"Owen, I am going to need those reports by the end of the day, don't let me down, I'm counting on you!" Owen had to hold back a gag at the fake enthusiasm and friendly attitude. His boss was one of those bosses that will throw you under the bus as often as possible, but claim that it's corporate or some other third party that is making your life hard.
Owen just nodded his head at his boss before focusing back onto his current project. His current project had been to develop an app for his company's shipping service. They were similar to companies like UPS or FedEx but sketchier and more expensive, but the CEO had wanted to try and take it more mainstream. Owen worked a couple more hours on it, before beginning to type up the reports on the apps beta testers experience.
Owen was officially hating life after graduation. He had worked hard in college and instead of being rewarded with a stable income and free time, he had been instead been unable to find a job in his chosen career and forced to work minimum wage jobs. It made everything feel less worth it and he felt like he was reaching the end of his rope. He wanted something, anything to throw some excitement into his life.
Owen made it home and collapsed into his bed and melted into the mattress. *ring... ring... ring...*
Shifting over, Owen picked up his phone , but refused to leave the comfort of his bed. "Hey, what's up Jared?" "Woah dude, are you already home? I thought you were planning on meeting us at the bar?"
"I don't know man, I'm just not really feeling it tonight." Owen said as he sat up and started to strip off his clothes. "Dude, this is the third time this month you've bailed out on us, stop being a pussy and drive over." Feeling his anger rise, Owen gave himself a second to calm down before answering, "I'm just not feeling like it." "Okay fine," Jared said, his own voice starting to rise in anger. "We will just come over there then." *click*
Owen wanted to throw something, Jared had always been like this. Owen had met him when he had started working at his current job and Jared had immediately tried to become the center of attention. Quoting things like the office, he would try and get favors from their coworkers and all using the excuse of being a family. He had invited himself and others over to Owen's apartment before, but after Owen had refused to drink or participate in the partying they had stopped coming over.
Now it looked like Jared was going to bring them over again anyways which put him in a tough position. He didn't want to seem like an asshole to his other coworkers, but at the same time he really didn't feel like hosting anything.
Owen stewed in his thoughts as he showered and began cleaning his apartment for the company coming over. He would make it clear that there wasn't anything special here and hopefully that would make the others want to leave and then he wouldn't have to kick them out. About twenty minutes had gone by since Jared had hung up and there was a knocked on Owen's door. Putting on his biggest fake smile. Owen opened the door and people began piling into his apartment.
Screaming loudly in his head, he just kept up the smile as he realized that most of them were already drunk as a few of them staggered and collapsed onto his couch. The reek of alcohol began to soak into the room, but Owen just continued smiling as he turned to the source of his nightmares becoming reality.
"Glad you could make it Jared, I was beginning to worry you guys had changed your minds." Owen said, fighting to keep from gritting his teeth. Jared smiled and clapped a heavy hand onto Owen's back. "Wouldn't have missed it for the world!" Jared said grinning. Owen flinched back as Jared has basically shouted the words into his face.
Jared swayed in place for a moment before he turned to Owen again and dragged one of his arms forward that for the first time Owen realized wasn't just an arm but had someone attached to it. One of his other coworkers, Sara, was gripping Jared's arm as if it were the only thing keeping her alive.
"Hello Sara, I'm glad you could make it as well." Owen said politely as he began considering what cheap motels were nearby that he could afford to spend a night at. "O M G, I'm so glad you could make it Owen, It doesn't feel like a real family party if everyone isn't here." Owen just smiled, choosing not to remind her they were at HIS apartment.
"Well, how about you guys make yourselves at home and I'll go out and buy some more refreshments, Wouldn't want anyone going thirsty." "No no, stay here, Kyle is on his way already with more booze, just sit back and relax with us." Owen knew his smile was strained to it's limits, but neither Jared nor Sara seemed to noticed as he just nodded instead and shut the door behind them. There were nine people in his home and they all might as well be strangers.
Even if he saw them everyday at work, he hadn't talked to most of them and Jared was the only one that he had had a full conversation with. Owen wanted to say something, to speak up for himself, but he didn't want to make work more awkward than it was already.
Finding a corner to sit in he just watched everyone party and then party harder when Kyle arrived with the drinks. Owen had lost himself in thought, when someone came over to sit next to him. "Hey man, it's super cool of you hosting this, none of us had wanted to host this since it was too many people, but you're a true friend uhhh dude." Owen knew the guy didn't know his name, he didn't hold it against him, but he didn't tell the guy his name as he just smiled and thanked the guy. "By the way, do you know where Jared went, he was my ride here and it's getting close to when I want to head out."
Owen scanned his eyes over the room and realized that at some point Jared and Sara had ducked out of his living room. "I hope to god they aren't having sex in my bathroom," He muttered under his breath as he walked down the small hall leading to both the bathroom and his bedroom. He couldn't hear anything which was a good sign, but saw the the bathroom door wasn't closed all the way. He knocked lightly on the door, but when no one responded he shifted it open a little bit more before realizing it was empty.
"Where the hell are they then?" But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, the sound coming from the living room died down enough for him to hear there were noises coming from his bedroom. Owen felt his stomach sink into his gut and felt his heart begin to race. Sure, Jared was an inconsiderate ass, but there is no way he would take it as far as having sex in someone else's bed...right?
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Opening his bedroom door, he saw Jared and Sara on his bed, not leaving anything to the imagination and Owen had to fight back the bile building in his throat as he tried not to vomit. "What the hell do you think you are doing, Give us a minute or two, we're almost done." Jared said, seemingly unbothered by being caught and more upset at being interrupted.
Owen finally couldn't stop himself. Marching into the room, ignoring Jared who seemed to be getting more upset by the second, Owen swung his fist with every bit of strength he could put behind it. His fist collided with the side of Jared's jaw and sent him stumbling off the bed and crashing into the ground.
Owen felt like he had broken something in his hand, but he was too angry to care at the moment. He just couldn't understand why people couldn't leave him alone or even do the basic common courtesy of respecting his things. Jared was lying against the ground spitting out blood as he tried to get to his feet, but Owen just kicked him back down.
He wasn't sure what his goal was, but he was just so angry at himself. Jared hadn't been a big problem by himself, he had only become one because Owen had never pushed back against him. I mean Jared had invited him to things and even went out of his way to involve Owen in the groups plans. Owen just felt more confused as he thought about it, he felt like he wasn't in the wrong, but other than today he just couldn't see Jared as a bad guy.
Everything became hazy to Owen afterwards, the cops had come at some point and Jared had been guided out of Owen's room by a paramedic. A cop had come over and started talking to Owen as everyone else was interviewed. Eventually Owen found himself being guided into the back of a police car and driven to the station.
"Hi, I'm Officer Mark Adams, pleasure to meet you." The cop said as he entered the small room and sat down. "So Son, can you tell me what happened?" Owen looked up at the police officer and sighed. "I had been planning on having a weekend to myself, but when my coworker Jared invited me out and I refused, he had invited himself and several of my coworkers over to my apartment. "
The officer smiled and Owen talking and began jotting notes down in a notepad and gestured for Owen to continue. "When they arrived I ended up letting them inside, because I didn't want to create a big fuss, but sort of lost myself when I found out that Jared and taken his girlfriend into my bedroom and had been having sex."
The officer stopped writing and looked Owen in the eyes. "And? What do you mean when you say you lost yourself?" "Well, I was just angry, Jared has been taking advantage of my inability to say no for a longtime, but I don't know it felt like it had reached it's tipping point when I saw them having sex. I punched him when he started yelling at me for interrupting them."
The officer continued to write for a short bit after Owen had stopped talking. Then placing his notepad back onto the table between them, he glanced back to Owen with a troubled look on his face. "I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do anything for you son. I'm going to be straightforward with you, I don't think you have a case." Owen nodded but didn't say anything.
"You didn't refuse them entry to your place of residence, so you don't have a good argument for trespassing, unless you can come up with something for your bedroom specifically." The cop continued. "Normally we don't give any type of legal advice, we just appoint you a public defender, but I'm not sure if that will be entirely necessary. As far as I am aware, your coworker Jared doesn't seem keen on pressing any charges."
Owen just sat quietly after that, the cop leaving a couple minutes later. He seemed like a nice guy, but Owen wasn't able to pay him much attention. He had lived a good grounded life and it was now in the palm of Jared's hand. Even if Jared didn't press charges, Owen knew he would probably lose his job. He hadn't been a big fan of it, so not the biggest loss, but he needed the money badly.
The small amount he was making had barely been enough where he was currently living. Slowly losing himself to his thoughts several hours passed, before Owen was released and able to go home. He saw Jared once in that time, who just flashed him a big grin before climbing into a car.
The following Monday went exactly how Owen had feared. Jared hadn't ended up pressing any charges, just as the officer Owen talked to had said. When he came into work, he had been called into the HR office and told promptly to pack his things and that he was to exit the premises as he no longer worked there.
One of the security guards followed close by him as he moved to his desk and packed his few things. He saw Jared again who just smiled and gave a small wave. He was close enough by the Owen could probably have punched him in his stupid face before security could stop him, but Owen didn't take the bait. He just turned away and left, hopefully never needing to see Jared again.
The next couple days were filled with Owen just moving from room to room in his apartment, not doing anything specific. He tried cheering himself up by doing some of the things he missed from when he was still in college. He read a couple chapters of his favorite litrpg's, before just wishing he lived in one of those worlds and decided to stop. He tried a couple other things like video game and scrolling through tiktok's, but none of it was able to remove the anticipation of something awful happening. He had a couple weeks left before rent would be due again, so he began packing a few things into moving boxes.
"I can't keep going like this," Owen eventually said into the silence of his apartment. It had been a week since the whole fiasco with Jared and being fired. "I need to find another job, before letting myself get kicked out of this apartment. There is no way I'm going to live and the streets and certainly not back at my dad's." Trying to convince himself of his fake cheer, was slowly helping, He had talked to his dad over the phone later that day about needing a new job. Thus the next couples days were filled with resume after resume being sent out for different positions. Finally, after the fourth day of non-stop applying to new jobs, he heard his phone ringing and couldn't help but feel a little giddy.
"Hey man, how's the retired life treating you?" Owen's stomach sank as he heard Jared's voice coming out of the phone. "So, you'll never guess, but I got a promotion at work, I'm leading developer of the app my company is creating, isn't that great news." Owen had to fight from throwing his phone through the nearest window. Instead he just hung up and blocked the number.
"What the hell is wrong with that fucker?" Owen growled. He was in no mood now to try and focus on applying anymore. He proceeded then to go through his phone and block all of his old work contacts, something which he knew he should've done sooner.
As he finished deleting the last one, still angry, he went to his fridge and cracked open one of the beers that had been left by Jared's group and chugged it quickly before grabbing another and throwing himself onto the couch. He turned on a show and continued to drink. When the episode ended, he had begun to feel a slight buzz and as he went to grab the last beer from the fridge, a weird floating notepad was floating in front of it. Trying to push in out of the way to open the fridge, his hand glided through it without disturbing it's surface.
"How have I had too much to drink already?" Owen angrily tried to push it out of the way again but his hand just brushed past it uselessly. "Fuck off." He spat angrily and it suddenly disappeared.
Grabbing the last beer from the fridge, he drank it while watching the last episode of his show before stumbling off to bed.
He woke up the next morning and braced himself expecting a splitting headache, but realized shortly after that his head felt fine. Opening his eyes he saw the most unusual translucent blue screen floating in front of his face. Seeing words on the screen, he heard a loud androgynous voice in his head reading out the words as he saw them.
*Welcome to a brand new world of wonder and adventure. Fight Monsters gain power and fulfill your every dream. Once again, Welcome to the system!*