Another depressing day," thought a young man of 20 years old. He was a Cameroonian, a black man about 1m70 tall weighing 90kg. He was wearing a black wrinkled suit with some mud stains near his feet.

His name was Will, an engineer who had just finished his studies.

Like any other day he had come back after another unfruitful job search.

"I didn't think it would be this hard to find a job," he said.

After another rejection he decided to go back home, so he took a taxi and to pass the time he started to read some novels on his phone.

“What the hell! It had already been two months since the last update and the author still hadn’t released anything new,” he shouted before seeing the stares of the other passengers.

“Uh, sorry,” he said.

Closing his eyes, he started to remember the power outage which had prevented him from ironing his clothes, the taxi which had splashed mud on him and finally the recruiter who “apparently” had given him the wrong schedule so he was late for his interview.

“I don’t think this day can get any worse,” he thought.

At that moment a notification appeared on his screen.

“Hey Will, it's Claire,” it read.

“Ah! It just got worse,” he thought, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Claire was his girlfriend. This relationship had started some months ago. She was someone he really wanted to date back in high school but she rejected him. He didn’t want to be desperate so he focused on his studies to forget about it. It worked because he completely forgot about her, but she contacted him again some months ago. She said she wasn’t against a relationship with him but wanted to focus on herself at the end of her studies. Now that she was free she asked him if he was open to the idea and they started dating. But he realized they had nothing in common and it was always awkward when they were together. Now he was thinking about how to break up with her.

"I'll think about it later," he decided.

When he was about to answer her he realized they were traversing a familiar area.

“Oh no, I didn’t realize we were already here and the windows are down!” he said.

"You'd better hold on tight to your bag," said the driver.

"You can just close the window, I think that would be more effective," Will replied.

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When he looked for the crank to close the window he realized it was missing.

"Is he in league with the thieves or what?! It's impossible to have a car this dilapidated," he thought.

He quickly hid his phone in his pocket and squeezed his bag between his thighs.

Luckily they passed through the area without incident. Finally they arrived at his stop so he paid the driver and got out of the car.

"I don't have change," said the driver.

"And...?" Will answered, looking the driver in the eyes.

"Wait a minute," the driver said as he got out of the car and went to a shop. He returned with enough change.

"Thank you," said the driver.

"Do you really think I'll let you keep the change?" Will replied.

Not waiting for a response, he crossed the road and headed to his house. Suddenly he heard someone shouting,

"Stop thief!"

There was a woman by the road who had her bag stolen by two people on a bike. In her panic she looked around pleading for help, including at Will.

"Why are you looking at me?!" he thought. "Don't you see my weight? Do you think I'm Usain Bolt?"

He looked away and headed into the building where his flat was located. He climbed three flights of stairs to get to the top floor of the building where his home was - a small 10 sq m flat still rented by his parents. Dropping his bag on the table he sat on his bed and started to think.

"This was my last chance. My parents couldn't continue renting this flat. I would need to pay the next rent myself," he realized.

During college he had hoped to be independent after graduation. Being able to live alone would show he couldn't just return to live with his parents. He couldn't bear to listen to his father's remarks or his sisters' mockery. As the only son, his parents tended to be harsher on him. He started avoiding his family because he didn’t feel supported.

"I'm not trying to reach the top, I just want a good life without interference. But to do that, the first thing I need is money," he thought.

"I have a few more months but my savings are dwindling fast so I'll need to cut expenses."

KNOCK KNOCK.

At that moment someone knocked on the door, which was unusual because he didn’t normally have visitors this late. Reaching the door, he opened it and saw Steve, a black man in his late twenties, about 1m80 tall.

"Hello Will," said Steve.

"Hi Steve," Will replied warily.

"Do you have 50,000 CFA francs I could borrow?" Steve asked.

"Did he really come this late just to ask for my last bit of savings? He always seems to know exactly how much I have," Will thought.

"No Steve, I'm sorry but I don't have much. What I have is just enough to get me through the month," he said.

"Ah I see, sorry to disturb you. Good night," Steve replied.

"Yeah, night," Will said, closing the door.

He decided to take a bath before figuring out what to do next.

Even during his bath, he couldn't stop thinking.

"I could ask my classmates if they could recommend me for a job. I could keep taking online courses to build my skills, but I couldn't afford much considering the cost," he considered.

Returning to his bedroom he sat on his bed but suddenly felt dizzy. He hadn't been eating much lately to conserve his savings and it was starting to affect him.

"I should make something to eat or I won't have the strength for tomorrow," he realized.

He described himself best as a neet - he liked staying home, playing games, avoided parties and preferred spending time with a small group of friends who shared his hobbies. Living this lifestyle throughout college caused him to gain weight, which started impacting his health. Eventually he developed diabetes.

"Let's make something quick," he decided, opening the fridge.

He took out what he needed and started cooking.

"Okay, I think it'll be ready in 10 minutes," he estimated.

He lay down on his bed but slowly started to lose consciousness.

The last thing he thought was, "Strange, I think something is burning."