Author's Preface
The Boy Who Could
Riiiing. Riiiiing. Riiiiiiiiiiiing.
An alarm goes off. Bright rays of warm sun already peering through the holes in the blinds.
He stretches and groans.
Five more minutes.
Ten more minutes.
Twenty more minutes.
One more hour.
He tosses and turns, and then decides to check his phone. Let’s see… today?
Zero messages. Notifications from Reddit. From his favorite gacha games.
He grumbles to himself and begins to fulfill all of his little daily quests… still struggling to get up.
Grumble.
Ah. This time, his stomach finally calls to him. Perhaps it’s time to get out of bed?
…
Lo and behold! A miracle has arrived! Praise the heavens!
He stumbles out of bed, straight to the kitchen.
Brushing his teeth? Too much work. Washing his face? Ah, he’d have to take his glasses off. Packets of food? Meh, only TV dinners are easy.
Then the boy sits on his couch, laying down once more.
Blip.
“Okay guys, welcome back to another let’s play of…!”
…
Hmmm. This guy is funny, but a bit boring. I bet I could play those games better, he mumbles to himself.
“Did I tell you that I love you~ When we leave my heart breaks in two~”
Hmmm. They’re good at singing. But I bet if I really tried, I could go viral…
Next, he opens up Royal Road. He looks to his mail for the latest alerts from his favorite authors.
Hmmm. So sloppy. Bad pacing. If I really wanted to, I could write a story like this…
Three meals, with snacks in between.
“Oh? I uh… totally put in those job applications today! This time!”
A quick migration to the bed. Lay down. Doomscroll.
Night arrives. He uses his favorite adult websites. Imagines what could happen in real life.
Its quite late now. He hums, tosses and turns, and just before bed...
Hmmm. Tomorrow, for sure. I’ll do everything I think I can. And show everyone.
And then it repeats, on and on and on.
The boy who could, yet never does.