~Intermission~ Abandoned Friend

Early Morning.

West District, Metro City.

The soft, muted light of the early morning peeled through the window blinds to cast pale stripes across the expected mess of Jake's room.

Cardboard boxes and instruction manuals lay scattered on the floor like abandoned ruins, surrounding him as he sat on the edge of his bed. His fingers moved with absolute ease as he slotted tiny golden pieces together as if assembling a mere jigsaw puzzle instead of a 14,000-piece model warship.

Each click of the pieces snapping into place echoed in the quiet room.

His eyes, however, were dull.

Like a youth who had completely lost all paths he could've taken in life—broken.

The ship's skeletal frame grew beneath his hands.

The intricacy and complexity of its golden hull—it was truly nothing like the emptiness in his eyes.

He placed another piece, exhaled slowly, and muttered.