One, two, three.

This piece was created by interviewing a student of social work and through the interview I have created a piece of fiction inspired by their answers. 

I. Relationship

I never wanted a relationship in the first place, I’m young, I’m studying, I’m not really looking for someone. But then he came along, the man of my dreams … at least that’s the crap they tell you and what you should be looking for. I thought he was perfect, you know? As perfect as one could be. Dark hair, tanned and dark eyes, average height so he wasn’t the conventional ‘dark, tall and handsome’ but he was good enough for me! He made me happy, he bought me flowers and treated me with respect like the way I deserved. 

Of course, things fuck up, and things always fuck up. He left me with nothing but a post-it note. This is why I never wanted to date, this is why I never wanted to be with another man. Woman who lies with another man, that is an abomination. Though who knows if that’ll change. Who knows if I do indeed love again, I may or may not, but right now, I really don’t want to or don’t care to. At least ice-cream and Unreal won’t ever leave me sight, won’t they? I’ll be right in the end, I’m always right.

It's tough, you know, the thought of being eternally alone... no one to be with you, the feeling of dying. Though I'll be fine, everything will be fine ... maybe? I feel that I will be okay in the end, you know, go out with my friends. I've got this house to myself, though I might try and find some roommates or something. I don't particularly want this house to myself, it's so ... empty. Like a part of it has gone. Wait. Right. The fiance. What an idiot, to think that I'd be okay in the end. I will be, I should be. I will be. It's my current mantra, I will be okay, I will be okay, I will be okay.

II. Smart

You never saw yourself as smart. Of course, that’s a whole and complete lie, everyone is smart in their own ways. Though you always valued your grandpa when he was around. The man was smart, but he sure wasn’t smart enough to escape death. Though he lived a good life, born during World War II, his family fled Germany before they were caught, unlike other family members, you don’t know much about them, only what your pop told you. He taught you everything he knew, which was everything in the world. At least, that’s the way you saw it. 

The days went by and you always looked at him with admiration, when someone would ask you what you wanted to be, you said you wanted to be like poppy. There wasn't another answer, and you would've been stupid if you said someone else. Your grandpa is the most important and smartest man in your life, and you'll value him like you'd value anyone in your life. There are other people in your life that you value, that you view a smart, but if someone has to interview you on who you believe that smartest man is, it's a no brainer. Though, this does come after some consideration in the end, as you knew it was him... but was it truly him?

If it wasn’t for him, you probably wouldn’t have had the education you had. He helped you get to where you needed, he was your biggest supporter and you did everything to help him. He gave you so much information, it was enough for you to get an idea of things, of where you could go in life. He helped you with your homework, and when things got complex he could always get you out of it. You spoke about politics and where things were going in the world. As you stand at the pew, you tell everyone, he was the smartest man you knew. 

III. Deadline

They were never good with the idea of Deadlines, no matter what the deadline was about there was till the awful-ness of knowing that there's a deadline. Always rushing, to and fro. Trying to complete it in time, and the need to achieve their goal. It wasn’t always easy, and they knew that for certain situations a deadline is okay, and for certain situations, it was almost needed, a guarantee of life. This last assignment was due at 11:59 and it’s 11:50, looking over the topics, looking over the sheets and materials, the in-cite references and the references. Making sure everything was what it needed to be. You can never overlook something so much, but maybe to the point of overthinking, but they won't overthink... 

“Everything looks okay… maybe… do they?” they say, not really knowing if that the assignment is actually, done. This is where the overthinking comes in, something that many university students are used to 'will I get this done in time?' 'Does this teacher use this referencing style?' 'Is it actually good?'. Ctrl+F, finding all the words that need to be changed, and reading this document. Time goes past.

Their fingers darting across the keyboard, trying to get to ever keystroke, ever letter, so that the sentence sounded at least somewhat coherent. The sounds from the keyboard were quick and erratic, almost like they were going mad or insane at the thought of submitting the assignment after the due date. The time was ticking by, it felt like a weird mixture of going too slow and going too fast. But the minutes tick by and they knew that 11:59 was coming through. They, of course, left the assignment to the last minute, the reason was because … well, there's no good explanation, it’s just that they wanted to do it now and type out this insanity written assignment instead of earlier and not have to worry about until now.

“God, you’re such an idiot! Why did you leave it so late?” They say, now this is the time they could make a pledge to not do this again, but you and I know that they’ll do it again and get annoyed at themselves for not doing it earlier. It’s a rotating situation. Time ticks by and at 11:59, they click submit. With a fist bump in the air, they take a swig of the alcoholic beverage to their left. Now they can fuck around and do something else.

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