It was four in the afternoon and my life was over.

"I'm so sorry Chris, but they’re letting you go," Hank Vandenburg, my boss and longtime friend, said with same tone a doctor would give to an unfortunate family. The tone of which did nothing to help with the growing pit that was in my stomach.

"The assholes at the top are cutting budget and all non-essential persons or those without a degree are getting the boot." Hank pressed on with the same gentle tone, a stark contrast to the normally boisterous nature the mountain of a man had.

"Sorry?” I said, the word coming out with a slight rasp from my suddenly dry mouth. “Non-essential? Who cares about a degree, Hank I've given up six years to this company. Six long, hard years.” I said as calmly as I could.

“If it wasn't for those firewalls that I helped design last year, we would have been sued so hard to hell and back from what those hackers would have gotten that we would have gone under. How the hell am I considered non-essential just because I don’t have a fucking degree, when half the people with them do a quarter of the work!?" The last sentence was all but shouted, all pretenses of being calm thrown out the window.

"Do you think I like firing you!? Trust me Chris I've tried everything I can think of to keep you on. I even offered to take a pay cut in order to keep you on. But the owners are adamant on the cuts and if I push more, they’ll can me too.” Hanks own voice raised, sounding pained.

“I'm sorry man." Hank said again, but this time the tone in the air was 'I'm sorry, but there isn't a thing I can do without endangering my family’s security. You're on your own'.

I looked at Hank then. I had known him even before we had worked together, all the way back to high school. He had always been a dependable guy, an older brother type to the outcasts and he had the energy of a mother bear when it came to hurting anyone he thought of fondly. If he said that he tried everything short of threatening quitting, it meant he had. Which meant I was truly and genuinely out of luck. 'What the hell am I going to tell the kids... and how?' Was the only thought that came to me as I sat back down and put my head in my hands. Hank stood up and came around the other side of the desk, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Look Chris, I know this seems bad right now, but you'll still receive severance pay and the healthcare will continue the end of that too. You won't have to worry about those bills or your sister's hospital stays until six months from now, by which time you'll definitely have a new job. Think of this as a fresh start." Hank squeezed my shoulder gently and when I looked up, he had this painted on smile that almost made me laugh. Almost. Apparently even Hank's optimism had its limits.

Sighing, I stood up and tried to give him a half-hearted smile that felt as fake as my ex’s personality. "I guess I should go clean my desk out and head home. I'll see you around Hank."

Just before I left, Hank stopped me. "I'm going to keep checking on you and I'll see you in Endless Online, right buddy?" He stuck out his hand to shake mine. I shook both it and my head.

"Probably not, with the whole being unemployed and job searching ahead. I think I’m going to have to cancel the order and get my money back. Kick some ass for me, yeah? Maybe roll a side toon for when I eventually can."

I left the room before he had a chance to say anything else. My desk was a couple of floors down, so I made my way to the elevator. When I got down to my desk, I wasn’t very surprised to see that some of my coworkers were standing around it. They looked varying degrees of bored to excited. Peter, the newest member to our little circle of friends and the only other smoker in the group, was leaning against my desk looking around at the clock on it, probably to check their next smoke break. They were handsome and beautiful in an ephemeral way that made others either jealous or question their sexuality, or both, with semi long red hair framing eyes so dark brown that they bordered on black.

Beside them, Nick stood quietly speaking to Johannah. His short dirty blonde hair permanently retained its spikiness and with his pale blue eyes and style of dress made he look like a surfer, if a very oddly pale one. Johannah, on the other hand, always wearing summery dresses and with her black hair, dark chocolate skin, and light green eyes, was nearly his opposite and was excitedly whispering to her long time 'secret' boyfriend. Whatever sweet or scandalous words she had for him dried up as the group noticed my presence. "Did you get the promotion?" Nick asked, his southern twang punching out the words like gatling gun rounds.

"I swear, if you didn't, I'm gonna march right up to Hank and badger him like my girlfriend does to me when I leave the seat up." This comment earned him a quick elbow to the stomach and a dirty look from Johannah before she turned to me and smiled.

"Jokes aside, you really do deserve it. You've been here just as long as Hank and ...... Chris?" Johannah stopped talking after she saw the look on my face.

"They're letting me go. They are letting go of the 'non-essential' people and the dropouts and I'm on the latter half of that list." I said this quietly as I sat down and started collecting my things into my messenger bag Johannah looked shocked at first, but after a moment the skin crinkled between her eyes as she glared up toward where she knew the CEO and all of the higher ups would be. "Those assholes. They sit around getting rich off of our work and then think that they can just fire us when we hit a rough patch?"

Johannah looked at me "Do you know who they are firing?" She asked, quiet enough that no one would be able to hear besides us. I shook my head "No, I only know that they're laying off quite a few, if Hank’s words are anything to go by. If I were you, I'd probably start to look for another job, just in case." I had just finished grabbing the last of my things off of my desk when a cigarette found its way in front of my eyes. Looking up, I saw Peter holding it and a sad look on their face. Knowing that they weren’t one for words and that this was probably as close as I would get to a heartfelt good-bye from them, I gladly accepted it.

"I should probably get going. The next train is in twenty minutes and if I hurry, I can probably make it." After more good-byes, hugs, and a few tears, mostly from Nick, I finally made my way to the subway station. Looking back at my old company, the giant Good People Games sign on the skyscraper looked more like a lie than ever. The messenger bag slung over my shoulder felt filled with bricks, the things off my desk and the news I’d be bringing home making it cut into me as I rushed off into the mid-day hustle and bustle of the city. ---------------------------------------

The cigarette tasted sweeter than my normal brand, though if that was from the tobacco or the chemicals used to cure it I had no clue. My normal brand was just tobacco. Still, it filled me with a small tingle in my veins as the nicotine flooded into them. When the sounds of children playing and parents talking hit my ears I stooped down and put out the cig, not wanting either group to see or worse, far worse, my siblings should they be out and about. Passing by the park usually brought a smile to me, its long-ignored equipment and playground bringing back fond memories of times spent there myself.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Even now, as a fully grown adult, I would often come by in the later hours of the day to either simply enjoy the atmosphere or briefly use the gym style equipment scattered around the park. Today wasn’t usually. Seeing neither hide nor hair of my siblings at the park was a minor blessing, though it didn’t surprise me. Avoiding crowds was something of a family trait, as my late parent's would have proudly told anyone within hearing distance.

Five blocks, the rest of the cig and another full one, and one raving homeless man later, I stood in front of a short single story apartment complex that I’d called home with my younger siblings for the better part of a decade. Guess it was time to face the music. Entering the slightly worn doorway of home, what greeted my ears were the voices of two very loud teenagers.

“DAMNIT JASON YOU’RE SUCH A DICK SOMETIMES!”

“HOW IS IT MY FAULT YOU STRUCK OUT!??” The crash and clatter that followed had me flinging my bag down and rushing into the front room before the two destroyed the place or each other.

“What’s going on here?” I said as I took in the scene, voice raised but not quite yet a shout.

Jason, the older of the two, stood behind the couch with a dented dinner tray clutched defensively in front of himself as Daphne, our younger sister, had a heavy candle holder clutched in her diminutive hands, frozen in place above her head as she’d been raring to swing it apparently again. Two pairs of blue eyes, the lucky little bastards, filled with anger and some amount of shock, took me in before their competing voices sprung up again.

“He told Chez..."

“She’s trying to...”

Both overlapped and started climbing in volume to be heard over the other in a way that reminded me of band battles I'd been to a time or two.

“Alrighty, one at a time here,” I said while raising my hands placatingly till they quieted, “I might have two ears but that doesn’t mean I can understand two people at once.”

Jason, my younger brother, crossed his beefy ‘guns’ in front of himself and stared at our younger sister with a surprisingly smug look before he spoke up.

“Yeah Daffy, tell Chris why you’re breaking shit.”

“Language,” I said to him before I gestured to Daphne, who was glaring at her brother with all the rage a hated childhood nickname can bring.

“It’s Daphne or Daph, not Daffy you as...”,

She trailed off as my own glare transfixed onto her before continuing “astoundingly big jerk.” She whirled around to glare at Jace as she spoke.

“He told Chez that I have a crush on him and that I made a doll out of trash and gross stuff and kiss it every night before bed as a love spell!” Her voice grew louder and louder as she spoke and looked about ready to swing again regardless of my presence.

“Hey, it’s not my fault he could believe it so easily or that you decided to wait till after to ask him out! Plus YOU DID DO ONE, just didn't involve trash.”

Jason replied quickly. Daph, clearly not having it, started forward at the same time as I lunged and caught the holder.

“ENOUGH!” This time I had shouted and stopped both of them in their tracks.

“Jason.” My deadpan ‘dad’ voice cut the newly acquired silence in half.

“Come on Chris she’s not even supposed to be dating anyone.”

“AND HOW IS TH-” At this point, I’d also had it.

“Both of you. Sit. Now.” Both grumbled at me, but listened and took to the far sides of the couch. “Jace, you owe your sister an apology. What in the actual fuck, you know that was a supremely shitty thing even if you’d been telling the truth,” He wilted beneath both the words and the heat coming off of them, some amount of shame entered his face as he turned away to stare at the flowery design on the wall paper. Before she could finish with the smug look that was coming onto her own, I struck with words aplenty.

“And Daph, being angry isn’t a good enough reason to try to bludgeon your brother. Nor are you supposed to be dating anyone until you’re fifteen and last I checked, that was still eight months away.” Anger and embarrassment in equal measure colored her cheeks with a rosy red tint.

“I wasn’t asking him out. I was just telling him I liked him, as a FRIEND, and if he wanted to maybe hang out and get to know each other before my birthday…* she trailed off as she began thumbing the hem of her faded ‘Witch broomstick is yours?’ shirt. I rubbed my face and sighed as I contemplated what to do here. On one hand, I was an adult figure in their lives and had both a moral obligation to discipline them and make sure they understood their wrongs here. On the other, teenagers were going to teenage regardless and I had no desire after my day to make more bad energy in the world.

“Daph,” I said while taking a seat on the coffee table across from them, “I’m pretty sure that’s called asking someone out. Even as a friend. That's.... just basically dating.”

“But it was different!” Maybe had she been able to look me in the eyes I would have believed her.

“Hardly. And I set the rule about dating because that’s what mom and dad did with me and what I did with Jace. I know I didn’t agree with it back then but I understood why and listened,” I spoke slowly and calmly before a phantom of a smile graced my lips, “plus when Jace had a secret girlfriend, I grounded him too. So out of fairness, I have to ground you.” She stood up at that, tears forming in her eyes.

“Fair?? How is that ‘fair’, I didn’t even GET to go out with him or go on a date or-”

“Which is why you’re only being grounded for two weeks instead of a month like your brother was and that’s mostly because you tried bludgeoning him and for being a sneak. You know the dating rules. Fair?” She stood silent for several moments before she threw herself back down with an only slightly exaggerated sigh. “Yeah, okay I guess that’s fair.” “HEY!” Jase said loudly, gesturing at the both of us with his hands. “How is that fair!? She tried to murder me and she’s getting a slap on the wrist! How is violence less punishable than a secret girlfriend or that time I snuck out or-”

“Because I’m tempted to let her try again,” I interrupted before he could remind me of even more reasons to ground the near adult, starring at him, “that was really messed up Jase.”

“I was just trying to protect her!”

“If that’s ALL that you wanted to do, you should have come to me about it. Or just talk to her. Or anything else really.” I could feel a nicotine craving about to come on.

“But you chose to instead lie to a friend, lie about your sister, and be as embarrassing about it as could be.” I started rubbing my jaw.

“Shoot, if I’d been in her shoes, I would have probably socked you in the jaw. You damned well knew better by just thinking about how you would have wanted things handled. So, you’re also grounded.” Before the twerp could interject, I pushed on, “It was shitty but not violent so you’re grounded for lying and embarassing her for ten days and can gloat about your early freedom. Plus you have to tell your friend you were just being a goofy jerk.... after her birthday." The look Daph gave me made me smile just the slightest before I stuffed it down.

"Fair?”

Neither really looked happy with that but seemed content enough with the other's punishment to not argue more, which meant I’d done what I hoped was a good job.

“Now you both know the drill, phones and computers are limited to schoolwork and study till after 7 and off entirely by 10, no hanging out, yada yada yada...” I trailed off as I stood and started setting the parental controls I had set up on my phone. “I’m going to step out and I’ll cook when I get back, both of you go to your rooms.”

“Hey I thought the grounding was the punishment,” Jase replied and grinned as I rolled my eyes and Daph fought down a smile.

“Funny wise guy, guess it’s sweet of you that you want to keep your sister company for four more days of grounding...”

“Uhm I’m going to go start cleaning the dishes love you byeeeee,” he trailed off as he sprang into action and into the kitchen. This time, Daph really did smile.

“Hey Chris?” Her words had a note of worry that stopped me as I started heading back to the hallway.

“What’s up, sweet pea?” She grimaced a little at that one but pushed on. “You smell like an ash tray today. Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Had a little bad news at work but it’s all good.”

“Well then quit and save all of our noses.” She grinned up at me as she walked towards the kitchen “And I’m going to go cook actual dinner that’ll actually taste like food so byeeeee.”

It felt nice to smile as I left to step outside, but the feeling quickly faded. I never claimed I couldn't be a liar, omissive, or a hypocrite, but it sucked a floppy donkeys off to feel like all three. Hopefully they wouldn't notice my nose growing threefold in between now and telling them.

After dinner.