I’m starting a story, simply because it’s banging around in my head. Some of it is autobiographical, and some of it is plainly creative. I don’t have a title yet.
Meet Robert. Robert Wells. And it was Robert, not Rob (which he didn’t actually mind) or Robby (which he despised). Robert was a normal sort of guy. 6’3″-ish tall. Brown-ish hair. Red-ish beard. Plump-ish. Robert lived in Chicago. Robert liked to watch cartoons and shows about science and history. Robert knew more about music than most. Robert enjoyed many types of cuisine, but preferred his food to have an Asian flair. Robert loved to drink with his friends, and was quite fond of Guinness and different kinds of Vodka. Robert went out of his way to help his friends, probably more than he should, and was more cynical than he should have been to people he didn’t know. But, most of all, Robert was unhappy.
It all started with a divorce. Scratch that, it all started with growing up in a travel trailer. OK, never mind, it all started when he didn’t have a father. He had worked through most of that though, and felt he was pretty OK with his distant past. Lately, he had been more concerned with his recent past, and the bleak future he felt was ahead of him.
Robert had had a difficult year. A year of no days off, making next to nothing, and being worn out for far too long. A year of broken hearts and splintered psyche. Now he was left with a feeling of emptiness. He felt like a spent rifle round; a cartridge lying on the ground, encrusted with the burnt remnants of what once was his power.
The emptiness had increased due to a few completely failed relationships over the past year. A long term relationship that made him feel foolish, and a short term relationship that he still dreamed of. Robert knew many girls, quite a few very attractive to him, but always found himself alone anyways. There was Samantha (who was too young for a bar, and he felt that if he couldn’t take a girl to a bar, he shouldn’t try to bite her butt), Anna (who said she was into him, then flipped like a half-cooked pancake), Keira (who just seemed uninterested as a whole), and many more. He felt like he wasn’t trying too hard, but knew he probably was. He didn’t know what a middle ground was any longer. What was a middle ground anyways? Robert had never figured that out.
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