Everything always had to be so exciting. 

There was always a lot going on in books, video games, and stories in general I suppose. But for Bet it was always very normal. Real life very rarely had leaders starting world wars, mages opening portals, and deaths transporting you to a medieval fantasy world. Nope, his greatest adversaries were work, bills, and extremely rarely, women. 

Bet sat down on his couch. Luckily in a great turn of luck, the couch had come to him from his parents, they were just going to throw it away! As a childhood heirloom, he wouldn’t stand for that, even if it was far too small to sleep on. 

Many things were fairly boring, TV was truly in the garbage, social media is evil most of the time… let’s see… Games at least have something going on. He opened his laptop and took a look at his library. 

Viking Story… Sundrop Gorge… Not a whole lot in there. Sigma Mythos was sometimes fun, but you really needed friends for a battle royale. Wasn’t really worth it at present. 

Bet didn’t have a large number of friends, really just a small group he’d known forever. Not that he hated everyone else, they’re just the ones that stuck around. Looking at the clock, it was Saturday night at 10:00 pm. Certainly a time most people would get to the bars looking for a quick dose of the happy drug. Not really his style. Pretty big introvert really. 

“Bored yet?” 

He mumbled to the hidden cameras in his room that definitely weren’t there, but make-believe sometimes took the edge off much better than whiskey or wine. 

I suppose it is time to tell you a bit more about Bet. Who am I? Just think of me as someone peeking in on someone with an even more dreary life than me, and trust me that’s saying a lot! Why would I do that? Don’t you tell yourself everything will be ok, it’s not that bad, someone has it worse than you? No, I’m not saying Bet is scum or he’s got no hope or something, but recording his life when I’m a bit down is fun! Allow me such a small freedom!

Ahem, first of all, Bet was born 24 years ago, on a Wednesday. What year? Think it was 2007… maybe 2008. Ahhh yes, already you see we are not quite in the time period you thought! Though not quite far ahead enough to actually make a difference. His life isn’t an adventure. 

Bet’s parents are fairly normal, his dad worked for over 50 years to support the family, not that his jobs really landed him anywhere. He’s 70 and only just retired. His mother was a teacher with her own business in the end, but that didn’t exactly fill the coffers either. His car is clunky and his sister can sometimes be mean, his dog is old and his roof creaks in the wind. But at least he has that much. 

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

He enjoys video games, drawing in the moments of motivation he scrounges up, and even a bit of cleaning to take his mind off things. The most out of the ordinary thing that has happened to him is a car crash that wasn’t even his fault. 

So dear report reader, perhaps you suspect that Bet will be hit by a truck and be transported somewhere, or realize he has some sort of power, but I assure you it hasn’t happened to anyone else and is unlikely to happen here! Oh, he’s leaving the house, let’s get back to the show.

Bet stood up and grabbed his keys and baseball cap, a drive was in order. He locked the door to his apartment and got into the driver’s seat of his car. Nothing stylish but it worked. A couple of grumbles later and it sputtered to life. 

Thinking about N&N’s he pulled out of the parking lot and got out onto the road. It was about 10:30 now and the Saturday nightlife was absolutely roaring. People staggered by on the sidewalks and groups laughed outside clubs. His city wasn’t huge but was somewhat of an attraction in the region. Long ago he’d thought of starting his own business to get a slice of the tourism money but as he’d grown it just seemed less and less possible. Now, the grind was all that he had time for. His local Quarter Central, lights blazing, shone in front of him like a palace. Walking inside, he noticed the cute girl behind the counter was working late again.

“Humid night.”

“Yeah, it is.” 

“You work late tonight?”

“Not too bad, just 11.”

He noted that she got off in 25 minutes, but forgot it a second later. He thought he saw her leave with a guy a few times. Not that he was watching her mind you, he’d just seen her leave a few times, it was the only store within decent driving distance. 

He grabbed a few essentials, toothpaste, deodorant, N&N’s, and brought them to the counter. The girl, whose name was Jeny, scanned them and rung up just under 10 Masons. He hadn’t carried paper money in years and swiped his card. Bet thought he’d try for a moment, creating some small talk that was likely doomed to fail.

“Any plans for the big Saturday night?”

“Probably go home and sleep.”

“Funny, I was thinking the same thing.”

She raised her eyebrows and smiled, handing him his bag. Of course, she didn’t respond to that so he didn’t try and force the small talk into one-sided talk. Oh well.

Bet smiled back and got into his car with the goodies. Probably shouldn’t eat candy before bed. Can do it tomorrow. 

A few minutes later he got home and found a note on his doorstep. It seemed strange, nobody left notes on his doorstep. Picking it up, it looked to be handwritten, but it was in a really old cursive. His great aunt used to write him birthday cards in old cursive, and he couldn’t read any of it. He could decipher the word rent on it and quickly realized it was the 28th. Whoops, gonna have to get that done. 

Shrugging, he went inside and offloaded his booty, putting it into the designated places. Tomorrow was another day off. The best case was playing some games with friends, the worst case was sitting on the couch most of the day, maybe going for a walk. 

Oh well, things were normal. Bedtime.