6Depression. Some of us have been there before. Whether it's losing a loved one, long-term bullying, academic problems, events like your significant other breaking up with you, or maybe being physically/mentally abused by someone. Our protagonist has tried to combat this countless times in the past—trying things like therapy and medication.
But none seemed to work. And each time he tried downing more pills and crying himself to sleep, Tristan instead became more depressed and socially distant. The only thing keeping him from hanging on a rope or placing a bullet in his dome was music. But he does listen to other genres of music if he feels like it. Everyday, whether he's going to school or just at home, he would always have his headphones on.
But who knew that on one school day, his whole life would take a turn for the better. Or worse.
At his bedside window, the sun rose up in the horizon, the curtains preventing any sunlight from ever entering his room. He grumbled as his hand pressed down on his wake up machine, shutting it down two hours early before it could ring. He sat up and observed his messy room: scrunched up paper all over the floor, bits of junk food everywhere, unwashed clothes stacked up in the corner, his bookshelf was unorganized, and dozens of empty pill bottles were scattered all around.
He put a palm to his face and begrudgingly stood up to head downstairs to eat his usual morning meal. Grabbing a bag of salted chips from an overhead drawer and a can of soda from the fridge. He then sat on their living room couch hunched forward with a frown as he ate. Tristan still felt tired and wanted to sleep through the day, but something in his mind told him not to.
His mother and father were asleep at the moment. And after finishing 'breakfast', he then went back upstairs to his room, opening his closet and changing clothes.
He exchanged his white t-shirt and boxers for a black hoodie, a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and lastly — a mask his parents bought for him on Christmas Eve. The newest of its kind, able to detect the wearer's emotions via very small discs integrated to the upper part of the mask, working similarly to an EEG test.
After staring lifelessly at his mirror for 10 minutes, he put on his socks and shoes, nabbed his guitar case along with his backpack and phone before waiting outside for the school bus to arrive.
A few minutes pass, his ears pick up the sounds of a roaring engine before the aforementioned vehicle stops in front of him. Stepping onto the bus, Tristan's eyes observe each person, weirdly staring into his lifeless orange eyes. The driver tipped his hat to him and motioned for Tristan to sit down on the seat nearby. The teens in the back having spiteful or smug looks plastered all over their faces.
Upon arriving at school, Tristan gets shoved to the side by another group of teens. They all chuckled as he brushed himself off before heading to his locker
In the corner of his eye, Tristan could see the group from the bus walking towards him. One in particular he wasn't very happy to see. Aaron Revel. Wearing your typical jock clothing, the boy is extremely popular, buff, and is also the boyfriend of Tristan's childhood friend—Alessandra Benigno. One of the reasons our protagonist is in the state he is now.
Aaron wore the shit eating grin he always has when our protagonist, Tristan Blaze. Is in his sights. He would always bully him when he got the chance. Whether it's for Tristan's lunch money or doing homework for him.
On this particular day, he wanted to try something new. Passing Tristan by, he motioned for his 'goons' to hold him in place, directing the bystanders view onto them. From under the mask, Tristan scowled at his prominent tormentor, wishing he could punch Aaron in the face so hard his skull would cave in. But he unfortunately had to endure their relentless assault of punches and kicks to his stomach and legs, before shoving him inside his own locker. Mocking and teasing him as he tried to break out.
The bystanders did nothing but take out their phones, some couldn't even hold their laughter at Tristan's helplessness. Now satisfied, Aaron and his accomplices walked away laughing with the others as Tristan was left inside his locker.
Fortunately, Alessandra witnessed everything and went to the principal's assistant for a spare key. Upon opening it, Tristan fell face first on the floor. She tried to help him up but was swatted away by his hand, Tristan stood and stared down on her as his mask lit up, mimicking his look of resentment and anger. He pulled up his mask and coughed out a small amount of blood as the school bell began to ring above them. Hearing this, Tristan picked up his stuff and slightly limped to his first period. Leaving Alessandra to herself.
Following the first and second period, lunch rolled around. Tristan stood in line along with the other students, those who were the nearest to him backed away a tad. He didn't mind them and continued walking until it was his turn.
The lunch lady, with a smile, gave Tristan his lunch. Which are as follows: chicken tenders, a decent looking veggie burger, some baked potatoes, a cold carton of chocolate milk which the boy was very fond of, gravy for dipping, and last but not least, a scoop of Neapolitan ice cream.
Tristan looked at the lunch lady with a confused expression glowing on his mask, usually she gives him a scoop of vanilla. But Tristan dismissed the slight mistake and gave the lunch lady a warm smile, which soon warped into a frown the moment he turned his back. Finding a place where he could sit in silence.
And after giving the last student their lunch, she spared Tristan a glance, who was sitting by himself in one of the corners of the cafeteria, not touching his food at all. In all honesty, she felt bad for the kid, especially after hearing what his son Aaron did to him this morning. She has told him countless times not to taint his chances of getting into the varsity football team by bullying the other students, especially Tristan. She could only hope the kid doesn't resort to harming himself because of her own rebellious son and his group of miscreants.
When lunch ended, it was now time for the third period. Which is Tristan's favorite subject, Music. The classroom was filled with numerous instruments, various music pun posters hung on the walls, and of course, the motivational posters. Mr. Benigno, their music teacher, was a tall man with brown hair done in an undercut and a lean figure. He wore a white dress shirt, a pair of jeans tightened to his waist with a brown belt, a pair of black shoes, and to top it all off, a gray waistcoat and red tie with a zigzag design. In front of him was an electric piano which was the topic for today's lesson. How it worked, how it was invented, and all of that. Time flew by for Tristan as he paid little attention to the time and lecture.
In the back, Aaron and his buddies lowered their heads, sleeping ever so soundly. Not interested in the slightest. Alessandra meanwhile, focused on the lecture because if her father ever catches her snoozing, he would tell her mother about it. Who's demeanor can be compared to that of a certain hokage's spouse who also has red hair.
But before the bell could ring to signal the end of the class, they suddenly heard gunshots from outside the room. Mr. Benigno immediately signaled for everyone to close all of the windows, close the lights and lock the door. Fortunately, Mr. Benigno's desk was big enough to fit all of them. Everyone crawled over there except for Tristan, who hid in the desk on the opposite side with his guitar case on him. All of the girls held their hands up to their mouths to prevent crying as they heard more gunshots and the screams of students in the hallway. The others huddled together and hoped that the shooter wouldn't blow the door wide open.
Meanwhile, Tristan opened his guitar case with an audible click, earning himself the curious looks of his classmates. They could see the mask smile brightly with joy as Tristan took out an M-16 from inside, this also scared the shit out of them as they thought Tristan would kill them on the spot. But that died down when he loaded a magazine into the gun and pointed at the locked door, he motioned his hand for them to cover their ears as he took out his headphones, playing Save your Tears by The Weeknd.
'~I saw you dancing in a crowded room~' The music played as the doorknob was twisted. '~You look so happy when I'm not with you~' Which was then followed by aggressive knocking.
'~But then you saw me, caught you by surprise~' Shouting was then heard from the other side of the door. '~A single teardrop falling from your eye~' A bead of sweat rolled down Tristan's face as he turned down the mask's brightness. '~I don't know why I run away~' Everything fell silent for a moment before someone banging on the door could be heard.
'~I'll make you cry when I run away~' A while later, the door swung open with the doorknob broken, a foot stepped inside belonging to a male hooded figure who entered the room with an AK-47.
'~You could've asked me why I broke your heart~' Upon seeing the faint glow of a mask, he pointed at it and started to fire his gun. '~You could've told me that you fell apart~' Tristan ducked behind his cover and retaliated from the side of the desk, hitting the man several times.
'~But you walked past me like I wasn't there~' His accomplices heard the gunshots and rushed to his aid, leaning on the door and firing their own weapons. '~And just pretended like you didn't care~'
Tristan retreated behind his cover to reload as the storm of bullets pierced the table.
'~I don't know why I run away~' After reloading, he took a deep breath and fired back once more, killing two of them. '~I'll make you cry when I run away~' Tristan almost failed to notice the grenade they threw, he immediately grabbed it and gave it back.
'~Take me back 'cause I wanna stay~' Tristan quickly held onto his ears when the grenade exploded. '~Save your tears for another~' After a while, he and the others looked up and saw all of the shooters were dead. '~Save your tears for another day~' He then glanced down to see he had bullet holes all over him.
'~Save your tears for another day~' He then almost shot Aaron in the leg with the last two bullets he had in his gun as his body fell down to the ground. '~So, I made you think that I would always stay~'
'~I said some things that I should never say~' Alessandra rushed to his side and held him up in her arms. '~Yeah, I broke your heart like someone did to mine~'
She then removed his mask to look at him, Tristan's blazing orange eyes met her beautiful crimson red orbs. '~And now you won't love me for a second time~'
She sobbed—shouting and shaking him hard, trying her best to make her childhood friend stay for longer. '~I don't know why I run away, oh, girl~' But he could not utter a single phrase, '~Said I'll make you cry when I run away~ ' Tristan tried fighting through the pain.
'~Save your tears for another day, ooh, girl (ah)~' he merely gave her a warm smile as his body felt cold and his vision became darker… And darker. '~I said save your tears for another day (ah)...' The music began to glitch out, the headphones short-circuiting from a bullet embedded into the left ear.
A single thought crossing his mind... 'I hope she'll be fine.' Before passing away. Alessandra wiped her tears and looked at her hands covered in Tristan's blood. Before screaming his name in agony to the gods above.
Days after Tristan's funeral, Alessandra opened the front door of Tristan's family home, they gave her a spare key before they would move out. Wanting her to see what lies in their son's room, some dust was starting to form on the stack of boxes in front of her. The house was almost emptied out except for her childhood friend's room which she opened the door to, and it looked exactly like it did on that day.
She picked up a piece of paper on his desk and saw that it was a receipt for antidepressants. Alessandra's eyes widened as she picked up every piece of paper on the floor and folded them open one by one. They were letters, letters he was going to leave in her locker saying to her that he was sorry he became mad when she turned him down, mad because she already belonged to someone else. Every single one ended abruptly with him either cursing to himself, scribbling lines in the middle of a sentence, or stabbing holes into the paper.
Alessandra felt a heavy weight being lifted from her shoulders as she read every single one of them. Before sitting down on his bed, she adorned a gentle smile.
And that concludes the prologue. I didn't want to ruin the mood by slapping an A/N at the beginning so I resorted to this, and I hope you liked it. If you did, please leave a review as it would be greatly appreciated.
I couldn't find a good song so I dug through my music folder to see what would fit. Even though he's depressed,
He would still retain some remnants of his previous self. Like protecting people, and stuff. Sorry if it isn't super accurate, can't progress a story if the MC won't do anything right?
That'll be all and I'll see you in the next chapter!
3/9/2023
Sorry this took longer than expected, i had to handle school first after getting a mouthful from my parents. And i also caught a cold on a random day but I'm feeling better now.
So yeah. For this chapter, i just tweaked some sentences and added some very small details i didn't add the first time.
Chapter 2 and 3 will be completely re-written from scratch, another reason why i took so long.