Aljoša Rodinger, pen name AL Rodinger, is a 21-year-old writer and amateur boxer currently studying history and English literature at the University of Maribor. He was born on 1.7.1999 in Maribor, Slovenia and attended the Rada Robič Elementary School in Limbuš. He began to take interest in the English language from a very early age and by the beginning of his 6th grade was already a fluent speaker of the language. After finishing his elementary school education, he attended the First Grammar School in Maribor as a student of the classics, where he was exposed to a lot of in-depth history, as well as both Latin and ancient Greek. It is there where he began and later on finished writing his book, Killjoys. It is also around this time where he began practicing boxing. After graduating, he enrolled in the University of Maribor as a student of both history and English literature. Currently, he is also employed at the Marbior Slovene National Theatre as an usher. 

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you, if you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two impostors just the same. Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, and - which is more - you'll be a man, my son.”

These are the words that start our tale of four friends, their deep and personal friendship and their own coming of ages, where they finally come to terms with their own flaws and manage to find perfection in being imperfect and broken. It is a story about accepting yourself with all of your strengths and weakness, living life with all of its ups and downs, experiencing pain and joy, confronting both your inner demons as well as the people closest to you. 

Our character’s lives are entwined with discrimination, hatred, addiction and death, yet it always seems that there is some resemblance of light, of contempt at the end of the dark and long tunnel before us. We just simply have to find a way to get to it and make our own path.

Killjoys

"Now, what did we learn?" asked Arnaldo as he carried Laura to his bedroom.


"Fuck you-" groaned Laura as she clutched her stomach.


"Exactly! Don't eat all of my snacks. Self-explanatory really, but I guess some people have to learn things the hard way," he said as he placed her down on the recliner. 


"I'm going to go get you some medicine; you look like you need it," she confirmed the assumption with another groan and he made his way to the bathroom.


On his way back from the bathroom he stopped in front of Maria's room. He opened the door and quietly stepped in. 


He saw Angelica sleeping peacefully on Maria's bed, while his sister was typing away on her laptop with an open textbook in her lap. She was so focused on her work, that she didn't even notice him walking up behind her until he placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.


"You seem really focused on this project."


"Maria," he said as he spun her chair around so that she faced him "you've been acting weird ever since Angelica got here. And I don't mean weird as in that-one-time-you-tried-to-make-napalm weird." 


She looked away from his knowing gaze and took a deep breath.


"I-I think I love her-" she confessed in a barely audible whisper. Arnaldo sighed and pulled her in for a hug.


"I loved her since sixth grade when she first showed up in my class."


"-yeah-" she whispered nuzzling deeper into his chest.


"And you still haven't told her because-?"


"Oh come on. What's there to be afraid of?"


"What if she doesn't like girls? Or worse, what if she's homophobic? What if she will hate me if I tell? What if-what if she rejects me?" she said as her tears began to stain his white shirt.


"Maria, I know that is a scary thought for you, but it's just something that you will have to go through sooner or later," he said as he began to rock her back and forth. 


"I know it's tough, but we all have to learn this lesson at some point in our life."


"But what if I can't handle the rejection?" she asked, gazing up at him with tears still falling from her eyes.


"Well, we will cross that bridge once we get to it."


"O-Ok, I'll tell her. Thanks for the advice," she said, letting out a shaky breath. 


"Hey, it's what I'm here for. Now I probably should go and give this medicine to Laura before she makes a mess out of my bedroom," he explained, kissing her forehead before he waved her goodbye and quietly closed her door.


He re-entered his bedroom and threw the medicine at Laura, who began to take small sips. He sat down on the window sill and grabbed his pipe. Taking another hit, he laid his back against the wall. 


He looked at the smoke coming from the end of the pipe. the smoke from the pipe almost resembled an oriental dancer. The way it moved around in the air felt hypnotising and he took another hit. 


His eyes felt heavy and he soon fell asleep.


Chapter 12