Chapter 1: The Dream Job
Bucky Finch was the quiet type, and not by choice. At 23, he was painfully shy and humble to a fault, two qualities that rarely served him well in the bustling city of Springford. The loud streets and towering skyscrapers around him seemed to swallow him whole, rendering him invisible to everyone — except when he became a target for jokes or jabs.
Bucky lived with his parents in a modest apartment on the edge of the city, where the buildings were older, and the lights from downtown only faintly lit the night sky. His father, a quiet man himself, worked long hours at a nearby factory, and his mother kept to herself, often urging Bucky to just "keep his head down" and avoid trouble. And so, Bucky did just that, even though avoiding trouble seemed to bring him more of it.
His neighbors, particularly the group of young men down the hall, had made him their favorite target. They saw his introverted nature as an invitation to taunt him, often mocking his thin frame and gentle demeanor. His only real friends were a few classmates he occasionally met up with from his time in college, but even they could be a bit dismissive, never fully understanding his dreams or ambitions.
But, despite everything, Bucky had a passion: he was obsessed with technology and software development. He’d spent countless nights working on coding projects, building websites, and learning the ins and outs of programming languages. In his free time, he would lose himself in coding tutorials and dream of one day working in the big tech companies downtown. Those glass towers, with their shining logos and bustling energy, seemed worlds away from the drab apartment building where he lived, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was meant to be part of it.
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One day, after a particularly grueling round of insults from his neighbors, Bucky decided he’d had enough. He opened his laptop, created a fresh resume, and started applying to every tech job he could find. Days passed, then weeks, without a single response. He was about to lose hope when, one rainy morning, he received an email with a subject line that made his heart race:
“Congratulations, Bucky Finch — You’ve Been Offered a Position!”
He stared at the screen in disbelief, reading and rereading the words. The email was from a small but prestigious tech company, TTech futures, that had recently gained a reputation for innovative software and a unique workplace culture. They were offering him an entry-level position as a Junior Software Developer, along with a decent salary and the chance to work on a real development team. His fingers shook as he read through the offer. This was it. This was the chance he had been waiting for all these years.
He couldn’t help but share the news with his parents, who, though surprised, were incredibly proud of him. His mother hugged him tightly, and his father clapped a strong hand on his shoulder, smiling with a pride that Bucky hadn’t seen before. For the first time in a long while, Bucky felt like he had finally taken control of his own life.
The next morning, he put on the best shirt he could find, straightened his glasses, and walked out the door. Even the snickers from his neighbors couldn’t dampen his mood this time. Today, he was someone different. Today, he was Bucky Finch, Junior Software Developer at TTechFutures. As he rode the train into the heart of the city, he watched the skyscrapers draw closer and felt a sense of belonging he hadn’t known before.
With a deep breath, Bucky stepped into the bright, modern lobby of TTechFutures,
where his journey the one that would change everything was just beginning.