By: Victor Hale

He came out of the shower, water still clinging to his skin, and sat in front of the monitor.

The screen lit up his face before anything else did.

He opened a game.

It loaded. He played.

Five minutes later, he closed it.

Not because it was bad.

It just felt like everything else.

He went back to bed.

Picked up his phone.

Scrolled without looking.

Nothing stayed long enough to matter.

He put it down.

Back to the monitor.

Another game.

Different name. Same feeling.

He didn’t even finish the first level.

A series.

Half an episode.

Pause.

Left there, unfinished.

Like everything else.

Bed again.

Phone again.

The same loop, repeating without asking him.

He knew he was exhausted.

Not from doing too much—

from trying to feel something and failing every time.

He wanted something new.

Something that didn’t feel like a repeat.

But everything he touched already felt used.

As if he had lived it before.

He started applying for jobs.

Not because he wanted them—

just to change something.

Anything.

New roles.
New routines.

Same weight.

He didn’t question it anymore.

There was nothing to figure out.

He knew how the next hour would go.

And the hour after that.

It didn’t stop him from going through it.

Monitor.

Bed.

Phone.

Screen.

Repeat.

Another game opened.

Closed before it began.

Another show started.

Muted halfway through.

The phone lit up.

He didn’t check who it was.

It wasn’t avoidance.

There was just no reason to respond.

Even his thoughts felt reused.

Not heavy.

Not painful.

Just… already known.

He stopped switching things after a while.

Not because he found something worth staying in—

just because it didn’t make a difference anymore.

The monitor stayed on.

Something was playing.

He wasn’t watching it.

The phone lay beside him.

Lighting up. Going dark. Lighting up again.

He didn’t pick it up.

He lay back.

Eyes open.

Not looking at anything.

He knew how this would go.

It wouldn’t end.

It wouldn’t change.

He wasn’t waiting for something new anymore.

He was just waiting…

for it to be over.

It didn’t.