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THUD!
“Ack!” A groan could be heard from underneath a large wooden table, “well let’s try that again shall we?” A frizzy-haired teenager popped up from underneath the table a beaker with a purple liquid in hand, “ah-ha! I have bested you foul table!” He swirled the beaker around in his hand as he cleared his throat, “now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for,” he pulled a little orange vile from his coat pocket, “once I combine these two substances,” he began to delicately pour the vile into the beaker, “I, the great Hugo, master of science, will have invented a brand new chemical that will be able to hel-“ the substance exploded into a puff of smoke covering Hugo’s face in soot and causing his already frizzy hair to stand up and spike out in every direction.
“Well,” he coughed up a puff of smoke and attempted to flatten out his hair and wipe the soot off his face as best he could, “that didn’t go quite according to plan but…” Hugo trailed off as if distracted by something, a somber presence suddenly drifting over him if only for a moment.
The emptiness of the room became all the more evident as Hugo cleared his throat once more and plastered back on a big grin, “but not to worry!” Hugo rushed to the other side of the room and came sliding to a halt in front of a drawn curtain, “for you see with my newest invention I’ll be able to, shall we say, shed some light on the issue!” He grabbed the curtain and ripped it down dramatically, revealing behind it a singular switch on the wall.
“It will be quite the illuminating experience!” He snorted at his own joke as he grabbed the switch and pulled it. The room sparked with vibrant flares of electricity, lights flickering throughout the room as Hugo laughed maniacally. The sound of cracking electrical currents popping off through the room until everything began to settle. Hugo scanned through the room now gently illuminated by little lights hanging from the ceiling.
“Oh… oh!” Hugo’s face lit up as he observed the hanging lights, “it worked! It actually worked!” He pumped his fist in excitement, “haha, you see that folks! With my brilliant intellect I have invented a new form of light source, I call it-” he dramatically spread his arms to gesture toward the lit-up room, “the bright ball!”
Hugo proudly placed his hands on his hips as he surveyed the empty room, the warm lights now highlighting the lonely laboratory, finally a successful invention- his face fell- and no one there to see it but himself.
His arms wrapped around himself, a familiar tightening forming in his chest. No one to congratulate him, no one to share in the joy. He was just… alone.
“You know…” he leaned his back against the wall, this was supposed to be a joyous moment, “I really thought that maybe…” his voice hitched in his throat as the first tears began to trickle down his cheeks. He succeeded, he actually succeeded at something for once, and yet- “that ma-maybe-“ Hugo covered his mouth as he choked back a sob, shutting his eyes tight as he slowly slid down the wall into a sitting position curling his knees to his chest as he laid his head onto them.
His sobs echoed through the room, the sounds bouncing off the walls, an amplification of the weight that had come to exist in his chest. Most days he could ignore it, go on like nothing was wrong like his heart didn’t constantly yearn for something more, for companionship, acknowledgment, care. But some days it was just too much, some days he just couldn’t keep the act up, the smiles, the enthusiasm, he just kept pushing and pushing until eventually it would all boil over and he would find himself sobbing on the floor of his laboratory again.
Then he would pick himself back up, put back on the mask meant only for himself, and the cycle would repeat. This was his life, his normal, and what he had come to know. He was used to it.
But the loneliness, It still hurt.
Not that anyone would ever know that.