fall to the temptation. I had a gambling habit before travelling throughout the continents and finding actually beneficial hobbies." Heath says as a bit of backstory while lauding him.
"True that. Most guys my age enjoy spending lots of money on games like Raid: Shadow Legends or whatever other titles there are. Let me show you 39-" "Your phone is ready to be collected." The clerk interrupts Elias, earning a slightly sharp gratitudinal focus.
"Well, I'll be paying by card then, you are not gonna stop me on that." Heath arrogantly 'commands,' earning a chuckle from Elias. "Sure, old man." Elias ticks his head forward, mentally sighing in relief for having no hardware damage. They pay for the phone through a card, pack up the electronics and leave.
"You're lucky you didn't break your phone with that fall, that thunk was loud even from 15 meters away!" Heath says as a friendly jibe. "Ah, yeah. I was." Elias says in embarrassment, the bald man now waving his hand in a change of pace. "Wanna play a bit of Stellaris later? I'll buy you a new controller too, from your comment that it was damaged." Heath states suddenly. The certainty in the bald man's voice startled Elias. He looks at Heath with sincere thanks but with confusion, a semi-off-topic question playing in his mind. "I saw the way many people treated you as we walked past, how many HAVE you helped?" Elias quizterms.
And it was true, many of the people they walked past were people Heath helped in the past, it was a large community in the city, but many knew each other personally. Heath was quite a popular guy, as he was known to aid others in need.
"Don't count them anymore, I just do it because I can." Heath states as the most obvious thing in the world. Elias shakes his head in exasperation. "You
"Sorry, going to have a break. See you in a minute!" Elias says lazily, Heath waves back, signalling it is fine to go into the toilet area to do his business. Once done, they walk down Trollebergsvägen Street, now through Bangatan Street to reach Spolegatan Street.
"Well, it was lovely talking to you Elias. But now we've got to split ways. My home is down the left. Your home is down the right, from my guess?" Heath asks, Elias nods in agreement. "See you later, Uncle." Elias says with a new nickname this time.
"Just don't damage your new screen, you hear?" Heath shouts back while they are further away, while only getting a peace sign as a response. Heath leaves with a good grin on his face. 'Uncle? I like the sound of that.' Heath internally relishes the new nickname.
Guess he's got a new family member in this town. And he will enjoy cherishing the new moments with Elias, like with all the other teens and people his age that he talks with. He reaches his home in Prins Augusts G Street. Soon going into the kitchen to reheat the food.
Heath takes out the cold Cheese n Chilli Burger with Lökringar. He sets up the cutlery, cup and plate. He places the food down, finishing it in 20 minutes. He ate too damn quickly due to his excitement and had a hiccup or two before forcing it down with the beer again. After a small 30-minute break, he had a minor indoor cardio session before taking his medication for his vision and osteoarthritis. Once all of that was done, he had a shower. "It'll be a good day tomorrow." He silently wishes to himself. Soon changing his clothes and going to bed.
"Good. . . night. . , Heath. . ." A discordant sound like the wind said in the background.
Heath, half asleep, swore he heard somebody say good night to him. But after a minute, he assumed that it must've been the half-asleep hallucinations he has sometimes.
Sometimes he'd feel he could hear voices, or people that view him from a distance he can't fathom, but if there are people that see him. Heath simply does what he wishes, to not leave any regrets for the leftover years of his life. "Gosh, my thinking style makes me feel so old~." He chuckles to himself before tucking himself into the weighted blanket, then turning on the heating mattress below him. He views the stars outside, just as he always does. With so little light pollution from his window, it reminds him of his travels. Good memories.
Soon falling into a deep, energising slumber. He wishes to himself again that all will be alright for his many friends again, like every night before. Even so, it was dreamless. A strange occurrence for Heath, but one he wouldn't remember either way.
A few birds are by the tree, it's morning now. They start to sing a song that wakes Heath from his slumber again.