A white sunny morning in New Orleans was an ideal day for Leo Stinson to go down to the café and enjoy a cup of warm coffee with his three closest friends; Harry, Rose and Marvin. Rose and Marvin recently got married and a beautiful child was born to them. Marshall was just two months old and his parents were incredibly new to this ‘parenting-thing’ as they called it. Rose and Marvin had been together since high school and have been happy ever since. Rose worked as a kindergarten teacher and Marvin was a dedicated lawyer who dedicated his entire life to making the earth a better place.
All four were friends since school but the only one without love was Leo. Harry was engaged to a girl named Robin, who he had been with since last year and was excited to get married. He worked a 9 to 5 job at a bank as an assistant director, so as soon as he would get some free time he would often like to spend it with his fiancée.
That particular morning, Leo was seemingly suspicious of Harry as for the first time in weeks Harry had asked Leo to hang out with him. After clearing his suspicions, Leo agreed, provided that the whole group of friends would join them as well. Not to Leo’s surprise Rose and Marvin said no but he could not blame them since they were working parents and had a two-month old. Leo and Harry agreed to meet at 6 in the evening for a cup of coffee and maybe some food.
When Leo walked in the bar he was completely blown out of his mind. He saw 3 versions of himself and Harry. He was originally scared but instead of fleeing the scene, he took a deep breath, swallowed his pride and went up to ask what was happening. Harry explained that they were all versions of him from 20 years into the future, 20 hours into the future and 20 minutes into the future. Harry explained that he had tickets to a wrestling match and asked Leo if he wanted to go along with him. Leo said no, he did not want to spend his day off watching some wrestlers beat up each other in a staged match, instead he wanted to spend it with his close friend and catch up on life. Amidst thinking, Leo’s future self, which was 20 years into the future, interrupted his train of thought and said that he was making the wise decision by not going, whereas Leo from 20 hours into the future said otherwise. All three debated back and forth until 20 years into the future self of Harry stepped in. He said that Leo would regret not going to the match since he had not had a fun night out in ages but Leo was persistent. All 8 versions of both Harry and Leo would argue for several minutes until Leo got angry. He wanted to go home but what Harry said next left him shook. Harry said these words to completely destroy Leo internally, “ Leo this is a fight that took place 5 months ago, this is just your conscious reliving it. You’re currently drinking a cold cup of coffee all by yourself with no one to talk to. You’re truly all alone.”
Leo came to his senses and felt despair. He felt a hole in his heart which only his friends, who were busy with their life, could fill. Leo, with his heart torn apart by his true friend, went back to his home and aguishly went to bed on a lonely night.
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