Book 1: Chapter 1: Building Depression and Sudden Change

Book 1: Chapter 1: Building Depression and Sudden Change

Man, I fuckin hope this works this time. Neon and Zar know what theyre doing but Sino Darren could already hear the man begin to snore over his headset. Sino? Sino?! Wake the fuck up!

Hm? Ahm awake Urg When are we gonna start this raid? a thick Canadian accent poured through Darrens earphones.

Immediately following that, a far younger and smoother Italian accented voice said, Were waiting on you, Sino. Stop doing the dance emote and ready up.

That would be nice, the voice of an American girl added.

Ah. My bad Uh, there. Ready, Sino chuckled.

Darren sighed deeply before he initiated the raid. 24 on premium pre-fight buffs This game is such a fuckin scam. If you fuck this for me again, Sino, especially since I have work in an hour, then youre out of the guild, he thought in annoyance.

Hed poured way too many hours and way too much effort into this game, let alone money. There was no telling how livid hed be if Sino - or Robert as he was called in the real world messed up his last chance this year to clear this particular raid.

Darren scratched the back of his head and grabbed his energy juice while the loading screen flashed on his monitor.

"I know Im like a broken record at this point, but you all prepped your buffs and pots, right? he asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Neon, the Italian, replied softly.

"Yup," came Sino's gruff reply.

"I'm ready too, thanks for bringing me along even though I'm so weak. By the way," Zarrin said from within her mech suit.

Neon replied, Its fine. ILY was offline anyway and Sevenths doing it with his friends. You were the best choice by far.

A few moments later the raid had finished loading. Darren immediately began his boring but rewarding job of giving out detailed orders to his team.

Just reaching the final boss could be a struggle for most groups so while he didnt want to babysit his friends, he kind of had to.

Mostly Zarrin, really. Sino, drunk and foolish as he was, could play the game amazingly well and Neon was as much as a freak as he was about the game.

Thankfully, despite Zarrins inexperience, she truly had prepared well. Sino too, in spite of being sleepy excelled. Within 12-minutes they had reached the boss room, a new record, Darren noted.

"Okay guys, just like I said earlier, we're going to-" Darren's hushed voice was interrupted by the sound of Sinos speaking over him.

"It's not that strong, and we're buffed. Look, youre not the only one who whales on this. I gotta go to bed, like, three hours ago. Lets fucking go!" Sino yelled impatiently before his character opened the large gates separating them from the boss room.

Darren was immediately angered but yelling back wouldnt fix anything. Sino had forced a now or never situation onto him so all he could really do was focus and bring his A-game to make up for the mistake.

Staring at the game over screen before him, Darren sighed into his headset. "Sino, what the fuck was that? We trudged through that bloody raid for five fuckin' hours! And you just straight up attacked the boss out of nowhere?! At least if you do that kind of shit, you should be able to pull your fuckin' weight!"

Silence was his only answer.

"Lone, I think he's asleep," Neon said a bit timidly, sobering Darren out of his angered state.

He ran a hand through his long and messy hair in frustration. A once-a-year event. Once a year! Fuck

M-Maybe next year? Zarrin offered.This chapter was first shared on the Ñøv€lß1n platform.

A lot could be learned from history, both the good and the bad, both the old and the new. Perhaps had his own personal history been brighter hed have even more passion for the subject than he did for his game of choice.

Darren opened the sliding door to his homeroom and was surprised to see a very familiar student had arrived before he did.

It was still another 15-minutes before his first lesson started, but he understood why someone had arrived before him when he saw who it was.

"Good morning, Darren," smiling brightly with her beautiful and refreshing face, Hazel greeted him.

Weakly smiling in return, Darren replied, "Mister McCullen, please."

She just stuck her tongue out rebelliously in response. Darren rolled his eyes in response and said, "You're here a bit early, Hazel."

"Mum woke me up early since she's going to visit Dad's grave today," Hazel said casually, though there was a sad undertone in her voice.

Darren frowned. "I see," he said. 'I shouldn't have asked. I forgot today was the anniversary of that sicko's death.'

She walked up to his desk and helped him arrange his teaching tools and books after noticing him spacing out. "You're so helpless, Mister McCullen. Did you stay awake late last night again? I can see the bags under your eyes," she joked to lighten the mood.

"Of course not... I just had a bad night's sleep," Darren lied in response.

He felt ashamed at being called out like that by his younger sister of all people. Especially when they rarely talked or even met outside of the school setting.

"Hmm..." Hazel stared at him closely.

"What?" he asked while he turned his head, avoiding her gaze. He really didn't want to talk to her right now. Not with their father on his mind now. He'd only end up getting angry.

"Nothing," she smiled brightly before she returned to her desk.

'What the fuck? Then don't say 'hmm' like that...' Darren complained internally.

After that peculiar encounter, the day continued as usual and he taught history to every class until the final bell at quarter to four.

It was a mostly boring day. As much as he enjoyed history, the curriculum forced him to teach barely anything that wasnt related to World War II in some way.

Darren wanted to teach about the Romans, about the Picts, about the Celts, about ancient Greece, but no. Modern history was what the Board of Education wanted the youths to know about it.

If nothing else, he was thankful that another day had ended and that he was almost free of obligations for the day.

All he had left to do for today was to clean up the classroom and wait until five o'clock before he could go home and sleep for a few hours.

He had a couple of tests that needed graded but that wasnt due until next Monday so he could wait before doing that for now.

At 5:10PM, Darren stretched his back and exhaled. Finally. Did the little shits really have to stick so much gum to the floor? Just shove it under your desks for Christs sake.

He cracked his neck then made for the door, ready to grab his bike and cycle straight to his bed if need be. He really needed to sleep.

However, right at the very moment he moved his foot past the boundary of his classroom and stepped out into the hallway, everything rippled, then his vision was covered by a deep shroud of pitch-black darkness.

Something life-changing had happened to Darren, and it was at that moment, that the pathetic shell of a man that he once was, began shedding and peeling away.