Eri

Eri sat at the old wooden table of her dingy apartment. The faded wallpaper had begun to peel at the edges, and the creaking floor conveyed years of no maintenance. A mix of money and effort that Eri could not afford to invest in her own life. Her dining room and living room were combined, showing how cheap the one bedroom apartment really was. A clock on the wall ticked the seconds away. Eri never even looked at it, instead glancing down to her phone. Her homescreen showed a time of 10:08 PM, as well as a lack of any notifications.

That morning she had spent the money to buy high quality printer ink to print out birthday invitations to put inside of every locker in her college classes. She spent hours the night before painstakingly selecting each color and font, desperate to appeal to someone, anyone, who might want to enjoy her special day with her. But now, long after the scheduled time labeled on the invitation Eri began to finally give up the hope she had kept in her heart all day.

Eri: "I guess-... I guess they didn't check their lockers today. Heh..."

She muttered quietly, trying to find comedy in the excuse that she developed to escape her saddening reality.

As she put the phone down, her eyes landed on the small store-bought birthday cake placed on the table, a symbol of her attempt to find joy in a solitary celebration. She glanced over to her old, disfigured teddy bear, a relic from her childhood, Mr. Snuggles. She had propped him up onto one of the four seats she had hopefully set up. Eri: "You bought me a birthday cake??" She asked her stuffed bear with a genuine smile, a glimpse of her innocence. It was obvious that she herself had bought the cake, but she let herself feign ignorance. Eri: "My birthday is almost over... still no messages... but at least I got you, right?" She asked her stuffed bear. She waited for a response, a lump forming in her throat as the bear, of course, did not respond. After a few minutes of a one sided conversation with the bear, a glimmer of hope appeared as she heard some noise just outside her window. Could it be people wanting to come to her birthday party? Her heart pounded as she sat in her chair expectantly with an eager look. But instead, she saw a flash outside her window. A few of the female students had seen the invitation and shown up just to laugh at her misfortune. Her once eager smile turned into a pout as they came into view, their cameras flashing and their voices piercing her soul. Girl 1: "I can't believe it! She really is here! Was she talking to herself?! What a weirdo! Told you this wouldn't be a waste of time!" The girls clearly entertained, laughing to the point of tearing up. They finalized with a mocking, "Say hi for the camera, freak!" and another flash of a phone camera, Eri's misery was cemented in photo, a permanent scar on her social life, or lack thereof. Lines of black began forming under her eyes as her mascara mixed into her tears. She said nothing, her face pale, her eyes empty, as the group laughed and walked away, their cruel laughter echoing through the night just outside her window.

She sat in silence, a crushing weight settling in her chest as exhaustion begins to overtake her. But 20 minutes a knock on her door startled her out of her dazed state. Hopeful, yet reluctant at the same time, she slowly gets up from her chair and goes to the door, cracking it open just a little to see who's standing outside.