The dark outside contrasted with the brightly lit cafe in which sat a lonely man. Anyone who knew him would wonder why he appeared so melancholy, when he should be celebrating his successful thesis defense and doctorate in Civil Engineering with a minor in Material Science he earned earlier that day.
‘And therein lies the problem’, he thought to himself. ‘No one knows me anymore.’
He hadn’t ever been a socialite, but he had a circle of friends that he played tabletop roleplaying games with for years. He had even begun running the sessions as game master once in college, where he first discovered his love of designing dungeons and cities, and imagining how magic would change all that he was familiar with. His friends had been the ones to convince him that a civil engineering degree would fit him to a T, so he had changed degrees and began studying in earnest.
Unfortunately, he had never been good at time management, which had previously led to him doing poorly in college as he devoted all his time into preparing to play with his friends. With his degree change, so did his priorities.
He discovered the same joy he once got from drawing a vampire’s mansion in studying a hydroelectric dam and calculating water volume requirements. At first this led to less frequent but more rich sessions with his friends playing in his fantasy world of Dreath, but as he got more immersed in learning, he spent less and less time with his friends.
‘I wonder how Doug and Jon are doing’, he mused to himself. ‘Didn’t Kristy and Lou get married?’
He hadn’t spoken to any of them in over 3 years, but he vaguely remembered getting a wedding invited a few years ago. He had intended on going but had gotten engrossed in his work and had forgotten the date. Just as he had forgotten many other plans they had tried to make with him.
“Would you like a refill for your water?” The waiter asked as he interrupted his introspection.
“Hm.” He grunted and nodded.
He had been sitting in his group’s favorite old cafe and game store for the last two hours, waiting for people who would never arrive. He had sent out invitations to his old friends a few days before to meet up at their old haunt and reconnect, but none of them had responded.
‘My fault I suppose’, he mused to himself. ‘I should have sent them sooner and kept in contact better over the years. Well, enough feeling bad for myself.’ He stood up and walked to the counter and paid for the few snacks he had ordered over the hours he waited. ‘I wonder if this is what it is like being an adult.’
He chuckled darkly to himself as he wiped his glasses on his shirt and really looked at himself in the window for the first time in years. He stood at almost 2 meters tall, his long black hair flowing over his shoulders as he hadn’t bothered to get it cut in years. His glasses were slightly bent out of shape sitting on his nose, covering his hazel eyes.
Lowering his eyes he noticed the worn out white button up shirt he was wearing, clean but well used with frayed edges and buttons about to fall off, tucked into the jeans he had picked up last year when his last pair was finally worn to the point it wouldn’t stay on him.
‘At least I am somewhat in better shape then before.’
Several of his courses required fieldwork that involved hiking up mountains, and he had purchased 40 acres of land up in the mountains so that he could get some small scale practical experience with materials and designs.
He had begun camping up there over the weekends, using a small hydroelectric generator he had constructed in the river to provide power for his small plot and allow him the light to work on his homework and thesis. All the time spent hiking around the mountain had helped him lose the weight he had slowly accumulated over the years, and now he was healthier than he had ever been in his life.
As he climbed into his old 27 year old black honda civic that shared his age, his phone vibrated. Pulling it out he saw an invitation from his family for dinner on the first Sunday of the month.
He had been receiving these invitations since he had left for college 9 years ago, as his college wasn't too far from his childhood home, but just as with his friends, he hadn’t interacted with his family in several years either. He didn’t know if he had ever even told them what he was studying in school, let alone tell them he just finished.
‘When was the last time I spoke to anyone for anything outside of work and school?’ He sighed as he began to review the last few years. ‘Only one I can think of, and that was to buy camping equipment at the local sporting goods store.’
Changing course, he decided to drive up the mountain to his campsite rather than return to his flat. All his camping gear was either in his trunk or already at location, and even if he was missing something he could just make it himself. His interests pushed him into learning how to make many things all the way down to the beginnings, so he had made his own tools to the extent he could.
Many components he purchased as they just were not practical to make himself, but where he could he built from scratch. His pride was an electronic telescope he used to stargaze. It was nowhere near commercial quality but he didn't need the best; he just liked looking at the stars.
He continued to review his life up to this point over the next hour as he drove up into the mountains and arrived at his plot. Looking at it with fresh eyes, he realized the chaos the area had become over the years.
Several half built cottages of differing construction were strewn about, with small scale bridges between. He even had running water in one of them from when he was experimenting with creating a plumbing system from scratch using water from the river and a distiller he had half made himself. Stepping out of the car, he headed over to the river.
It was the middle of summer so although the mountain was cooler than the city, it was pleasant enough at night to not need anything more than a t-shirt and shorts to stay comfortable. As he walked, he passed several other small scale projects he had done, including the small scale 60 story skyscraper he had built at 1:60 scale with working lights. That had been a fun project, but now he was wondering if all this was to try to fill some void he didn't realize was there until today.
He climbed onto the covered deck he had built overlooking the small river and sat in a chair near his telescope, his favorite place to think and solve problems. He had been beyond excited when he defended his thesis, but now he felt completely empty. The drive that had kept him going gone now that he had reached the only long term goal he had set himself.
‘So, what do I do now?’ He was still reeling from the loss of purpose achieving his goal had left him. ‘Get married? But I don’t know anyone, and I haven't made a new friend in years. What do I even want in a relationship?’ He chuckled and waved away those thoughts. He hadn't been in a relationship since highschool and it didn't even last that long. ‘I guess that's the loneliness talking/ besides, just a few more years and I become a wizard.’ He laughed harder at an old inside joke as tears began to stream down his face.
After a few minutes, he had calmed down again. ‘Well, maybe step one is seeing a psychologist. I clearly have some stuff to work through.’ He wiped his face and decided to begin looking for a good one tomorrow. For tonight he would stargaze and try to forget his worries in the stars. ‘Feeling poetic tonight, eh?’
He poked fun at himself as he began to maintain his telescope. Once he was satisfied with his work, he peered through to begin his stargazing.
Looking into the sky had always inspired his imagination. Thinking about all the worlds and people that could be out there just beyond what we could see. Though the odds he would ever know were lower than he would like.
‘What the,’ he did a double take. As he had been moving his sight passed the edge of the moon, he thought he saw something bright. ‘Maybe a satellite I didn't notice? But it would have had to be behind the moon and I wouldn't have seen it.’ As he wondered to himself the light continued to brighten, until he had to attach his solar filter in order to keep looking at it.
‘Could it be a meteor coming through the atmosphere towards this mountain somewhere?’ He tried to refocus and get a better view so he could figure out what it was, when all went black.
That was the last known location in the year 20xx for Alexei Hope, PhD.
I like it so far.
With only five chapters you might not get tons of views. Though for a civil I should say kips of views. Though I think metric uses ton.
Thanks for the chapter, I am enjoying it so far and looking forward to more.