CHAPTER 4: BACK TO REALITY
WC:1844
Summer was a blessing and a curse. The curse was that we lived so far out of town that going anywhere cost half a tank of gas. The blessing part was endless gaming. My parents never cared what I did as long as I didn’t get into trouble or make a mess. I guess it was the benefit of being the youngest, and the only one who still lived at home. I’d sleep in late, and they were gone by the time I got up. I’d pop a pizza in the oven for lunch and spend all afternoon with my shades drawn so I could see the tv clearly.
My phone rang, and my sister’s face popped up, so I answered. “Hey, Jess.”
“Hey, Tyler. How’s it going?”
“Meh.”
“Sorry I haven’t called in a while. Things have been crazy at work and I get home late. I’m on my lunch break right now. What’s new?”
“I applied for some jobs.”
“Oh yeah? That’s fantastic. I flipped burgers for a year back in the day.” She chuckled. “I don’t know if you remember, but I’d come home with my shoes so gunked up with grease Mom made me leave them in the garage.”
“Dad put your work clothes in the wash with my jacket one time and I went to school smelling like fries for a week.”
“Oh, sorry.” She laughed. “That’s awful. I thought we forbade him from setting foot in the laundry.”
“I don’t know. He still goes in there and screws it up from time to time.”
“Some people shouldn’t cook…others shouldn’t do laundry. Ever.”
“Yeah, Mom’s the one that shouldn’t cook.”
“It wasn’t a random example.” I could hear the smile in her voice. “Speaking of which, how are they doing?”
I didn’t respond right away.
“Tyler?”
“You could call them and ask.”
“I want to ask you. Mom told me some stuff, but I guess I just wanted to hear from you how things are going.”
“Not great.”
“Mmm. Sorry to hear that. Are you okay? I know it must be hard to be sort of in the middle of it.”
“It wasn’t that bad during school.” Our house had gotten weirdly regimented over the last year. During the week I came home alone and did homework or watched videos until dinner. “No one cooks anymore, they just pick things up on the way home. Sometimes they both bring home dinner because they didn’t talk.”
“That sucks. I hope you keep in touch with friends. What are your summer plans?”
“I was going up north to stay in a cabin for the last week of June and through the Fourth of July, but Nick, you know, my ex-best friend, is being a dick. Ever since he and Amanda started talking, he’s posting all kinds of hate stuff. Remember my friend Eric? He wore pride shirts the last few weeks of school for pride month and stupid cheerleader Amanda and all her dumb clique made anti-pride shirts and posters. And Nick started attacking Eric, and now Eric has hate comments all over his feeds.”
“That’s shitty. Sounds like you’re better off without Nick in your life, and Eric is too. At least you know how to be a good friend.”
“Yeah. I just don’t care for anyone else’s drama. There’s enough of it at home. You know?”
She sighed and her voice came back soft. “Tyler, I know how hard it is. When I was your age, I wanted to have people over and I couldn’t because the house was always a mess, Mom was always losing her shit, and Dad was so far up his own butt that there was never a time to have a sleepover, or host a movie night, or anything. I actually snuck out for my prom!”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I asked for weeks to get a dress, and Mom was so busy joining every hot yoga class and nutritional supplement monthly club that she was never around. Two days before prom I begged Dad to take me and he drove over to the mall. I tried on four dresses, and he said they were all too expensive, and then he picked a couple that were, like, $40 from the clearance business-women’s rack, and we left with him yelling at me about how I was so spoiled and didn’t know how to respect his hard work.”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Yep. I think we had that exact same discussion last weekend.”
“Anyway, Juan asked his mom, and she took us out to buy a dress the day before the dance. She drove us to dinner and prom because he didn’t even have a license, and you know what?” Her voice quivered as she held back tears. “It took me all summer to pay her back, but I made sure I did, even though she didn’t ask me to. Juan’s little brother needed glasses and I found out the money came from that.” Jessica sniffled. “She bought my dress so we could have a good night. Which is more than my own parents did.”
“Did you ever get jealous of other people’s families? Like, Nick’s parents are super supportive and encouraging. They, like, genuinely love each other in that house. Maybe I miss them more than I miss him as a friend.”
“I know exactly what you mean. Yes, I’ve been jealous.”
“Mom and Dad are so critical of everything. It’s like they don’t have a nice thing to say, even when I’m doing everything they asked.”
“That stuff was going on when I lived there too. All I can say is it’s not going to get better.”
“Yeah,” I said, sadly. “Lucky you got Juan’s mom along with him, huh?”
She laughed. “They aren’t perfect, no family is, but I don’t feel crazy every day for having my own thoughts and feelings. My advice, Tyler, is that you should do what you think is right, and what feels right, and only take advice from people who have their shit together. Which isn’t Mom and Dad.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“Okay, you hang in there. Get your job and do what you need to for yourself.”
“I’m really excited about the job. It’s in Milwaukee.”
“Oh. Nice. So not flipping burgers, I hope.”
“It’s for a game developer. They needed video game testers.”
“That’s right up your alley!”
“I know! And I might be able to network with developers and hear about contests and other opportunities.”
“I’ll have my fingers crossed for you. Okay, I’m gonna head out. Lunch is about over. Take care, Tyler. And if you ever need anything, call me. It’s nothing for me to send you a plane ticket and you can spend the summer in Minneapolis. Juan and I aren’t here a lot, but you could swim in the pool and walk Sunny. You’d love him! He’s an 80-pound hug monster.”
“I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks.”
“Okay, talk soon.”
“See you, Jess.”
“Love you. Bye.”
I hung up.
Five hours to kill. It didn’t feel like a lot at the beginning of summer, but by the end…oh God. Hot, humid afternoons, and then awkward greetings when Mom or Dad came home (if you could call being nagged about what you didn’t do, or did do, or having to listen to someone else’s bad day a greeting), followed by fast food or pizza alone in my room. Thankfully, after I did the dishes, I was free. My parents each sort of did their own thing all night. They either hid in their own rooms (which used to belong to Jessica and Tony before they moved out), or they left (and made a point of not saying where they were going or when they’d be back).
I’d gotten pretty used to being at home in my room when I wasn’t at school, and while part of me dreaded ten weeks of summer captivity, Discord and PS5 gave me a lifeline—and a little bit of hope.
I vacuumed my room and the living room, and then reheated leftover burritos for lunch.
I thought about what Jess had said. Maybe spending the summer with her was a good idea. I didn’t have a girlfriend or a pet or anything that needed me to stay. Maybe I’d hold off on getting a job and just unwind before my senior year. Besides, being around Jessica and Juan might be nice. They both went to college. I bet they would help me make some decisions about my own future. I mean, it was a long shot, wasn’t it? To think I’d get hired at a real company for a real job. Even if it was only temporary.
A long afternoon nap felt like the right choice after getting myself all worked up in my head. I usually didn’t nap, but sometimes it helped with the anxiety that had been creeping higher for months. I didn’t want to say anything about it to my parents because the current popular quick fix was medication. Zombie meds, I called them. And I’d already tried them. But it was getting hard to control how angry I felt.
Sometime later, my phone rang, waking me up. I was going to ignore it and keep sleeping, but bright afternoon sunlight streamed in the window. I must have been asleep for hours. Groggy and slow, I picked up the phone. “Hello?”
“Is this Tyler Berkshire?”
“Yes.”
“Mr. Berkshire, this is Courtney calling from the HR office at Regenbogen-Einhorn.”
“Okay.”
“Are you available Wednesday at 9:30 to complete your onboarding paperwork?”
“Wait, what is it for?”
“To complete your paperwork. Is that a good time for you?”
I waited but was still confused.
“Mr. Berkshire?”
“Yes.”
“Great. I’ll put you down for 9:30 on Wednesday. Please bring your driver’s license or other government-issued identification, your social security card, and the non-disclosure paperwork you were given at your interview.”
Oh! It all sank in. The Job! “Am I hired?”
“Um…on Wednesday at 9:30. Yes, Mr. Berkshire. You’ll bring your paperwork they sent you home with. A non-disclosure agreement and, if you are under eighteen, parental release for employment. And bring your documents. Then we’ll get you set up in orientation.”
“Thanks!”
“If you have any questions about the process, I am emailing you all the information ahead. See you on Wednesday, Mr. Berkshire.”
“Bye.”
I hung up.
Oh wow! I had my first job. I couldn’t wait to tell…well, maybe my Discord friends. They lived all over the world, but we played the same kinds of games. I bet they would think it was great that I was testing games as a job. The perfect job. I knew a few who were going to be awfully jealous.
I’d have a new thing to tell Jess next time she called, too.
I was just setting up my desk and getting ready for a Discord call when I heard heavy footsteps in the hallway, coming up the stairs. Oh no. I’d been asleep all day and was about to hear all about it.