If you had something to do then you should be doing it right now. Don’t hesitate to complete that task. Because the more you wait, you’ll just end up pushing it even further back. That’s what we call procrastination.

You can say, ‘I’ll finish my laundry but I can always do it tomorrow.’ You’re doing yourself a huge disservice. That ‘tomorrow’ will always stay the way it is. It will always be the next day.

You can say, ‘I’ll wash the dishes tonight.’ You had plenty of time to do other things right? No reason to bother doing it right now.

That’s the thing with procrastination. It brings the satisfaction in the immediate moment. You believe you have already done that task. Hard work itself was hard to begin on its own. There was no excitement to start that hard work. Only right after you complete that task that you feel great about yourself. The effort was mostly the problem.

That’s it. The root of the problem with procrastination was the lack of effort we want to put into a simple task. We like the idea of doing that task. But in the end, we don’t want to put the effort. Remove the idea of satisfaction and just do it before it’s too late.

What’s messed up was that you set yourself to do a task in the future. Your future self will hate you for it but your current self doesn’t give a damn. In the end, you bring yourself into ruin.

I know procrastination can be a terrible mindset but I couldn’t help but follow through it. It’s just how lazy I am.

I lied down on the floor planning to do whatever it was I planned to do for the next day. I had forgotten what I had planned to do in the first place.

“David, this is the fourth time I’ve read through your bookshelf. Get new books.”

“I’ll visit the library tomorrow.”

“You said that yesterday.”

“And today, I say I’ll do it tomorrow.”

And that’s the problem with procrastination.

Lucy sighed and with a walk of shame, she walked to my bookshelf once again. She picked out the first volume of this long-running manga series.

Ever since Lucy moved out, I’ve had my bed to myself. Lucy was too bored to bother lying around doing nothing, so she took the floor instead. She read the manga while lying on her belly.

I couldn’t help myself to remember what was I supposed to do.

I tried to think hard but nothing came to mind.

There was a cool breeze blowing through the window. It was much colder than it usually was. It was almost the end of summer after all.

“Ah, I think I remembered.”

Before I could finish my thought, there was a knock at the door.

Lucy got up and answered it.

“Who are you?”

Lucy said nonchalantly.

“That’s no way to speak to your sister.”

Lucy opened the door and went back to her usual spot on the ground.

Coming from the door was Raphie. She had a bunch of plastic bags filled with items she had brought in hand and her own purse hanging from her shoulder. She wore a casual outfit with jeans and a sweater. Judging from her clothing, it wasn’t as warm as it used to be.

It’s been a while since I was outside...

“Hey Raphie, what brings you here?”

I asked while staring back at the ceiling.

“David, what are you doing?”

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“I’m enjoying what remains of my summer.”

Raphie sighed and looked down at me from the side of my bed.

She gave a disappointed look and dropped the plastic bags at the side of the bed. I had a funny smile to break the ice. But that disappointed look was still there.

“You know that school is starting soon. Right?”

“Yeah, I kinda forgot.”

“You can’t be this irresponsible David.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I rolled my eyes and tried to ignore Raphie.

I couldn’t help but think that Raphie was taking responsibility for me. Sure she was the one who brought me back but it was kind of annoying.

“Look at this place. It’s a mess.”

“Guess why.”

“It wasn’t me.”

Lucy said in the background. She was buried in the book she was reading.

“David, you gotta keep your place clean.”

“Okay, Raphie. I think I can handle myself.”

“Oh yeah? Look at yourself, you even stink.”

I look down at my clothes. It wasn’t too bad. I was just wearing some old gym shorts and a white t-shirt. Sure I haven’t changed in the past two days…

Maybe it was a little worse than I thought.

“Fine, I’ll get changed.”

“And clean up this place.”

“Fine mom.”

I made a funny face at Raphie and all she did was glare at me.

She would make a fine parent.

I finished cleaning up after myself. It took a while but I think I was proud of what I’ve done. There’s that satisfaction after finishing some work. Ah, it feels great. I want more, I want more!

But then the idea of putting effort into something made me feel down again. Damn you procrastination. I should’ve continued while I was ahead.

“Good job David.”

“No thanks to you.”

“It’s not my apartment.”

“And you Lucy, you practically live here,” I said.

“Not my problem.”

Damn devil…

“Now that this place is cleaned up, we can celebrate.”

Raphie pulled out a bunch of drinks from the plastic bags. It was beer.

“I don’t drink often.”

“But I do!”

Lucy jumped up off the floor.

Raphie tried to resist, but Lucy pried the bottle off of Raphie’s hands.

Raphie sighed as Lucy poured herself a drink. She then took the bottle away. I wouldn’t want Lucy to completely get drunk. I would understand that Raphie would have to deal with a drunk Lucy later on today.

Why Raphie would bring drinks to celebrate was because we finally defeated the hardest dungeon in HellsCraft Online.

For the past week, Lucy, Raphie, Colin, Evan and I had been running through the dungeon non-stop. We always failed to defeat the final boss, Lucifer. It wasn’t until last night that we had finally defeated Lucifer. The Lucifer that was in the game of course.

The real Lucifer in front of me was too busy drinking. After a few minutes, Raphie stored the alcohol away from Lucy’s sight. When Raphie came back, Lucy was already kind of drunk.

“I love you Raphie, now get me another drink.”

“No. You had enough.”

“Come on!”

I only took an initial shot of whiskey with Raphie. I had to celebrate after all. I got everyone through the dungeon. We all coordinated well and it was a well-fought victory.

Lucy walked around like her limbs were loose. She couldn’t walk straight at all. I set her down on my chair. She was completely out of it.

“What a mess,” I whispered.

“But she’s my mess.”

Raphie and I laughed out loud.

“Well, school is starting soon. You ready David?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Like I thought.”

Raphie went over to another plastic bag and took out a bunch of school supplies. There were notebooks and pencils.

“I bought you this just in case.”

“Thanks, Raphie.”

I took and went through the plastic bag. It was enough notebooks for each class.

“I was kind of hoping you would skip this semester but I think you’re doing fine so far.”

“What do you mean?”

“You died after all.”

Raphie put her hands on her waist.

“You recovered real quick, you know that?”

“And you’re still concerned?”

“You weren’t prepared for school in the first place.”

She scolded me like a mother.

“You got me there.”

“Lazy as ever David.”

Raphie smiled while scolding me.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

I hope so.

I looked over to my computer chair and saw Lucy deep asleep.

“I think it’s best if we leave her here for now.”

“I’ll just pick her up in the morning.”

As lazy as I am, I am glad to have a friend like Raphie watching over me to keep me in check. But I wasn’t ready to go to school just yet. I’ll prepare tomorrow. For sure I will.