Behold, a Fragment of My Former Existence!

About a lifetime ago, there was somebody—whom one could've called a nobody—that so pleasantly meandered through the days laid out for him. He would find satisfaction in the simple idea of survival. This didn't mean he was free from worry or doubt, however, for problems did exist and would commonly flaunt disorder at him.

But they were not to his detriment.

You see, he was the type to perceive himself as a blessing to the very fabric of reality. That meant he viewed self-sufficiency as something extraneous in terms of priority, and he felt it incumbent upon the world to satisfy his wants and needs. In other words, he was what many people would deem an "entitled brat."

The world soon showed him retribution as a result of his arrogance. He was only a boy! Others may have excused his iniquity for that reason, however justice from a divine hand was indiscriminate. That fact became woefully axiomatic.

He was no longer receiving provisions for that which he did not toil for. If he wanted to live, he was to work just as everyone else did. The idea that his existence was somehow a favor to humankind had been subdued, and what was now plain to see was a truth regarding his infinitesimal remarkability. It was difficult to swallow, but the boy did it anyway, for the morbid cries of his dying soul left him with no other choice but to painfully ingest what he wished to turn a perpetual blind eye to.

Caught up in his own struggle for survival, it would be quite a while before he turned his eyes away from himself and gauged the statuses of his contemporaries. Only then did time, presumably elapsing at a fixed rate for each and every individual, become unfathomable.

How had the gap between them grown so incredibly large? How had he fallen so far behind? Did he really spend that long gazing at nobody but himself?

The boy pondered those questions in a brief moment of disbelief. Once he realized that rumination was meaningless, he began to frantically try and compensate for his squandered hours. He attempted to learn and practice what the others had already mastered, all the while conceiving potential ambitions to adopt and pursue.

Most of the necessary skills came naturally to him. He had held the presupposition that belatedly delving into that competitive world would be strenuous yet invigorating, leaving him with a sense of fulfillment in the end.

That was not the case at all. To the boy, this new world was…unexpectedly disillusioning.

He couldn't seem to comprehend how the others found satisfaction from such a life. They exerted great effort to the supposed end of living happily and comfortably in the future—as if a fanciful denouement was promised to them.

What a complete and utter fallacy!

There was nothing in the world that could truly deliver fulfillment without fail. Contentment was only ever capricious. The boy thought, since he appeared to be the only one to understand this fact, that perhaps he was special after all. The others couldn't have known; their continual willingness to struggle for the false promise made to them indicated just as much.

So he was the sole person who had not been deceived.

A touch of serendipity had been added to his fate, and it allowed him to discern what veritably mattered in life from the pointless endeavors of the astray. He went on to purge those endeavors and made one basic idea the priority of his existence.

"Lately, I feel as if I've become a quitter."

That passing thought would occasionally cause him to question his own judgment, but it was quickly disregarded. He knew that there was no true destination. People could only wander or drown. What he put his faith in was the thing that helped him resist the grapples of fearsome rip tides and gave him the strength to stand up and wander time and time again. It was the one thing keeping him afloat.

Survival.

It was survival.

***

There are certain times where you feel as if you're not human, but rather something trying to masquerade as one. You may question whether you're walking, speaking, eating, and even breathing in the same manner that everyone else does. That is what I call unintentional uniqueness, and believe me, it is much different from intentional uniqueness. Nobody but a madman would want their awkward idiosyncrasies to be recognized, much less mocked.

There are also times where others are so repulsed by you—or you by yourself—that you simply can't seem to call the person you see in the mirror a normal human anymore. You'll probably feel like some sort of wild animal or monster, and you may even start to wonder how someone like you is allowed to roam freely without being on a leash or chained up.

It's embarrassing to admit, but I had been subjected to both of those terrible feelings (mostly the latter) after only a day or two of living with Lyra and her grandchildren.

I'd sort of gotten used to Lyra throwing her typical insults at me, and it was clear that Erin had somewhat inherited her rotten personality. So surprisingly enough, those two weren't actually the main causes of my extreme mortification.

It was the children.

Kids were notorious for being blunt, but I didn't understand the extent of it until I started being around them more. No matter how rude, they would tell you what they were thinking. And because there was a sliver of truth behind what they'd say about me, I must admit, I took some of their words to heart.

Marius would say things like, "Haha! Your sneeze sounds like a rhinoceros!"

"A…rhinoceros?"

I wasn't used to being insulted like that, okay? I was only familiar with the Lyra-style "you're a worthless bum" and "your parents should've never birthed you in the first place." My sneeze being compared to the sound of a wild animal was completely new ground. And what Marius said sounded so specific that I felt it actually might've been true.

To add insult to injury, Maya would often laugh at Marius's remarks and tease me in a similar way, pretty much reaffirming what her brother said. In this case, she pointed at me and taunted, "Haha! Rhinoceros! Rhinoceros!"

Needless to say, any time after that where I had to sneeze around people, I held it in.

That's beside the point, though. You're probably wondering how my attempt to weasel my way into a job went.

Well, to put it simply, it was strange. Really strange.

Once noon had come, I made my way over to Celestia while practicing an act of dignity.

I have to be calm. I have to be serious. If I mess this up, I'll never live it down.

The stakes were extremely high. If I did get rejected, I'd still have chances at other places, of course, but this was such a menial job that rejection quite literally meant failure as an individual.

Upon entering the restaurant, I saw Yannis sitting at one of the tables, and he waved hello to me. I guess he'd been waiting.

"Adriel! I'm so glad you came! I was so excited that I couldn't do anything but sit here and be on the lookout for you," he said, getting up to greet me.

Such an eerily kind and enthusiastic manager. I couldn't imagine him turning someone down. I bet he would've hired a murderer if he'd taken a liking to them.

"Your expectations of me seem really high…" I said, shaking his hand. "I won't let you down."

To be honest, I probably would end up letting him down in the future, but telling that to him would only have been detrimental to my chances. I wasn't confident, but I had to appear that way.

"You're right. For some reason, I feel like you have the potential to make this restaurant of mine into an even greater establishment. There's just something about you that makes me have hope for the future."

I…didn't know what to say.

What the hell? Is he in love with me or something? All I have is room for disappointment now.

I tried to carefully choose my words. "Wow, I'm flattered. But don't you think you view me a little too…highly? I mean, I can't really cook, so wouldn't I just be serving and helping around in the kitchen?"

Yannis thought for a moment. I haven't the slightest clue what he could've been thinking about, but he was, or at least appeared to be, thinking.

"Yeah, I guess so. Still, I like to trust my intuition, for better or worse. And it's telling me that you'll be the one to save this place. Our messiah, basically."

A pause. I was visibly shocked. I sure hope he didn't notice.

I sincerely pray that he's joking…I sincerely pray that he doesn't think I'll be the one to turn this place into a multi-billion dollar establishment…

At that point, it felt like anything I did or said would end up hurting me. So I hoped for a miracle sent directly by God that would allow me to avoid the burden of responding.

And surprisingly, it came.

"Why are you still here? Weren't you going to do an interview?"

A tall, seemingly poised man walked up to Yannis. He wore the typical white chef garments, which pretty much revealed all that I needed to know. It wasn't until I got a good look at his face that I was struck with shock and curiosity. There were a few seconds of silence where we simply made eye contact and verified our assumptions about each other, and then we spoke.

"Adriel?"

"Nox?"

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It really was him.

His eyes lit up. "Adriel!"

I smiled. "Nox!"

We hurried over to each other, and I impulsively gave him a warm embrace. I was being a little facetious and just wanted to make him feel uncomfortable, but I actually didn't realize how much I'd wanted to reunite with him until that very moment.

"I really missed you," I said as if I was fighting the urge to let tears fall.

It wasn't long before Nox returned my embrace. For some reason, I faintly heard the sound of sniffles coming from him. We eventually let go and I caught sight of his face, which left me completely taken aback. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. Snot dripped from his nose. He was really crying.

"Whoa, why're you crying?!" I asked.

"It's just…life was so terrible without you…" he said through his whimpers.

"Nox," said Yannis, "you know Adriel? But how?"

In an instant, Nox's expression conspicuously shifted. He was now grinning innocently. I should've known. The guy had always been like this.

"We go way back! I've known him since high school. He was my cute little underclassman."

"I see. You know, he's the guy I was telling you about. He's the one applying to work here."

Nox looked my way, shocked. "What?! You want to work in a lousy place like this? But why? I always thought you'd become someone famous and important!"

"Lousy? Don't make me fire you!" Yannis exclaimed, balling his hand up into a fist.

"Don't worry about him," Nox whispered to me. "He couldn't even fire me if he wanted to. I own part of the restaurant. He just likes to express his false sense of authority because he has nothing better to do. Miserable, right?"

I smiled. "Yeah, that's pretty miserable…"

"What did you say?! You're both fired!"

"No! Please no!" Nox clasped his hands together. "Beg, Adriel! We have to beg!"

There was no professionalism whatsoever. I was trying my best not to look down on them, but they were like two children trying to run a business. It was somehow working out, however, seeing as how they had so many loyal customers.

"Fine. I'll spare you for now," said Yannis. "You should go away, though. Adriel and I have an interview to start."

"Interview? Really? You should just hire him right away. From what I remember, he was a prodigy."

Yannis looked over and examined me. "Is that so?"

Curse you, Nox. I won't ever forgive you.

I didn't know what I was signing up for anymore. My old friend eventually left us, and, despite his words recommending against it, Yannis and I began the interview at last. I tried my best not to let the high expectations get to my head. There were a series of questions and scenarios that he threw at me, and I feel like I handled them pretty well.

But there was just one prompt that I was a bit reluctant to answer.

"Adriel…tell me the story of your life."