As I laid in the middle of the street, gazing up at the rainy night sky, all I could think of was how I had wasted my life. I did okay in school and even went to college, but I failed my final tests as I didn't bother to do the final graded unit until the last minute. I got a C, which was basically a fail as all the universities wanted Bs or As. So I just said, "Fuck it. Not the end of the world.". I enjoyed college life and even had sex for the first and only time one night after class when we all went on the town. I learned I really liked sex too, but I didn't go out enough to meet anyone. Not even one-night stands. After college, I just retreated inside my room.

Fuck… this headache is making me want to throw up. Where was I? Ah, yes! The Great Retreat. I planned to take a year off and live with my family while looking for a job with my C in media studies. That year turned into ten. After the first two years, with no job, I got a bit depressed, and some friends dragged me out to have fun. That night ended with me in the hospital. I got mugged at a bus stop and hit over the head twice with a metal pipe. Before anything worse happened, a passing police car drove past and scared them off. I think I couldn't really remember much till I was in the hospital bed.

Didn't seem to be much damage apart from two large gashes that the doctors stapled up. Well, not much physical damage. I went home the next day and was interviewed by some detectives. I couldn't tell them much. But after that, I was too scared to go outside. But I was also scared to live with my parents encase those guys found me again and came looking. So I moved out, welfare paid my rent, and I got more benefits due to my newfound agoraphobia. I was still looking for a job at that point, but now it had to be a work-from-home job.

For the first few years, my parents came to visit me. As well as friends. But then the visits slowed. But then it dawned on me that with my modest lifestyle and various benefits due to my condition plus unemployment benefits, I could live the life I was accustomed to. I fell into a rut, played hentai games and RPGs, read books and manga, watched anime and for para-social relations, and watched reaction channels to my favourite shows to relive the nostalgia from my teenage days.

I completely lost interest in finding any work, as I didn't need to. And when it was apparent I was genuinely afraid of the outside world, the government just set me up with a counsellor to ensure I wasn't dead every week. I got all my food and supplies delivered online. I got a cat so I wouldn't feel lonely.

But as the years went by, I got very unhealthy with my vaping, eating junk food delivered to my door and no exercise. I stopped brushing my teeth, and, If I'm being honest, I didn't shower as much as I should have.

But then it hit me—my 30^th birthday. I had never had a job, my family barely talked to me, I had no real friends, I hadn't had sex in decades, and my cat died. So, I decided to turn my life around. I started to go outside again, slowly at first trying to get a job at a local shop. I was even slowly losing weight and getting exercise. I was then hit by a truck. Fucking Truck-kun.

I walked across the street at night to go to the local petrol station for cigarettes. It was 3 am, no local shops were open, and I was out of vape fluid. I used to be a smoker in high school and college, but I turned to vape as it was cheaper and vape could be delivered in the mail, but cigarettes couldn't. I decided now that I was a confident outside person, I should confidently walk to the gas station to buy cigarettes.

Well, there were two problems with that plan. One, after about five minutes, I panicked and ran across the road to get back home. And two, it turns out my eyesight got worse over the years. It was 3 am and raining; I couldn't see the truck with my apparent lousy vision and the weather. And I couldn't tell as I was paralysed, so I couldn't turn to look at the guy, but I thought he was drunk. The night sky is getting darker, and the rainfall is getting quieter, so I think it's time…