Lucas has been suffering from insomnia for over a month. It had all started four weeks before, when he watched episode after episode of True Blood on his laptop. Before he knew it, the sun was rising and he had go to work at 8:00. No point in sleeping that night. The next week, a similar thing happened, on three different nights. However, he did get plenty of sleep during the day while he wasn't working at Taco Bell. The lack of sunshine and social interaction outside of his hellish job, made Lucas depressed. As the next three weeks passed, his depression strengthened his insomnia. Pretty soon, he quit his job and only got four hours of sleep a day, if that, in the early evening. All of Lucas' free time was spent watching old cartoons online, aimlessly browsing social network sites, and most of all, watching porn.
Hours upon hours were spent on porn. All sorts of porn too, mature porn, amateur porn, lesbian porn, anime porn, pregnant porn, interracial porn, and BDSM porn. He even watched gay porn once, just to see if he liked it. He didn't. He jacked off so much that he didn't have any clean socks after awhile, and had to shoot his load into his boxers, or even his sheets. He jacked off so much that his penis was sore, but he kept jacking off anyway. He jacked off so much that he was developing carpel tunnel. Porn was the only way he could truly get his mind off how pathetic his life was. Of course, he when he wasn't watching porn and jacking off, his habit (it was really becoming an addiction) made him feel even worse. A couple of times, when he felt the need to jack off, but wasn't quite ready to, he would resort to pigging out on what ever junk food he had lying around. This seemed to work if he ate enough. However there was only so much food in his apartment.
Due to the binges, Lucas ran out of food before too long. After a day of nearly starving to death, Lucas was confronted with a choice: go hungry, until he absolutely had to eat, or suck it up and walk a few blocks to the nearest 7-11. His stomach growled, motivating him to go with the latter. He jumped into the shower after accidentally smelling his dirty hand, and put on some fresh clothes (he had been wearing the same tee shirt and shorts, so he surprisingly had a clean outfit to wear.) He grabbed the flannel that was sitting near his door, and ventured out into the night.
The clock on Lucas' wall read five minutes until midnight. His apartment was, without a doubt, low income. He mostly relied on his parents to pay rent (he had used his paycheck to buy groceries.) Despite it's small monthly payment, it was fairly nice. There was air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter. The structure was stable and there were no infestations to speak of. Of course, since Lucas was a disorganized young man, his particular basement studio apartment was filthy. He hadn't done his dishes, or cleaned his bathroom since long before the funk he was in. Garbage (some of it rotten) littered his floor, along with some unwashed clothes and nameless wires leading towards his entertainment unit. These were not exactly ideal living conditions.
Lucas ascended the stairs to his "front yard", a space that was seldom used. A nearly full moon was supposed to be out that night, but the sky was overcast and gray. Rows of spruce trees lined Lucas' deserted street, blocking much of the yellow light made by the street lamps. A thin fog was rolling in from the lake. Lucas noted that his familiar neighborhood had gathered an air of mystery, at least for that night. He felt almost as if he was roaming the streets of some Victorian village in a Gothic romance instead of going to 7-11 on a seemingly unremarkable night.
After walking a block up his street, he turned left onto Main. This section of town was sparse compared to the down town area. The defining feature of the area between Lucas and the 7-11 was a massive car dealership. Also, between him and his destination was a variety of fast food restaurants, including the Taco Bell he had been working at. If Lucas had a car, he would've taken advantage of the late-night drive thru. He could of really gone for a few of their cheap burritos. He didn't have a car however, and would have to settle on some even cheaper gas station grill food. This didn't bother him though, he was hungry enough that any food would suffice. Along the way, he passed some brazen women hanging outside of the Wendy's. Lucas was fairly certain they were hookers. They didn't offer their services to him, most likely because he didn't look wealthy enough to afford them. Not that he would have taken that offer if he did, all of the ladies looked either older than 30, or strung out on some sort of hard drug, like meth or heroin. Lucas decided he would rather watch porn. Before too long, Lucas was crossing the 7-11's parking lot. Three cars were parked in front of the store, plus another at the gas pumps.
A cute redhead was leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. Lucas gave her a polite nod, and entered the store. A short Hispanic lady was the clerk. She looked tired, but not too unhappy. A burly man with a mullet and a black, racing sweatshirt was purchasing a twenty-four pack of Bud-Lite. Two cops were standing near the exit, chatting and drinking coffee. A balding man entered after Lucas, and started browsing the magazines. Lucas marched straight to the back freezers, and grabbed a liter of Coca Cola. On his way to the check out, he grabbed a Butter Finger and a bag of Doritos.
"Hello." said the clerk, "How are you doing tonight?"
"Good. How are you?" said Lucas.
"Another night in paradise." said the clerk as she scanned the items.
Lucas asked, "Could I also get a large hot dog?"
"Sure thing." said the clerk, "That'll be $6.27."
The clerk turned to the grill to grab the hot dog. Lucas reached into his pants pocket to grab his wallet. It wasn't there. He checked all of his other pockets, all more than once. He had forgot his wallet at home.
"Hey." he said to the clerk, "I'm sorry, but I forgot my wallet. I'll go put the food back."
Someone behind Lucas said, "Don't worry about it, I've got it covered.
Lucas looked behind him and saw the cute redhead from outside. Before, he hadn't got a very good look at her, and he wished he had. Every second he could get away with looking at her was precious. Her skin had barely more color than marble, which contrasted perfectly with her illustrious red hair that fell to the small of her back. She wore a sleeveless black blouse, and tight blue jeans that clung to her hour glass figure, After marveling her body for a couple seconds, his gaze was drawn to her eyes. They were of a deep, steely blue color. She was absolutely gorgeous.
Lucas tried to say something, as the woman pulled a wad of cash out of her bra, but he couldn't. The now grumpy clerk took the money and shoved Lucas' groceries, including the hot dog into a plastic sack. She thrust it at Lucas, who took it with out realizing it. He was dazed but the sudden appearance of the beautiful, generous girl.
She clutched Lucas' hand and said, "Now, I want you to come with me."
Lucas nodded slowly. The girl led him out of the store into the parking lot, towards a black Mercedes Benz. She opened the drivers side door and motioned for Lucas to get in on the other side. Once inside, he came to his senses.
"Thanks for helping me out back there." Lucas said.
The girl turned to him and smiled, flashing the whitest teeth Lucas had ever seen, "Don't mention it. What's your name, hun?"
"It's Lucas. What's your's?"
She said, "Emily Blain. Blain is Scottish in case you were wondering."
Lucas chuckled, "My last name is Clark. I think it's English."
"Yes it is." said Emily, still grinning.
"So," said Lucas, "Why am I in your car?"
"What? Do you not want to be here?" asked Emily, pretending to pout.
Lucas said, "No, I want to be here. It's just a little... strange."
Emily said, "I don't know, Lucas. You're just cute and I wanted to talk to you."
"Is that why you bought my stuff." Lucas said.
"Yeah." she said "And you look pretty hungry. You can eat here. I don't mind."
"I haven't eaten in a day." said Lucas, before taking a bite from his hot dog.
Emily watched Lucas eat for a moment. He couldn't believe that such an attractive girl had taken interest in him. Sure, he wasn't bad looking on a normal day. This wasn't a normal day though. Lucas hadn't combed his hair or shaved since he quit his job. As a result, his thick brown hair was sticking out in every direction and a sparse beard covered his face. At least he took a shower before leaving his apartment.
"Mind if I play some music?" Emily asked.
"Not at all." Lucas said, his mouth full of hot dog and Doritos.
"Any preferences?" she asked, reaching for her I-Pod.
Lucas said, "Well, let's see what you have."
