‘What a meaningless life’.
That was the thought that ran through Jay’s mind as he was sitting in front of a computer with his fingers clicking the keyboards.
This wasn’t the first time such a thought was running through his mind. To him, life had no meaning. Why? Because the same things keep repeating themselves.
Wake up in the morning, prepare, eat breakfast, go to work, come back home, go to sleep. Wake up in the morning again, prepare, eat breakfast, go to work, and so on…the same things keep repeating themselves.
Nothing interesting was happening, life was boring. And a lot of people were living this kind of life…
Apart from that, it takes a lot of efforts and challenges for a person to make it in life and become something. Success wasn’t easy at all.
And because attaining success wasn’t easy, there’d always be poor people, average people, and the rich ones. Working hard doesn’t guarantee that you’d become rich in life.
This was another reason why Jay considered life to be meaningless. He was 29-year-old and was working in a certain construction company in the financial department.
And most of the time, there was always this kind of emotionless look on his face due to the fact that he considered life to be meaningless and boring.
Nothing interested him, he had seen and come across a lot of things. So nothing ordinary interest him, only extraordinary things could interest him at this moment.
How was he doing financially? Well, he was doing okay for himself. His salaries were huge enough to pay for his house rent, pay bills, feed himself, and send money to his parents from time to time.
Not like he doesn’t want more, if possible, he wanted to be rich…
But since he couldn’t seem to attain wealth even though he tried to, there was nothing he could do about it but to manage the average lifestyle he was living.
He was at work currently, and as said, he was sitting in front of a computer with his fingers clicking the keyboards of the computer.
..And you know what? That emotionless look was plastered to his face.
Yes, this look was a norm for him. It was currently mid-afternoon heading toward complete evening.
Everyone was supposed to be heading home now, work was supposed to be over. But Jay was going to be working overtime due to some reasons, there were some things he needed to complete before heading home.
His colleagues were already standing up from their seats and walking toward the elevator so they could leave the company, he was the only one still sitting in his seat.
A certain young man dressed in shirt and tie walked toward Jay, placed his right palm on one of his shoulders, and uttered to him…
“Aren’t you going to head home, Jay? Everyone is already leaving”.
“I’m going to be working overtime today, there are some things I need to complete, I don’t want to push it to tomorrow. I have a lot to handle tomorrow as well, so I better finish it today”. Jay stated without even glancing at him, that emotionless look still plastered on his face.
“Okay, see you tomorrow then”.
“Sure”.
And with that, the young man walked away. After the passing of some minutes, it was only Jay on the third floor of the company, everyone had already left.
Now, he wasn’t the only one working overtime. But all the people working overtime were either on the second floor or last floor, none on the third floor.
..So he was the only one on the third floor of the company.
His fingers kept clicking the keyboards of the computer in front of him. And after the passing of minutes, he was done with what he was handling…it was already complete evening by now.
He turned off the computer, stood up from the chair he was sitting on, carried his bag, and began heading toward the elevator. It was about time to leave the company.
He reached the elevator, entered it, and it took him straight to the last floor of the company. After coming out of the elevator and walking, he saw the people working overtime already rounding up with what they were doing.
Some had already stood up from the chairs they were sitting on.
‘Guess I wasn’t the only one working overtime’. He thought to himself.
He’d already walked out of the company by now. His house wasn’t that close by, so he does board cabs to get to his home whenever he was done with work.
But he’d have to walk for some minutes until he gets to a certain spot, he can easily board a cab around that area. So he was walking toward that area currently.
That emotionless look had vanished from his face, the look wasn’t always plastered to his face all the time.
And you know what? He wasn’t in any kind of relationship with a girl currently. In fact, he hadn’t dated a girl for years now.
Why? Because he was a boring person, no lady wanted to associate with a boring person like him. He considered life to be boring, and that mindset had influenced him to be boring as well.
Jay was still walking when this happened…
BANG! BANG!
Sounds of gunshots echoed, and people began running helter skelter. Jay’s eyes widened immediately, and this was the thought that ran through his mind,
‘What the fuck’.
He hadn’t really understood what was happening, all he knew was that he heard gunshots, until he heard a woman say,
“A gang war is taking place. Two gangs are battling each other, and not only that, they’re making use of that opportunity to rob people. If you struggle with them, you get shot”.
Jay’s eyes widened more the moment he heard that. In fact, he started panicking…
He can’t afford to get robbed or shot, the things with him were too valuable to be taken away by a person or a group of people.
It was evening not dusk, so though everywhere was already darkening little by little, it hadn’t darkened to the extent where you wouldn’t be able to see a person properly.
So those gangs wouldn’t have a hard time seeing a person they’d come across properly and robbing the person. Sounds of gunshots were still echoing, and people were still running for their dare lives.
Jay’s panic made him stand on a particular spot for minutes while people were running. He went into freeze mode, until he saw some of the gangs running toward him.
..He even saw them rob about two people.
His freeze mode converted into flight mode immediately, then he began running in order not to get robbed or shot.
The only time they’d shoot him was if he struggled with them when they wanted to rob him. The things with him were too valuable, he doesn’t trust himself, he could try to struggle when they want to rob him.
So his plan was for none of them to come across him. So when he began running, he was doing it really fast.
But as he was running, the gangs he saw that had just robbed some people began running forward as well. They weren’t that close to him though, they were some meters away from him.
His heart began beating so fast the moment he saw this. He didn’t stop for a second, he faced front and continued running forward while increasing the pace at which he was running.
He arrived at a certain Honda car while running, and he quickly hid at one of the sides of the car so the gangs could run past. He was tired of running, and he didn’t want to get robbed either.
He was still hiding at the side of the car when the gangs began running past…then all of a sudden, one of them stopped running and began glancing around.
He hadn’t seen Jay yet, but he was having this feeling that someone was hiding around here. Jay’s eyes widened the moment he saw this, and his heart began beating so fast.
The worst part of it was that the person was holding a pistol in his hand, and it seemed like he was in his mid-twenties…
If he set eyes on Jay, a lot of unpleasant things were going to happen. He would definitely try to rob Jay, and Jay would try to struggle, and he would end up getting shot.
He didn’t want all of these to happen, so he just hid there without moving an inch. His heart was still beating so fast, he was so scared. The guy was still standing there glancing around with that pistol in his hand.
..And after the passing of some seconds, he ran off.
Jay breathed a sigh of relief the moment that happened, then he thought to himself,
‘That was a close call’.
He didn’t come out of his hiding place immediately, he stayed there for some minutes making sure none of the gangs were around anymore before coming out.
And truly, all of them had run forward, none of them were around anymore. And while walking forward, he saw people walking about on the streets like nothing happened.
They weren’t that many though. But for people to be walking about shows that everywhere was safe now.
“I could have been shot some minutes ago, or I could have gotten robbed. Getting shot would have been the one that would have most likely happened, I know myself. Thank goodness none of them happened”. Jay muttered to himself while still walking.
His aim now was to reach the spot where he does stay to board cabs that drive him home. That was his aim earlier on before sounds of gunshots started resounding.
Jay was a lover of music, so as he was walking, he brought out ear pods and put them into his ears. Then he brought out his phone next, connected it to the ear pods, and played a particular song.
Yes, he wanted to be listening to songs while walking. Once that song finishes, another song would begin playing…
He became so immersed in the songs while listening to them and walking on the road. In fact, he wasn’t hearing any other thing right now apart from the songs that were resounding in his ears.
Getting immersed in songs was so easy for him because he was a music lover.
He was still walking on the road listening to music when he noticed people glancing at him with widened eyes like something unpleasant was about to happen to him.
Then he noticed some of them signifying him to glance at his left-hand side. The moment he did that, he saw that a truck had gotten so close to him…and before he could do anything, the truck hit him so hard as he flew and landed on the ground.
The ear pods came out of his ears, and his phone cracked due to the intensity of the hitting. He heard screams, and he saw terror on people’s faces the moment he landed on the ground.
..All these happened due to the music he was listening to.
He covered his ears with ear pods, was so immersed in the songs he was listening to, and wasn’t aware of his environment while walking.
The person driving the truck didn’t mean to hit him. But Jay suddenly appeared on the road while he was driving, it was so unexpected. And though he stepped on the brake, it was already too late.
Jay felt life leaving him while lying on the ground, his eyes were already becoming blurry. He saw the truck driver come out of the truck and begin running toward him.
He just escaped getting robbed and most likely getting shot which would have led to death. He escaped getting killed by a living thing only for a non-living thing to put him in a life and death situation after the passing of a few minutes?
He was about to lose his life to a truck, a fucking non-living thing…what a foolish way to die.
‘After escaping getting killed by a living thing, I’m about to lose my life to a non-living thing. Damn!’. Jay thought to himself as he was still lying on the ground.
He couldn’t help but laugh internally due to how he was about to die. Although lots of people were glancing at him with widened eyes and shock on their faces, none of them ran toward him to help him reach the hospital or something.
It was only the truck driver that kept running toward him until he reached him, bent, and touched him.
..Jay kept feeling life leave him until he gave up the ghost completely.