Julio's Demise

“Yeah! Lets get wasted!”Julio shouted as he stumbled drunkenly toward the couch cradling his 7^th beer and new laptop. The night was still young. He’d almost forgotten about his assignment due at 9 the next morning. He settled his laptop on the ground and dragged electrical cable from his dorm room so that he and his friends could listen to music loudly and maybe rouse other college members to join the gathering outside their dorm.

He had procrastinated all evening but finally had decided that a few beers wouldn’t hurt. Max had twisted his arm once more and now Julio was slowly losing his inhibitions and gradually forgetting his assignment with every swig of the amber ale. “Itsh alriiight i’ll get up at 7:30 and finsshhh it” slurred Julio to Max from the couch nestled in the front garden of their college residence.

Julio had experienced this before and was a champion amongst his friends for finishing assignments at the last minute and still achieving excellent grades. He had aced his final exams coming off a 4 day binge in the previous semester and was gaining a reputation as somewhat of a college god amongst his peers.

Julio and Max were slowly joined by other mates and acquaintances who gravitated towards the music and brought many more drinks with them. Julio felt obliged as host of this makeshift party to receive their gifts with gratitude and continued to imbibe various alcoholic beverages.

Soon the front garden was teeming with drunken partygoers. Stumbling and loudly recalling the lyrics of old songs playing from the laptop. Julio and Max were so drunkenly happy that they managed to high five each other rather uncoordinatedly. “Thissh ish soo aweshome maaaaaaan” gargled Max after inhaling another beer.

As the night continued to unravel both Max and Julio became early casualties in the early hours of the morning of the party. The consumption of too much alcohol led to both of them passing out on the couch. Their recollections of the prior evening would be incomplete and hazy to say the least.

Julio felt the cold early morning air and the first rays of the new days sun shone brightly in his eyes. He surveyed the front garden with a headache that felt like he was suffering a brain aneurysm. He noticed what looked like tiny bits of plastic and a melted microchip board. He slowly looked to his watch and realised it was 8:38 am. He had mere minutes to complete and hand in his assignment. He frantically got to his feet and to his astonishment discovered his laptop in a thousand pieces strewn all over the college garden bed along with detritus from the evening before, namely vomit and empty cans.

Julio learnt a harsh lesson. His party was reported to the college police who had him evicted and expelled from the college. He never returned to college and became a drifter.