Social Lives

After getting no answer from the hostile neighbor, Alex began racking his brain for who he could call.

The lack of names that came to mind seemed to indicate a lack of friends. On any normal day he would have reminded himself that getting close to people tended to end badly for him, and he tried not to get too close to the people he occasionally slept with.

Normally, work kept him busy enough not to notice this lack of personal relationships, but sitting in his empty house, he was forced to look at his life without distraction.

At least he stopped seeing his abusive ex… ex-whatever they had been. At first it was difficult not answering or returning the phone calls. Jeff made him feel wanted, at least for brief moments. Even during Jeff’s rages, Alex felt like at least he was being noticed.

The first night he met Janet at the support group, she gave him her number, telling him to call if he ever wanted to talk, or just needed some company. He had never taken her up on the offer, but now he tried to dial her number.

It didn’t go through, just like the office.

Alex wondered if he still had a phone book. After digging through a pile of unopened junk mail in the living room, he found the phone book, and looked for Janet’s name.

It was there, and with a full address.

***

When everything was normal, Nicholai worked in an office. He entered data into spreadsheets and completed forms which were sent to various people for approval. No one talked to him at work, and he was not invited to happy hours or other after work get togethers.

After work, he went home to his empty apartment and turned on the tv. He hated watching television, but he liked having it on. Often he would sit and flip through the channels for hours, never really watching anything.

Dinner was usually a heated frozen dinner.

He met Damien at work.