Date: 17/05/2024, Location: Karhögstorg, Lund, Sweden.
It's been a little over 6 months since that day, and like all days where he met new friends. He looks at them fondly, with a hint of nostalgia and hope for another great day and its chances.
He wakes up, not as groggy as he used to be. He has some oats with locally sourced syrup for breakfast in a hearty bowl of milk. He then brushes his teeth, flosses and does touchups by shaving his head due to his baldness. He liked to look well-done for his friends, after all.
He does his morning routine with a small cardio set. Meeting up with his neighbour Jeremy, who liked to be called Joe. "Morning, ready for a jog?" Heath asks, "Yeah, as always." Monotone, Joe ain't much of a talker. But he's for sure a good jogger. From Prins Augusts G Street, they breeze through to Norra Spolegatan, where they meet Behsa, a woman they meet up with to jog through to Kävlingevägen Road, a loop through Kung Oskars Väg Road and going back to Prins Augusts G Street again. A nice 35-minute pace for a man like him.
"Nicely done Joe, Behsa." Heath comments sincerely as usual while nodding at them, knowing they could've done anything else but still chose to jog. "No, thank you, Heath. It's lovely around here. Around you, really. Ain't that right, Joe?" Behsa goads Joe jokingly.
A crack of a joyful smirk appears on Joe's face, "Yeah, it was. It's been lovely since you came here, Heath." Joe comments truthfully, they liked Heath for who he was, a guy who kept making new mistakes, but never repeated them. And enjoyed the process of finding new information and was vigorous in studying new knowledge. They liked an honest man. However, they noticed he wasn't a guy who was into romance, even after spending so much time with him. They'll probably ask him later during one of their game nights.
During the process of their jog, they found Adrian by the Sushi 2 Go place on Kung Oskars Väg Road, "Hey Heath, how's it going? Hey Joe and Behsa, haven't seen you both in a long while." The teen Adrian comments delightfully.
"We've all been good, nothing much has happened since, we've just been jogging and chatting about life. Haven't seen you at this sushi place in weeks, enjoying sitting by the bar indoors, eh?" Heath asks. "Yep, didn't have the time because of school, can be a bit overwhelming sometimes, but I do the best with what I have, my sports specialisation can't finish itself after all!" Adrian finishes the sentiment with as best a positive he could find. "It's good you're trying your best, even if you didn't. You know they'd be proud." Heath says.
"-Yeah, they would. Thank you for aiding me in this course, by the way." Adrian says, with a melancholic but optimistic tone. Behsa comes to pat him on the back while Joe smiles meaningfully towards him, hoping to appear mindful but proud of him.
"Just continue what you're doing, Adrian. You know you got it in you. I will provide for as long as you need. And I know you'll want to pay me back, just do so once you have enough from a stable income, alright?" Heath says, knowing what these youngsters are like. These are quite good teens, and while they are influenced by other people who have more delinquent tendencies in their environment, they have good heads on their shoulders and know when to leave such crowds. They'll find themselves soon enough.
"Alright, but you're not gonna stop me either like Elias couldn't stop you!" Adrian partially mimicked Heath's faux-arrogant tone while showing his jokey nature. Heath smiled from that, realising greater how familial their dynamic is.
"I am thinking of downloading Deep Rock Galactic. Would any of you want a match if I send you a gift set on Steam?" Adrian asks out of context. "Sure, what's that brought onto you?" Behra asks. "Rock and Stone, sister. Rock~ and Stone!" Adrian says with a flourish, raising his hand, then bringing it back down like a swing. Joe in the background looks uninterested but there's a gleam in his eye that others notice. "Ooh, guess you got a Brother to mine with, don't you, Adrian? Wait for me so we can play and squash some bugs!" Heath says heartily.
Yet he never could. After a silly chat with them all, he leaves them off towards The South Indian Lund, a restaurant he booked with Elias for his birthday, on Nygatan Street. He waits on the car park for 12 minutes or so before the young teen comes.
"Hey, how's it going?" Heath asks, part gesture while also genuine. "Been tough, but I'll manage, Joe beat me at Call of Duty quite badly during a match. He's a pro at hit-and-run tactics, with a sniper rifle of all things!" Elias comments, frustrated but happy he got to play with a new friend as well. "Yeah, I saw from the Discord feed that you had it rough." Heath gives him a gentle nudge on the back. "Come on, let's go inside, the reservation wouldn't want us to be late, would it?" They soon both go inside. And had a blast of their cuisine.
They joked, they laughed, and they reminisced on the change of their lives. Knowing much of what they've done has helped their growing friend group immensely. And that all of them have grown as people. Not to be sappy, but I'm pretty damn proud of them too.
"Damn, the Mango Lassi dessert was lovely, that was a flavour I would sell myself for." Heath comments partly to himself, and it is true. It was a lovely dessert, too lovely. "Yeah, you had to try a portion of my Dosa though. You missed that during the serving." The young teen comments meaningfully, "Yep, but it was your meal, we'ren't going to take it from you." They then sit in comfortable silence. Soon, the waitress came by. "The total is SEK 172.83 (£ 12.42 ($ 15.84),) please." This time, Elias chose to pay, weirdly enough.
"You've barely got money, you sure?" Heath asks. "Yeah, for all the times you helped me and others, there'll be more than that came from after all." Elias winks, Heath chokes on himself, then laughs. "Ah, you're getting better at winking, it used to be so awkward!" Heath says.
"True, I used to look like a lopsided fish when I used to wink." The young teen says, smirking. "Your words, not mine!" Heath pretends to take a tear off his cheek while dying down his fit of giggles, he finishes up the dregs of his Mango Lassi before leaving it on a napkin.
They chat some more, about topics like what game they should play tonight, whether they should do online matching, or if they should try new games like Fall Guys or Rocket League. It was a good time spent, and one Heath would hold dear like many of his memories.
""*He he he-*"" A small batch of giggles ran through the restaurant, with a side of wheezing as it just joined with the raucous noise throughout the rest of the restaurant that night. Their conversation derailed many times, yet they found common topics to discuss.
Heath and Elias clicked like two peas in a pod, and the rest were in close contact branches. "So uncle, what are you planning next?" Elias asks, genuinely wondering what would be on his mind. "Anything, really. This place counts as my retirement after all. While I may only be 41, I also made a few new paintings, you fine to see through my phone?" Heath asks. "*Mhm* you let me show to you all the time, only fair." The young teen comments humorously, Heath unpockets his phone and scrolls through his gallery.
"This one is meant to be the Bantorget, I tried to alter it slightly to fit with modern aesthetics by changing some of the Victorian-era stylings with more minimalist, brutalist and Bauhaus design." Heath's showing a well-made portrait that'd be seen from a worker's view plan.
"Many of your other paintings are made to be renditions of old architecture. Have you ever thought of making a new building entirely?" Elias comments fruitfully, though with the knowing look from Heath, he now cagoles what will come next. "Well, good thing I did so, then. Here's a 55-story tall building that's a mixture between 5 of random buildings in a choice list. Don't know what t'name it yet." A painting of a building that mixed the Petronas Towers, La Sagrada Famila, Flatiron Building, Chrysler Building and Lotus Temple came into view. A neo-universalist blending stylisation.
"Looks great! You're quite the talented artist. You ever thought of going into graphic design or Architecture?" Elias asks. "A long time ago." Heath comments from the side, feeling it is too expensive to do in this market. >= SEK 295,000 (£23,798.54 ($ 32,033.40)) / Year.
"You're not that old, you've still got enough time to get a degree. We can help fund it!" Elias says with a full stance. Heath helped them with most situations, and all knew what he's thinking from spending enough time with him. Elias would've called them up to ask them and more than likely they would've said yes if Heath was still in this world. Heath was very touched as he hadn't had such gifts in what felt an eternity. He declined nonetheless. "Give me another present that's not so expensive." Heath croos out with rising sympathy.
"Just ask. Now you have us to help you." Both go quiet, spiritual echoes that were attributed to hallucinations again repeating encouragement and 'All of us' in sync since they last saw each other. Elias conflated with full belief in the matter. Even with low self-esteem, he can show all his cards on the table.
Heath, to no exaggeration, helped them out much in life. Elias personally felt he deserved some return for what he's been doing. "I know you are all with me. Thank you. Just continue what we were doing, eh?" Heath's response sounded almost diplomatic in nature, a pat to his arm was given before the retired man lifted his hand up to ask for a check. The count keeper raises an ok hand signal before continuing their convo, lighthearted in mode with some secret surprises being calculated for future returns the next time they meet again.
Elias noticed. "-what's wrong?" Elias asked. "Nothing~." Heath rubs his shiny scalp. Yet one could tell a reckoning was happening from his cheeks crowing with lines from his mouth widening towards thinking of something exciting. "Elias. We should be going soon. How about we continue talking while walking, yeah?"
Elias, knowing some of the lessons Heath tried to give and applying it to him, "There's more to it than what you're saying, isn't there?" The young teen gently *Tonks* the much older man on the shin with his sandaled right foot. "Woah, yeah, no spoilers though! A surprise I wish to give you on International Museum Day tomorrow." Heath silently chortled, knowing of his penchant towards the history of vehicles, he had created a mini-model of the first car, RC controllable through a custom remote he built using spare parts in his garage.
The automatic register pointing towards their table, a moustachioed Englishman walked over and spoke to them with a gentle accent. "I'm sorry for being late, gentlemen. Would this be cash or card?" The waiter says with a cheek-raising smile.
"It's alright." "All good. Cash, please." Both share half of the meal's cost through standard krona banknotes to then walk away in cosy silence for a bit before the young teen comes back to finish his point. "I have a surprise for you as well, though I wish to tell you now." Elias points at Heath's chest while glaring playfully, his finger-gunned hand reaching down towards his phone again before passing over a small envelope. "Something I could not buy personally, but here's a SEK 2,000 ≈ (£ 161.22 ($ 217.00)) gift card for Amazon, saw on your wish list you wanted that new toolset." The fire in Elias' eyes frightened Heath for a moment.
He put his head down and thought for what felt like an eternity. "Thank you." Heath's brows almost melt off his face in happiness, wondering how he gathered so much money. Elias murmurs the last bit with a raised smirk, glad to get his point across.
And that says something from a shy, young man the first time he was in front of him. A good wake-up call. They return back to talking about the recent memes, global events and other things such as the politics of the time, some of the topics being talked about probably capable of getting me banned off of Webnovel. Heath cuts them off for a moment from being distracted, his arm strained out to allow a bicycle that passed them in a rush, with them nearly getting hit and run over, they stare at each other before Heath looks behind the young teen due to an unwarranted spectacle.
What was once out of the corner of Heath's eye was now fully visible. Beside the road he's on, he noticed a man, alone on the highway. Just standing there, appearing listless. From a distance, one could tell they were very handsome, but 'they' felt very
Were they possibly drunk? High? Hard to tell, with them walking across the street in heavy traffic, yet they were somehow never hit. "Hey stranger, need some help?!" Heath yells from across the pavement, gaining their attention with eyes of eternal patterning, the visions of all mortals who kept still for a moment were swamped in feral scrollings that probed and prodded their existence. The man, that 'thing', turned to him. His lips were visibly upturned from many meters away. A Cheshire smirk, rather than a Cheshire smile. Now walking towards Heath robotically, yet avoiding the vehicles like a phantom, they soon came upon him.
The being's captivation peaked, Heath felt the need to look away, but like a preyed fish to an angler's light, he had no control over his body now, it peering into his being as would a neurosurgeon into a mind, his every thought, feelings and past read instantly.
Once close enough, its features were noticed: A beautiful yet uncannily androgynous face, eyes that appeared too clear and glassy, and skin that was too perfect with no features of wrinkles or pores. No hair throughout except for a short military haircut and thin eyebrows. That foggy body was not clothing, it was a steam that created a facsimile of an inhuman form. That fuming burst out from below him, sinking through to all materials and causing everything to pause in their tracks without harm from the sudden stop.
A voice that blared harmonics with the world spoke, yet their mouth never moved. "Perfect." A melodic sound, one expected for a tenor, it captivated Heath but simultaneously scared those around him. Elias tried to move between them but was frozen, then. . .
Heath blacked out. Hearing the cry of Elias for him. He left this world as suddenly as he arrived half a century prior, into and out of the lives of so many people.