Mr. Brightside

Meet the Protagonist

…this is, however, insignificant. Therefore, the case is invalid.

The 20-year old Devon stopped writing then he sluggishly leaned back on his chair. He raked his messy black hair with his long, slender fingers. He sighed and he found himself staring blankly into thin air, lost again in his thoughts and misery.

To think of it, life couldn’t get any better for the likes of him. He is smart, rich, and handsome but his character is slightly deviated on the awkward side. He’s in senior year in college, which is quite early for his age, and he’s majoring genetics and biotechnology.

Everything seems to be within his reach He doesn’t need to work hard to earn something for the envy of the many. He always gets it with grace, even the things he neither need nor want. Fate seems to prop on asdhis side of the page. He’s simply a lucky bastard.

And that’s the problem. Everything comes in to his life easily without him anything to worry about. He’s being remorseful for someone who has so much luck. Effortless.

His Iphone vibrated angrily against the desk. He bent over to see who was calling. ‘Liam.’ He pressed the speaker phone and went back to his previous stance. He raised his arms and rested his hands on his nape.

“What do you want?” he asked coldly. He was not in the mood for anything futile.

“Dude, what’s up? Where are you?” the other line said. He sounded anxious. Devon raised a brow and puckered his lips.

“What up?”

The line went static for a couple of seconds and choking was heard. Liam was apparently cracking down on the other side.

“Missy dropped it.”

The black head immediately sat up and clutched the phone. He pressed ‘speaker off’ and pressed it gently against his ear. “Tell me your whereabouts.”

In less than a minute, he grabbed his overcoat which lay on his bed and went out. He strode swiftly and heavily against the asphalt. He shoved his sentiments momentarily and focused on Liam’s. He was friends with him since third grade and they were buddies since then. Liam proposed to Missy that night and it seemed that it didn’t go well as expected.

Devon clucked his tongue impatiently as he waited for the green man signal to light up. He dashed to the other side of the road where Liam was. His blonde friend was standing near the entry of one of the pubs in the street.

“Hey man!” Liam greeted and he motioned for him to go in.

“Hey!” he said and nodded back.

They sat on the corner where disturbance could penetrate the least.

“So, what happened?” Devon asked.

He sensed his friend started to shiver and he put out a red velvety small box on the table. Liam clenched his fist and punched the wooden surface. “Damn it!”

“Hey! Easy man, hang on it.”

Devon patted him on the back and put away the box into his pocket. He started to notice the tears streaming down on his friend’s face. He never seen him cried before until now. A void started to grow up within him.

“Damn it! Damn her!”

That night ended with Devon literally dragging the drunken Liam back to his apartment.

“That bitch couldn’t know any better man. She lost it! She lost her chance of a happy ending you know. That mother fucker son of a…”

Devon rolled his eyes a countless times to his friend’s mumbling.

“Man, c’mon. You need to get a grip of yourself. Go to bed and rest okay?”

They finally arrive in front of his apartment and Devon made sure that Liam was already secured in the house before he left.

He lived a few blocks away so he decided to walk the night off. He heaved a long, weary sigh and then he put on a cig on his mouth and lit it up. He rubbed the back of his head and he decided to sat down to kill time on one of the benches in front of his apartment building.

Devon thought that the love shared by Liam and Missy was genuine and purest. However, he learned that night that she refused his proposal and eloped with another guy instead. This kind of situation was never foreign to him. He, himself, belonged in a parallel scenario. His mother cheated on his father and it ended up her divorcing him. In the end, Devon was left all alone to his father’s care.

An overly familiar feeling shrouded his being. He found himself dwelling in melancholy. He was already in too deep to break the surface.

Devon could have anything but he still couldn’t fill the void inside him.