The next morning went much the same as the first. I woke up in a slightly less dusty bed and looked worriedly at a spot of mold in the corner. Then I took a few minutes to dust off my clothes and grab my shoes. Finally I checked the time, 6:40, just enough time to get there without rushing. The walk to work was unremarkable. For the first few minutes it was just me and my thoughts. What to do next inevitably came up, I couldn’t just keep going to work and collecting a paycheck, I would need to do something about my current situation. That’s future Ethan's problem, for now I just need to accumulate resources. When that failed to help I distracted myself by noting the differences in the buildings I passed. Most were basically unchanged or a little less maintained, but some were a bit more like my home, and some had more recent additions. One house I noticed had a massive cat sitting in the window that glared my way, and I picked up the pace.
I arrived at the burgurhouse with five minutes to spare and sat on the curb. Just on time Tom pulled into the lot.
“Hey Ethan, glad to see I didn’t bring the spare for nothing.” Tom called from around fifteen feet away, tossing something my way in a slow arc. I caught the keys without too much fumbling and unlocked the door for Tom. After that he guided me through the process of setting up. Most of it was about the same as before in the forms of rules 52-54: Check for foods that need prep and expiration dates (the samaras are very slow to spoil, but that didn’t mean they were immune to it) do a quick cleanup with any extra time before 8, set up the griddle and flip the sign to open. Once he was done explaining everything I must have let my facade slip a bit because Tom asked me if everything was okay. I lied and said I was doing fine other than the darn internet being on the fritz, and he let me be. I took a bathroom break after that, secretly flossing and brushing my teeth before coming back to work. Work went about the same as yesterday. I had had my employee meal halfway through the day, just before the third return of the week. The tear screaming open nearly made me drop my plastic fork, but I managed not to. After that I got back to work helping supply Paul to withstand the midday rush. I was pretty worn out by the end of the day. I considered taking a second break toward the end of my shift. Tom would probably allow it, but another break would leave me alone with my thoughts. Better just to work. Later that day I left for what was left of home and went to bed, slowly drifting into a restless sleep.
Tom was there to help with prep again the next day, but I barely needed him for it and the rest of the day was unremarkable. Tom didn’t ask very many questions until my phone finally ran out of battery, and I had to reluctantly ask Tom if I could borrow a charger.
“Yeah of course, it's over by the toaster. Are you sure everything is okay?” he asked. I hurriedly answered, slightly tripping on my words
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“No- I mean yeah, yeah, I just uh, well my charger broke, and I haven’t gotten around to getting a new one yet.” Tom didn’t look satisfied with that answer, but he let it go, and he didn’t bother me again as I went back to work. I took my break watching the tear, got back to work, and then walked back home. I had trouble sleeping that night. I kept hearing something moving around, and I thought something must have wandered into the house through one of the open windows. Eventually I got to sleep despite the noises and worry.
Friday I woke up poorly rested and walked to work, where I unlocked the door and got started, this time alone. I got everything ready for opening, going through our stock, noting what was needed (onions and eggs) and what was close to needing to be replaced (tomatoes). I still had a bit more time before when we opened at 8 so I went over the floors with a broom. Finally I flipped the sign open. Tom arrived at 9, and I glowed when he said he said was impressed I had remembered so easily:
“-Though I guess you didn’t have to remember much, for you it was just a few days ago.” He paused after he said that.
“Sorry, I could have said that a bit better.”
“It's totally fine." I said casually to Tom. That afternoon as I looked at the dusty moldy entryway of home, and told myself the same thing, but the way my voice echoed hollowly through the house made it hard to believe the lie.
The next day I found the shop unlocked, and sitting in the lobby was Tom, a solemn look on his face. I wasn’t sure what was wrong, but Tom was rarely this imposing. I couldn’t for the life of me think what I had done wrong, and apologies started spilling from my mouth as I prepared to beg to not be fired.
“Hey, ah, was I late? sorry, I thought it was 7:30, is my clock off, or was it something else?” Tom seemed taken aback by this reaction, and then to my concern he became even more serious. I tried to mentally prepare myself for his reaction, I was probably getting fired.
“You haven’t changed your clothes for five days, you refused a ride when I offered it, your stomach is audibly rumbling as we speak. You have admitted to having no electricity or internet at home, and now you have bags under your eyes. I have tried to ask if I can help you and you have deflected and avoided the topic, so let me be blunt, something is wrong, so tell me, what is going on Ethan?” I wasn’t sure how to react to Tom's confrontation, but I settled on trying to convince him I was fine.
“Oh sorry about my clothes, the laundry machine is just dow–” Tom cut me off there.
“Stop trying to brush off my help Ethan. I know that something bigger than that is wrong, I need you to explain it to me, and honestly. Okay?” Tom said, more forcefully this time, and I stepped back a little in surprise, making Tom quickly soften with a sigh.
“I’m sorry I got a bit loud there. I want to help, and you keep trying to brush it off when it's clearly not a small problem. I need you to answer me honestly, okay?” Tom finished. I knew I couldn’t make him stop, and so I reluctantly got ready to explain.