Days of Distraction

by Alexandra Chang

“Wait, are they really your friends? Or just people you found on there? Like, do you really know and care about them?” “Oh, sure. They’re my good friends and I care a lot about them. They just don’t know I exist.”

As long as I’ve known them, my parents have bought lottery tickets. I don’t. Then, at least, I am completely certain I will not win. The certainty is more manageable for me than the cycle of hoping/not knowing and losing and hoping/not knowing and losing. The poor man’s tax, I’ve heard it called. Or worse, the stupid tax.

“Do you think the world’s going to be a lot better when all these kids grow up?” J says maybe. “No. The answer is no. Because the world is going to beat their innocence out of them, and they’ll end up hurt or hurting like the rest of us.”

I close out the app. Yes, I should unfollow them all. I should not spend so much time on other people’s lives.