There was nothing to do out in the country. If you had a car then you could drive around on the weekends. If you were really bored you could get drunk then drive.

His first time driving drunk in the country was thrilling. Peter had ripped down M-49 going 75 mph in a 55. There was nobody else around. The air rushed in through the windows. The color of golden corn fields looked even brighter now in retrospect.

Now he was driving drunk on a Friday night. Out in the country. But not in the parts he had grown up in. His next chapter of life wasn't supposed to be like this. Driving around corn fields was something he enjoyed in high school. Now he was supposed to be at college parties. Like that dweeb down at State. What was his name... Dick. How could he forget that name? Oh right. It's because his name was Peter. The kids in high school would sometimes say they had the same name. Dick and Peter. And then there was that other fucking asshole. Jimmy. The three dick a teers.

Jimmy. Dick. Peter.

Would he get caught this night? Would he make it home? He didn't hope for anything anymore. Nowadays he just rolled the dice and saw what came up. He was more interested in seeing if things might happen. But he didn't wish for things to go one way or another. Or so he told himself.

He did crave another beer though. That was one reason he ought to make it back home. Four strong 

IPA

s awaited him on the top shelf of the fridge. That ought to be enough to finish him off for the night, he thought. By then he'd be too drunk to go to the 

liquor store

.

At home he said 'hello' to nobody. He spoke the word into the air. The dark. Then flicked the light switch. It seemed like something a tv character would do. Peter saw himself as a character on a show when he did this. Increasingly saw himself like a tv show character more these days.

His sister had told him she was concerned. She thought he needed to talk to people more. He couldn't hole himself up in his apartment, drink, surf the net alone al day. He was becoming detached. Sunk further into his own intellectual world. His grades were slipping. He now skipped classes.

Initially he wondered whether others were going through the same thing. Once he found out they were, he cared less about school and everything. He just wanted to wait to die.