The Shadow of Eudaimonia

Chapter 0: Two Strangers from the Sky

Calvin slumped over his chair; his vision was starting to get blurry. In his right hand is an unlit, a bit crumpled stick of cigarette, and on the other is a bottle of beer that used to be cold but now has become stale and warm. Whenever drunk, Calvin wonders about things he never thought he would ask, like how his hand transferred warmth to his beer. Or how ironic it is that all of his cells were doing its best to make him stay alive and yet, here he is in this dainty place slowly killing himself with nicotine and alcohol.

To Calvin, it was better to stay out at night, drunk and numb, rather than staying at his house with his dad. No one knew he was here, not even his friends— if ever he had one. No one even gives a shit that he was an underage schoolboy that has classes tomorrow. Sure, he looked older than his age. One look at his stressed baggy eyes and anyone would nod and agree that those cold-dead eyes had seen the horrible truth of adulthood and how much of a scam it was to dream. Besides, he was just a few months from being eighteen and a complete juiced-up trash anyway.

"Stupid Ma'am Rodgriguez," he muttered to himself before guzzling the last of his bitter drink instead of wasting it. He knew he can't take another ounce of beer in his system but he'd feel awful not drinking it. Ma'am Rodriguez was his Physics teacher and he hated her guts for calling him an idiot in front of all his classmates just this morning. Just because he couldn't answer her question, he was humiliated and made him feel worse than trash. It doesn't help that some of his classmates are also downright awful for laughing at him, agreeing to their evil teacher's harsh words.

With no more alcohol in his grasp, Calvin waved his hand up in the air, eyes closed and face looking down like he's some sort of a marionette. He wasn't even sure if anyone saw it but of course, there were waiters literally waiting for him to get the check. Frankly, they breathed a sigh of relief to know that he's still conscious even after drinking a bucket of beer alone.

"Sir, here's your bill!" the waiter shouted when Calvin didn't notice his arrival initially.

"Oh," Calvin blinked away his drowsiness and sloppily took the bill from the waiter. He squinted and tried to read what's written but the erratic burst of lights coming from seemingly everywhere worsened his vertigo. "Shit, how much is this?"

"570 pesos sir,"

Calvin's face contorted. "What? Mm-better-be-fuckin-kidding-me," he slurred his words making it almost unintelligible.

"No sir, it really says 570 pesos,"

"This-is-bull—" Calvin stopped mid-sentence. He felt what will come out of his mouth next were not words but something visceral. Quickly, he fished for his wallet, took 600, and ran out of the bar scurrying at an alleyway where he puked out all the alcohol he tried not to waste. At least, after emptying his stomach, he felt much better, enough for him to walk back at the bar and claim his change. Calvin gritted his teeth.

With his brief and temporary soberness, he finally decided to go home and rest up. But along the way, he saw a beggar at the alleyway where he just vomited. It was an old woman lying on the cold concrete street, who unlike Calvin, doesn't mind the combination of the stench of piss, smoke, and freshly deposited vomit— the usual smell of Manila. Calvin paused for a second. Then, he took out the change from his pocket that he just shoved idly earlier, and handed it to the old woman.

"Take it," he said. "I'll use that money to ruin my liver anyway. At least for you, you'll use it to survive for another day."

Calvin waited for a response but he only heard thunderclaps that loomed over the depressing city. Not a second had passed, a heavy drop of rain fell on Calvin's head, then another, until it was pouring as if a basin of water fell from above forcing Calvin and the old woman frantic for shade. Quicker than a snap, a lightning flashed overhead, and illuminated the alleyway briefly. Calvin looked up in the starless sky and saw something falling down. He couldn't believe his eyes but he watched as the figure fell down on a stack of old mattresses lying haphazardly around five meters where Calvin was. The impact of the fall made the old woman jump and scurry away but Calvin remained rooted on his spot. He wanted to flee as well yet his feet were inching forward. Calvin's cold sweat mixed with the bland rain seemed to have flushed all the alcohol in his system. It looks like a person, he thought. He wasn't sure at first but as a silhouette of a man came out from where the impact took place, he confirmed it. Even just by looking from afar, Calvin knew that the man was hurt. He ran towards him to help but a loud thud from the ground behind him made him stop from his track and he dared to look back. Just as Calvin thought that things couldn't be any weirder, what lies behind him was a gruesome splatter of flesh and bones. A pool of warm dark blood began to mix with the dirty rainwater. It was a body of a woman with her limbs twisted all in the wrong direction, bones sticking out from her pale skin and one of her eyes popped right out of its socket. She looked like a cockroach stepped on brutally by a giant foot. Calvin felt sick and heaved. He wanted to vomit again!