This year I am working on a story called Bob vs. The Alien Slug Monsters. Instead of an outline I have a basic list of plot points I want to cover between meeting Bob and sending him off to fight the king of the slugs. There is more of a cast of characters than an actual outline, so we will see how the story develops. And with that intro we continue with Bob Versus the Alien Slug Monsters…
Day 10: He set it down and went back to the fridge for a drink.
He set it down and went back to the fridge for a drink. With his food and drink ready, Bob settled in to eat and watch the rest of the show. One episode turned into several. He paused to clear up the remains of dinner and to go to the bathroom. Then he stretched out on the couch and let the show take him to a different place. He felt too tired to play a game.
He usually played multi player games, linking to others elsewhere. Some were friends he knew in real life who had moved away. They still played and there was a good likelihood that Friday or Saturday night he could still catch one of them. Most of those he played with now he thought were younger than he was. He didn’t mind that in general but some of them were not adults. He had to think about what he said and how he said it when he played with them. He couldn’t simply react to their comments and taunts the way he would another adult. It was, he had to admit, more exhausting than he wanted and turned a game he played to unwind after a long day or week, less fun.
‘Maybe play on my own for a bit,’ he thought as he lay back. He felt he exercised enough restraint at work that he should have a bit of a breather at home. ‘I can be social next weekend,’ he decided.
The semi mindless relaxation in front of the television was exactly what he needed and Bob found himself drifting in and out of the show as sleep started to take hold.
Around three in the morning he was awoken by what sounded like another explosion. The television was still playing but he ran out the show he was watching and it rolled into a different program the streaming site thought he might like. It wasn’t one he heard of. Things did seem to be exploding on a regular basis though. Bob turned off the television, deciding it was too much trouble to get up and go to bed and snuggled deep into the couch. As he drifted off he thought he heard smaller explosions. They sounded dim and distant. He cracked an eyelid to check that he had turned his television off. It was.
‘Hopefully Eddie isn’t destroying anything else,’ Bob thought as he once again closed his eyes and let sleep take him.
In his dreams he followed Eddie around asking him not to destroy more roads and bridges in the area. Even as Eddie nodded and promised he wouldn’t Bob could see him setting charges and blowing things up. Stumps went flying, chunks of masonry and the bridge was destroyed multiple times in his dreams. Each time Bob tried explaining that the city wouldn’t be keep on fixing the things Eddie broke since it was just the three of them. It was more likely they would just get further and further cut off from everyone until the city forced them to move as it was cheaper than extending services to them. In his dreams Eddie didn’t listen any more than he did in real life and as the sun rose, Bob found himself waking up irritated.
For a moment he lay on the couch. He thought about getting up and going into the bedroom for more sleep, but knew he would have to go the long way round to get his groceries. ‘If I go early then I won’t have to think about it again until Monday morning,’ Bob thought. ‘Maybe then I can have a few days of not dreaming about Eddie. Bob sighed heavily and flung off the blanked he pulled over himself in the night.
Ten til Midnight 