AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Me:screaming is actually a stress response, so it probably didn’t like it when you disturbed it. What kind of hamster is it?
Kai:oh, when hamsters scream it’s a ‘stress response,’ but when I do it, I’m a nuisance:/
Kai:Um, pretty sure it’s a Syrian
Me:What are you going to do?
Kai:I'll ask the guy I got the piano off if it's his, but if not, I'll take it to a pet shop tomorrow after school
This makes me smile. If I found a hamster, I would definitely want to keep it, but my current circumstances with lack of funds and my parents’ failing marriage would force me to give it away. I know Kai’s only handing over the hamster due to lack of knowledge, but the logic still stands. There’s nothing that angers me more than people choosing to keep pets because they want to, instead of considering the needs of the animal.
Kai:Do you think that’s why the piano was free??
Me:Yeah, I’m sure the owner saw the hamster in it and just thought ‘I’m gonna have to get rid of the whole thing now.’
Kai:IDK, this hamster is pretty scary
I snort.
Someone clears their throat, and I look up to find a customer waiting to be served.
The rest of my shift drifts by uneventfully, although it does get particularly busy. Archer doesn’t stop by, and doubt begins to creep in. Maybe I overreacted. I didn’t even give him opportunity to explain himself, and he’ll definitely want nothing to do with me now.
When I get home, I sit on the roof of my porch and stare up at the stars. The world is so vast; I still can’t quite believe we’re all enclosed in it. I live on the same planet as Cillian Murphy, as Johnny Depp, as Henry-freaking-Cavill. We share the same moon and the same sun, but we’re thousands of miles apart.
When I think about Archer, I think about all those other people experiencing a worse heartbreak. Somewhere in the world, someone’s dad has just died. Somewhere in the world, someone’s just killed themselves. Somewhere in the world, a child wonders why his parents choose drugs over him.
Heartbreak is subjective, but it takes another, heavier heartbreak of someone else to make yours feel lighter.
Me:do you ever wonder what we actually are??
Kai:why do I feel like you’re about to ruin my high
Me:I mean, like, we’re just animals. We’re literally apes that have evolved and took control of the world. We’re animals, and we’ve built an entire new life for ourselves. We live in houses and we drive cars and we have cognitive abilities, like thoughts and feelings, but none of it is real. We’ve made this life for ourselves, with these corrupt educational systems—we’re told we have to attend school and wear this uniform and that we must have one thing we’re passionate about but we can choose only that, and that we have to do it for the rest of our lives. We go to school, to college, to university, to work. Do we ever leave that cycle?? Are we always in education?? Why are we okay being controlled like that?
Kai:I don’t believe anyone is okay with that, but it’ll take more than one person to revolt, and most are afraid to. If we don’t work, we don’t have money, and we need money to survive.
Kai:if people don’t work, who will empty the bins? Who will fix our broken bones and operate on us? Who will save us from fatal road accidents? Who will put out fires? I understand what you’re saying, but it’s not feasible. We’ve gone too far to turn back
Me:I wonder what it must be like, to not know when you’re going to die. I think life would be more fulfilling, because we’re so focused on making sure we do everything before it’s our time that life just turns into a giant bucket list. Living without the burden of death would make us fearless
Kai:it would also reduce the population of the world
Me:It would?
Kai:Why do you think wildlife are constantly killed on roads? They don’t think they’re going to die if they run across it. Imagine if humans did that—imagine the casualties.
Me:Yeah, that would be chaotic
Me:wow, I would not want to be treated by a doctor who has no consideration for death
Kai:the surgeons would probably fix you right back up with duct tape and send you on your way
I tip my head back and laugh. And then I bite my lip.
Me:can I ask you something?
Kai:You may
