Not long after our television blew up, the hotel staff came frantically running up to our room to check out what the loud bang was; people could probably hear it halfway around the world with how loud it was. The last time that happened, Krakatoa erupted in 1883.
"Jeez, you kids light a firework in your room or something?" a worker asked with eyes wide as a plate.
"No, your TV exploded and nearly killed us both! Fix your televisions!" Malcolm replied, annoyed.
"What are you talking about?" she asked in disbelief before walking into our room and gasping from seeing the hole.
"Now you see, how long has this television been here?" I asked, pretending as if it was the hotel's fault somehow. As horrible as it sounds, I didn't feel all that bad about blaming them for the explosion; my personality had become devoid of anything resembling positivity by that point.
"Oh... uh, five years maybe? Why in all the time we've had televisions, not one did that. If you guys want, I can replace your set at no added cost; I'm sorry this happened to you all," she said with a look that said, "How does this even happen?"
"Sure, that would be nice," Malcolm replied lazily, stretching.
"Okay, I'll be back in about half an hour; stay safe," she said, walking downstairs.
"You too," I replied as I received a call. It was from my mother. Despite her likely being worried sick about me, I ignored it. I felt unworthy to ever meet my parents again like I was the swine of all the earth. I didn't hang up or anything, but I let it ring for a while until it stopped.
"Your mom called?" Malcolm replied, going back to his bed.
"Yeah, I don't feel like picking up, though. You ever have days where you feel like you're the scummiest person alive? Because, let me tell you, I sure do. Man, if a car were to be speeding in my direction, I'd just let it roll right on by and hit me. In fact, I might just jump in front of one," I replied through angry tears.
"You're scaring me, man," Malcolm anxiously replied, noticing my unstable state of mind.
"Look, I'm just going through something right now, something that you can't understand no matter how much you try to. Think of yourself as Tantalus; no matter how hard you try, you will never reach that fruit tree, alright?" I replied, bursting out crying. I put my face into my pillow and wept until there were no tears left.
"Hey, it'll be okay," he said in a soothing tone, rubbing my back.
"How can you be so sure?" I asked in disbelief.
"Sometimes, you just know. Come on, maybe we could take a walk or something; they always help me," he said supportively.
"Fine," I replied, getting up.
YOU ARE READING
The October Amaryllis
Science FictionClive Andrews is a typical 16-year-old boy who never had anything out of the ordinary happen until May 16th, 2020, when he was struck by several feet of ball lightning and nearly killed. After being discharged from the hospital, he realizes that he...
