I wanted to find him

Date: 3/7/2019

I was a faraway city and found out that a boy I’ve known since preschool (L) was living in the area. I found out he’d moved here to become a comedy writer, working on shows like Archer and also doing stand up comedy. I’d watched some clips of his work and it all had a deep element of depression and rejection underneath the comedy. The city was a mix of Los Angeles and London. I didn’t know anyone around me. I don’t think I had any place to go back to in this city. Or I was just really far away from my family. I kept walking on the streets with nowhere in particular to go, homeless almost. I just had this feeling like I was alone here and I wanted to find L, even though we hadn’t really spoken since 6th grade, and even then we weren’t friends. Everyone else in this city was doing strange things or looked like a 80s era punk; the streets were creepy, run-down and unsafe. I went to an arcade that I somehow got a hint that he frequented. It was a place for gambling and hanging out. I wandered around for a bit in the massive arcade, which was also run-down and old. I asked some people working there whether they knew someone named L. They said: “We get asked that a lot. No, we don’t know anyone named L, he’s never worked here.” I was just about to leave when I saw him. He was wearing a brown jacket and was shorter than I remembered. I just remember going towards him and we hugged each other tightly for a long time. We didn’t even say “hi”... but he might have said something like “It’s you!”. I think we were just both so alone in this city, and recognizing each other was enough.