Hospital under the Moonlight

Chapter 1: A Worthless Life

"Aren't you sick and tired of their bullying?"

Is what a young boy told Zeik as he stared at him with a cold expression. A stranger, out of all people. The young boy continued to stare at Zeik as he squirmed further away to where he was.

As if he was trying to make himself smaller than he intended. Truthfully, he was tired. Tired of all the bullshits his "friends" put him through. Did he deserved it?

No, he didn't.

He stared back at the young boy and noticed his abnormal colored eyes and his black colored hair. His eyes were light-ish blue that were almost gray and his hair flew alongside the wind as he stretched his arm towards him.

"Stand up and let me help you."

The boy stared at the sudden offer. Zeik hesitated for a bit as he tried to shook off the offer but those blue eyes were tempting enough, making his decisions turned into a blur.

The young boy squatted down as he eye leveled the busted kid. A grin started to appear from the side of his face. He almost look devilish for a young boy.

"Don't worry, I will make sure that their hands will never land to your beautiful porcelain skin ever again."

The busted boy looked straight to his eyes and felt the longing warmth that he hardly felt nowadays. It was warm, comforting and alluring.

He loved it.

So he stood up, accepted the boy's offer and stopped caring about the bad reputation this would give him in the future. Because after all of this pain, he would finally be free from the shackles that his friends put him through.

--

Zeik opened his eyes as he stared at the white ceiling of his room. That dream, again. He had been dreaming about the young boy with light-ish blue eyes for days now.

"What a nice memory."

He knew the boy. He was his savior back when they still bully him for being "gay". Truth untold, his parents already knew about his sexuality and never put a bad comment on it.

They accepted him wholeheartedly so he thought his friends would as well. He planned on telling his friends about it and even asked his big sister if what was the best way to do it.

His sister straight up told him to just tell them. If they were his real friends, they would accept him just like how his parents did.

Zeik was pumped up from what his sister had told him and told his friends the very next day.

He was hoping that they will accept him wholeheartedly as well, however, the opposite thing happened.

It was also at that time that his sexuality was a big deal in their country. It was not that acceptable but a child at his age, never knew any of that.

They didn't even teach that at his school. He never actually asked his parents because he thought, he didn't have to. His family had already accepted him.

Zeik sighed as he remembered those horrid memories from his childhood. The abuse, the pain, the humiliation, and the trauma that his friends gave him was still stuck in his mind.

He stood up from his bed as he ruffled his hair and erased the memories little by little. Remembering that, at this age, would only affect his mental state.

"Let's just get to work."

Zeik looked at his alarm clock as his eyes widened in surprise. He was late! Again!

"Fuck!"

Zeik hurriedly went straight to his bathroom and fixed himself. Making himself look as presentable as much as he could. He brushed his teeth and immediately made his way out of his one bedroom apartment and ran through the streets.

He fixed his hair once he boarded the bus as people looked at him endlessly and worriedly.

For months that Zeik had been riding the same bus down to the old lane of the city, the people who were always riding the bus at this rush hour got to know Zeik better than his own family.

They could only shook their heads as they knew that Zeik would probably be late again. And they were not entirely wrong.

"Late! Again! What is your excuse now, Zeik?!"

Zeik moved back from his manager as he fixed his uniform and thought of a new excuse to his boss. He bit his lips and tried to rack his brains out for excuses but nothing came.

"I guess this time you had run out of excuses, huh?! Fine! You're fired!"

Zeik was startled. He looked at his boss warily as he tried to beg him to give him another chance to work there for he needed the money to support his studies.

"I don't care if this will affect your studies, Zeik! For the last few months that you have been working here, I've never seen you come for work right on schedule! You were either late or absent!"

Zeik understood where his boss stood. But he needed the job better than before. He truthfully admitted to himself that he only applied to get extra fees to attend extra classes offered by his university.

But now that his mother had lost her job at the local laundromat, Zeik needed to work extra hard to get back that scholarship that he had lost because of one failed grade.

"Please, Mr. Kim! I beg you! Just give me another chance!"

Mr. Kim heaved a deep sigh as he shook his head and pushed Zeik away from him.

"Look here, kid. I really don't want to fire you, not at all. You are a great asset to my business, it's just... You're punctuality is delaying too many workload and I just had to do it.

I'm sorry, young man. But you need to go and find a new job. I wish you well."

Zeik looked dejected. He couldn't do anything but sulk in the middle of the streets and cursed to gods above. Those procrastinating deities who only loved to see their beloved people suffer rather than give them fortune.

The young man stood outside of the convenience store and sighed.

"The hell am I doing with my life?"