njedger.com

This is an unknowable story split into three acts. A setup; a conflict; a resolution.

Act 1.

It begins with a friendship between two young men.

The men have both finished their education and are looking to make their way in the wider world. They move into a flat in south London and have aspirations.

It is a bright day at the start of the year and two young men have agreed on a place near Balham. It’s off the main road and the place they’ve got is the upstairs part of a terraced house. The narrow stairs lead up to a landing which offers four doorways: two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen, dining and living space. The bathroom is clean and the bedroom’s a reasonably sized. They can hear the rumble of the overground nearby every so often but the whole place seems too good to be true. They shake hands and hug at having found a place so quickly.

The two are excited at living together again after a few months apart after finishing university. They drive off to their respective nearby family homes. They pack their things and agree to move in the following day.

Act 2.

The conflict: the first young man gets a job; the second cannot find work. Tension between the two starts to grow when the second man is unable to pay the month’s rent.

A few weeks pass and living in the flat is just like life in their university house. They know each other well enough to be comfortable in silence and conversation, alone and together. They goto bars on weeknights, pubs on the weekend, and meet up with old friends in the city from day to day. Nothing seems to have changed, and yet they both know that these few days and weeks are to be cherished, for soon the demands of rent mean they both need to step up their search for paid work.

One night, the first man comes back to announce news of a new job at a nearby pub. A few evening shifts a week. Maybe enough to cover his monthly rent, but not enough to cover rent and living costs - like eating. He continues his search through the cold winter days.

The second is searching but cannot find anything. He applies and sends countless emails and fills in countless application forms - but each one feels futile. Nothing bounces back. No replies, no phone calls, rarely even a message of receipt. The days begin to feel bleaker for him as the shine of independent living in the city begins to dim.

The first cheers him up - or tries to - and they spend their mornings looking for jobs on their laptops, searching through the mass of jobs in the city - so many jobs, it seems, that there cannot possibly be enough people within one city to fill all the vacancies. And yet, as it appears to the second man, there must be, because all of his applications have fallen away like leaves off trees.

The first man is steadfast and unflappable in his approach. But he also has the job at the pub to fall back on. And it is there where he finds his first proper job after a chance conversation with someone having a drink after work. The two get talking. It’s a quiet evening shift with not many punters around. He takes his number, they talk the following day, the day after he goes into the office for an ‘informal interview’, and the next day he’s setup with his own desk, a computer and a lanyard with his photograph and name.

His friend can’t quite believe the speed at which it all happens - and nor can he. The hopeless search is over and he relaxes into the world of paid, regular work. He can pay the rent with the job’s wage, and can also use it to buy food. For the first time in his life, he is self-sufficient.

The second friend goes to bed envious. He lies awake wondering how his friend was able to get such an opportunity out of thin air. For the past few nights he has sat awake until the early hours, wondering whether he had made a mistake in moving to the city like this. He lies awake and tries to imagine a future ahead of him, but it’s hard; hard not to feel envious of his friend. A few nights ago he starts to cry a little as he lies awake in his bed and he doesn’t quite know where the tears are coming from: but they come.

Act 3.

The resolution: the second man moves out, back home to his parents, leaving the first man in a quandary: how can he stay in the flat? He cannot afford to keep the flat on his own; but nor does he want to find another housemate. The landlord gives him two options: lose the deposit and leave at the end of the month; find a new housemate by the end of the month to fill the room.

The rent is due and the second man can’t afford it. He has tried to put off talking about it but breaks down one evening in front of his friend. Scarlet with embarrassment, tears begin to fall as he confesses that he can’t afford it, that he hasn’t got any money for the rent. Shame has hollowed him out. The first friend hasn’t realised the mounting sense of doom within his friend. He comforts him and tells him not to worry: he can cover the rent this month, he has some savings from before. Shame redoubles within the other friend who goes to bed early having not eaten dinner. He lies to his friend, and tells him that he ate before he had come back from work. The friend watches on as he leaves the living space with shoulders hunched and head low.

Days pass, and then a week, then two weeks, and then, before they both realise, a month has passed.

The first man has been busy in work - the second, still searching for work. But the drive he had at the start has fizzled out. The excitement of living and working in the city has dissipated. He has still sent out applications, but each one that goes out is like a paper aeroplane that dribbles into the air before nosediving and crashing to the floor. Nothing is returned and no work comes his way. He spends the time in-between walking around the nearby park. He skips meals because he doesn’t want to eat his friend’s food.

The rent is due. The friend asks about it. He tells him that he doesn’t have the money. He asks about his parents: could they chip in a bit, to keep him going? He doesn’t think so. He doesn’t see much of a way out of the hole that has been dug for him - by him? He begins to wonder if this has all been his fault, or is it the fault of his friend for persuading him that it would be a good idea? He wants to blame someone or something, but everything just leads back to blaming himself.

He tells his friend that it’s probably for the best that he moves back home. He doesn’t want to be a burden any longer. He goes to pack and leaves his friend sitting in the living space perplexed by the sudden announcement.

By the next day he’s gone, the room stripped of the few things that were once there, the other friend all alone. He calls the landlord and explains the situation. He presumed there would be a modicum of sympathy, he seemed like a nice enough bloke when they were shown around the place. There is no sympathy. His friend has forfeited the deposit, and he has a week to either pay his friend’s rent for the month, find a housemate who can pay the month’s rent, or he’ll get kicked out as well.

He doesn’t quite understand how fast everything has happened. He phones his friend to see how he is but he doesn’t pick up. He phones his friend’s parents’ house number and his mother picks up the phone but she says that she hasn’t spoken to him for a few weeks and didn’t realise that he would be coming home today. She apologises and asks if there’s anything she can do. He doesn’t understand what’s going on and just says that everything will be ok.

He phones his parents and asks them if they can help him pay his friend’s rent for the month so he can get time to find a new housemate. They agree and send him the money straight away. Relief floods through him and he feels the opportunity of time to sort the problem appear in front of him. He phones his landlord and says he has the rent money to cover his friend and that he would search for a new housemate immediately. The landlord doesn’t care much and just gives him a date for a new housemate to have moved in by.

He sends his friend a message to tell him not to feel embarrassed about what’s happened.

Give me a ring later, when you’re home.

Later in the evening, before his shift in work, he gives his friend a ring to see how he is doing. He’s walking down the high street and it takes a while for the call to connect. Eventually it does but the voice on the other end is unfamiliar and sounds a little frantic. And behind the voice he can hear something like a commotion.

Who is this?

But he doesn’t recognise the voice.