anek

The evening seemed endlessly heavy and suffocating. Sasha lay on his bed in the dimly lit room, staring blankly at the ceiling. He didn't even have the strength to get up and turn on the light. Juggling endless study and work had become simply unbearable lately: constant deadlines, phone calls, stress, and perpetual sleep deprivation had drained him of all life. The only thing he wanted now was for the world around him to finally fall silent, for everyone to leave him alone, so he could simply fall into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The sudden silence of the room was broken by a short notification signal on the phone.

Sasha struggled to reach the screen. A message from a friend appeared on the display:

"Hey, bro. Still feeling fresh? Let's go to the bar while the guys are still here."

Sasha groaned, sighed, and tossed the phone onto the pillow. Two conflicting desires warred within him. On the one hand, the thought of a noisy group of people gave him a headache. On the other, his sober head was overwhelmed by thoughts, and he desperately wanted to drown this miserable day in something strong and turn off his brain for at least a couple of hours.

The latter won. Sasha overcame himself, sat on the edge of the bed, and, pulling up his pants with one hand, quickly typed out a reply with the other:

"Right now, I'll be there in 5 minutes."

The bar was noisy, stuffy, and tense. The counter was sticky, music blared from the speakers, and people milled about. While the guys were arguing heatedly at the bar and deciding on snacks to go with their beer, Sasha didn't waste time looking at the menu. He simply walked up to the bartender and, without further ado, ordered a shot of spirits. And then another.

They sat down at a far table. Conversations flowed naturally, the guys shared news, and Sasha, tipsy from the first few grams on an empty stomach, finally began to let everything he'd been holding onto flow. He spoke in a broken, emotional voice about how fed up he was with his studies, how his boss at work made him sick, and how he couldn't handle this rhythm anymore.