The Downward Spiral

A short story about inceldom.

F**k, it's raining again. He dropped his shoes to the ground and sat on a nearby chair. A massive amount of water poured down his windows. He just sat there starring for a while. At some point he had to get outside, but it wasn't something that caused him a lot of excitement. Eli got up from his chair and powered on his computer. Sounds of familiarity filled the room, he could feel his tenseness leaving his body as he sat down in front of the glowing screen, water hammering violently against the window.

Nick had gotten rejected yet again, despite his valiant efforts the b***h had scoffed and looked at him in disgust. Nick wasn't taking it well and neither should he, Eli assured him. She probably wasn't very different from most of the girls, completely unable to notice the Nicks qualities for superficial reasons. Looks is what really matters, on that they all agreed. Half and hour passed and the rain had stopped. A storm was about to strike in the Bahamas, people were evacuating. Politicians argued back and forth, another shooting and Nick was depressed. Eli comforted him and others joined in, screw them, who needs women anyway?

The room was dark and the refrigerator was empty, Eli knew he had to get outside soon. It wasn't raining, so that was always something. She was standing across the aisle, looking through a shelf of cereal products. Did he stare discreetly? It sure felt like it, he just stood there pretending to be examining a chocolate bar. He got a split second of eye contact and quickly looked away, she grabbed a box and walked around the corner. Eli waited a couple of seconds and then he turned the corner, he wouldn't say he was following her, just two people walking in the same direction, maybe it was meant to be, she seemed to share his taste in cereal and her looks definitely wasn't categorically worse than his. They were both a 5 at least. When he turned the corner he saw the girl walking towards a guy with a cart, she dropped the cereal next to the rest of the groceries and touched the guy on the arm. Eli felt angry, who the f**k was that jerk supposed to be? Story of my f*****g life Eli thought to himself as he quickly retreated back around the corner.

Baked beans. Straight from the can- Slightly heated, almost lukewarm. Eli sitting in the light of the computer, filling his stomach. Nick was gone, no one had heard a word from him for days and yet life passed on. Dave was angry, had a similar experience to Eli, but in a shoe store instead of a supermarket. Life was unfair as per usual. Some guy was acting like a pain in the a*s You just gotta pull yourself together, get some interesting hobbies and work out. As if that would do much of a difference, it´s possible to improve but only as much as biology allowed. On this they all agreed and later in the day the a*****e finally gave up and left. The desireables always thought they knew better, it´s easy to give advice when nature has been kind to you.

He had started taking walks in the local park, it had been a great way to pass time ever since Eli had noticed that cereal box girl used the place as a hangout with her friends. He had yet to see the dickhead around, maybe he had dumped her, that would be the most logical conclusion. Eli knew he had to do something, who else could comfort this girl in these hard times of hers? He kept his distance for now, sat down on a nearby bench where he looked out at the lake. From time to time he would glance in the direction of the cereal box girl. Something seemed off, the girls were looking worried and cereal box girl seemed shaken, one of her friends, a brunette at least a 7, kept glancing in Eli's direction, he felt warm inside. The girls started walking away, increasing their pace, hurriedly disappearing from Eli's sight. Maybe he had been wrong, the girl with the brown hair had seemed to have taken an actual interest in him, maybe she was the one to pursue instead of cereal box girl. It was probably for the better, cereal box girl seemed to be trouble, she was obviously hysterical after breaking up with dickhead.

Nick had resurfaced, this helped brighten Eli's day. Eli had been worried that maybe Nick had joined the ranks of posters who “an heroed”. He didn't want to lose another friend, so Eli spent most of the day talking to Nick. The conversation didn't make a lot of sense, Nick wasn't exactly himself, he was understandably angry at the b***h who had denied him companionship. It turns out that he, in his weeks of absence, had witnessed the love of his life who unfairly rejected him over and over again despite his persistent efforts, walking hand in hand with another guy. Not just any guy, on of the jocks from Nicks class, a real d********g. The girl had thrown Nick to the wolves, she didn't even want to be near him and barely acknowledged his existence. Eli assured Nick that this was typical behavior, when something better came along we would all be expendable. This wasn't really anything out of the ordinary, and it was something that could be easily expected, but it was easy to see that it had changed Nick. He didn't seem like himself, and Eli had a hard time comforting him. It didn't help that Nicks classmates had turned on him, the b***h had used her charm to basically isolate Nick from the world around him. Everyone seemed to be down on him, except for Eli and the rest of the posters who were willing to hear him out and to assure him that it was her fault and not his, he was just another victim among many.

Eli went to the park as had become his usual routine, he located his bench and sat starring at the lake. The girls hadn't arrived yet, this was weird, usually they would be here by now. As the hours past by Eli started to worry, where could they be? Had something happened? He felt sick to his stomach, something didn't feel right at all. That´s when he heard a voice calling out Hey! Eli looked around. Hey you! Creep! Eli got up from the bench and turned around, a man was storming towards him and before he could register the turn of events, the first was firmly located in the middle of his face and he fell to the ground with a thud. Blood was flowing violently from his nose as he noticed that the guy standing above him was Cereal box girls a*****e of a boyfriend. Get the f**k away from this park, f*****g creeper. If we ever see you again there´s hell to pay! Dickhead stormed away, joined cereal box girl in the far end of the park and they wandered off. Eli just lied there and then he started to cry., he felt so utterly confused and alone.

Nick had been arrested, this became apparent after several days of silence from his part, followed by a news article from his local newspaper. A young man had been caught sitting in a car with a firearm and several explosives, not far away from his school. No one had confirmed that this was indeed Nick, but it seemed like the most logical conclusion. Eli felt guilty, he wasn't sure why, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he could have helped Nick, before everything went to hell.

Years later, Eli was working in a bookstore, he had made some friends in college and one of them had helped him getting the job after they had graduated. It wasn't the most busy place to be working, usually just a couple of customers per hour. This day wasn't much different from the rest, but a couple of hours after opening the store, Eli was struck with terror. Cereal box girl was browsing a shelf of novels. She had glanced in his direction, but didn't seem to have recognized him, this was a relief. After a while she came up to the counter with a book in hand. She asked what it cost, Eli answered and they politely exchanged money and Eli told her to have a nice day, she smiled and told him the same. Then she left and the day went on.