Is this it? [Chapter 2: Fun with gout. Kinda.]

Started writing this to vent one day. I wanted to make it strongly dialogue-based. I kind of wanted to turn it into a comic book...

[Continued from: "Average Days, Average Life (sucks)"]

"Hey."

Ren shifted around in his bed, awake but refusing to open his eyes. His Super Hero dream had come to an end, and now he was being forced back into reality. He had heard the familiar voice. It was a voice he knew well and one that comforted him whenever he heard her. Outside, he could hear his dog barking like it had gone mad at a yard service worker mowing a lawn.

"You feeling better?"

Ren sat up. Sure enough, there she stood. A young blond girl in a white dress, with blue eyes, greeting him with her smile. Her skin was a pale white, but she didn't look sickly. She had an angelic aura beaming from her. The girl certainly looked like an angel. She stood at the foot of his bed, her hands folded behind her back as she giggled childishly as he fought to wake up.

"Karin."

"Yes, master?"

"... Wait- don't call me that!"

He leaped out of bed and ran over to the bathroom. After a couple of minutes, he returned to gaze to Karin, whom was now laying on top of a pile of his clothes on the floor. He walked over to his bed, jumping over the girl and then jumping once more to land on his comfortable mattress. She sat up and faced him.

"You know why I'm here, right?"

"Yeah. Cause I'm bummed out again."

"Well, yes. But you know you can always talk to me, right? You haven't been speaking to me and Aya lately."

"It's because I haven't had time."

"You seem like you're going to crack."

Ren gulped at her words. She knew him too well. Of course, she did. She was always there. Karin looked after him when no one else would. Even though she looked younger than him, she was always comforting him and pepping him up when no one else was available. Now she was here to snap him out of his mood, he was sure of that. His eyes darted over to her as she stood up and began spinning around in a circles with the grace of a dancer. She continued talking.

"You need to learn to vent. It's not healthy to store all of that stuff. But you already knew this. You're just being stubborn."

"You, Aya, and Pixel are the only one's I'll really 'vent' too. You know I don't like bothering people with my 'issues'."

Karin stopped spinning to face him. She curled a lock of her shoulder length hair around her finger. She then moved to the edge of his bed, sitting down beside Ren.

"You aren't in this alone."

"I'll be okay..."

"You'll be okay."

He could almost feel her stroking his hair back as she ran her palm against the short black strands. After a moment, he got out of bed and walked downstairs. He stretched, jogged in place, did some jumping-jacks, and then began to kick at the air to practice some martial arts. Karin sat on a couch in the living room, watching as he kicked at imaginary opponents with all of his might. Ren could picture them. Black demonic entities that wanted to rip his limbs off of him and beat him to death with his own dismembered appendages. He wouldn't allow it. He would slam his feet into their faces, swinging his legs around as fast as a samurai would slash his sword at the air. Furious kicks- strong enough to break the bones of a man. Every dark creature that popped out of the floor or manifested into the air, was taken out with a combo of kicks. He roared loudly as he did so, unleashing everything into vicious and violent attacks.

"You're getting better, but you still need work."

The girl's voice chimed in.

"You should have Aya train you tonight."

"Maybe I will. Thanks, Karin."

"For what?"

"For helping me cheer up."

"You should be thanking yourself, master."

"Don't call me that!"

She nodded toward him with a smile and then hopped off of the couch. Before walking past him, she patted his shoulder and then disappeared around a corner.

**************************

"A party?"

"Yeah, didn't you see the invite online? You got to come to my party."

Ren stood in his room, sweating quite a bit from his earlier work out. He had rushed up the stairs after hearing Weezer blaring loudly from his cellphone. On the phone was his good friend Lindon, someone he had known since middle school. His friends excited voice could be heard clearly.

"You totally have to come. We haven't chilled in forever, bro. We got beer and drank! Plus there's going to be lots of chicks!"

"I don't drink, but I guess I'll head out there."

"What?! You don't drink? Oh, christ... are you a straight-edge d****e now or something?"

"No, idiot." Ren frowned at the thought of that. "The story is I have gout. I can't drink alcohol. Makes my uric acid levels jump up and when that happens I can't walk. I need my legs, man. Last time I had a gout attack, it was New Year's. I had some jello shots and the next morning I couldn't even put my feet down on the floor without screaming in pain. That lasted two months."

"No s**t? What does that feel like?"

"Well... it feels like there's a bunch of broken glass underneath your skin. Imagine walking around with that in your flesh. That's basically what it feels like."

"Sounds painful, bro. Sucks to be you! Don't worry, I'll totally drink for you."

"That's comforting. I was worrying where my portion of alcohol would go, but now that you've cleared that up, I can go on living."

"That gout s**t wouldn't go to your dick or something, would it?"

"Oh God, I hope not. I haven't heard any twisted stories about that. Maybe if I'm bored later, I'll type in gout penis on google and see what pops up."

"You think girls would like that? It would be like, extra, extra hard? Chicks might like the feel of that, right?!"

"You're an idiot..." Ren laughed loudly.

"Haha, just something to think about! So, yeah. Just head on out tonight. You can make fun of all the wasted people. Cept for me, cause I'm cool."

"I'll try."

"Yeah, yeah. Just do it m**********r!"

"Happy Birthday, asshat. I'll see you later."

"Later!"

He placed the phone down and started undressing to take a shower. When he got out, he saw a text from Pixel. After messaging "I miss you's" and random cute smileys he started to get dressed. It wasn't quite noon yet. She'd have break at noon, so she'd be able to talk then. It was time to go get some brunch. He got into his car and drove over to Chick-Fil-A.

Author's Note

Please leave me feedback!

Reviews

[Thread of Possibilities]

There's a rawness about it that makes everyone feel pain with you. That's what makes this powerful. The fact that you managed to incorporate humor into this, makes it all the more worthwhile. It probably reveals more than you had originally thought.

"That gout sh*t wouldn't go to your d*ck or something, would it?"

"Oh God, I hope not. I haven't heard any twisted stories about that. Maybe if I'm bored later, I'll type in gout penis on google and see what pops up."

Awesome so far.

[AngelBeat]

the whole extra extra hard thing grossed me out, but i laughed. XD This is cool man. :D In a sick way...

[Rose Tyler]

Gave me a laugh when I got to "That gout sh*t wouldn't go to your d*ck or something, would it?".

This shows a side of your life that most people probably don't know. Keep going! :)