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

Arnaldo yawned and rubbed his eyes as he sat on his black travel bag. It was currently five in the morning and the sun wasn't even out yet, the only light coming from the lone street lamp in the school's parking lot. Laura was sitting next to him on her own purple travel bag, her chin resting on her palm and foot tapping in annoyance. The Italian reached into his vest and pulled out his flask.


"Isn't it a bit early for that?" asked Laura.


"Shut up," he said bitterly as he took one long sip.


Laura sighed and continued to just stare into nothing. Just then they heard the sound of large footsteps coming from the shadows and Arnaldo immediately knew who it was. The source of the footsteps stepped into the light and revealed Sven with a large army bag on his back.


"It's five in the morning. Why in the world does he have sunglasses on?"


"Morning. You two seem excited," joked the Swede as he walked over to Arnaldo, who finally removed the flask from his lips.


Chapter 28