after changing the bulb, william went back to his game. 2 hours later he turned off his PC and went to bed.
..
" yo billy!"
william turned around. a average sized muscular man was waving at him. a big goofy smile was stuck on his ugly mug, and his short tan arms were holding huge bag.
his name is danny, and was the only person william talked to during his work. not because of their good friendship but because danny is as clingy as he is dumb and that man can't count till 1000.
" how many times have i told you not to call me billy, my name is william" william sneered.
he hated when people called him billy, but once he voiced his dejection they usually stopped
everyone but the big oaf danny.
" hahahahahah, c'mon will you stop nagging? jesus! you're worse than my wife when i don't get the trash out!"
danny was a man in his late thirties, a highschool drop out and an overbearing, idiotic optimist.
when he's not singing out loud old 80's balades during the job he's talking about nonsense like god and when he's not talking about god he talks about his wife.
" boss said we should meet him when we finish cleaning up, pay is die today" danny walked alongside william
danny was the only guy at the construction site that tried to talk to william.
it was obvious that the latter was not a social person, he only spoke when he was asked a question and he always kept his answer short and brief.
danny on the other hand was a chatter box, he never stopped talking about his personal life and beliefs.
william was always dry with danny but the latter never seemed to mind and kept talking to him nonetheless.
william hated danny, but he couldn't get rid of him.
furthermore, what william hates most about danny, is not his idiocy nor his overbearing character, but his undying belief in god and christianity.
william never believed in god nor the devil, since he was a child and the more he goes through life the more he stands firm by his point. but it seems that danny doesn't share his opinion, they had many debates in the past about it but danny never listened to william's reasoning. william felt like he was always talking to a brainwashed moron so he stopped bringing up the topic.
" thank the lord, man! my wife and i's anniversary is coming up and she's expecting something big. i'll get her that dress she keeps eyeing whenever we go for a walk around okla street, it's a bit expensive but love has no price" danny smiled warmingly
' the only thing i respect about this man is his love for his wife'
william nodded and entered the boss' office
" you know, you ain't getting any younger billy.
you should get yourself a missus" danny patted him on the back.
william thought about his date last weekend, her name was angela but nothing about her was angelic. she kept chewing gum with an open mouth and asked william about his monthly income not one hour into the date.
thankfully, she never called after he told her he was but a construction worker.
" i know danny" was all he said
william never had a good adult relationship, it was mostly his fault. he was too detached emotionally to satisfy his ex girlfriends. they all wanted his affection and love but he didn't reciprocate the feeling, he hated being romantic and was never really thoughtful. they all left him after things started getting serious. so he started dating easy women, they only cared about sex and fun and so did he.
after waiting for a minute or two, georges walked inside the office
georges was a burly black man in his forties, he was a good guy from what william could tell.
that's all he knew about georges
" hey" georges nodded
both danny and william nodded back and like the usual the former started to converse with georges.
after 10 minutes more wokers came in until the office was full, then the boss enzo too.
enzo gonzalez was a man in his late fifties, a short man with a nasty habbit of smoking. you could never see enzo without a cigarette in his mouth. but william like that cause he couldn't always afford his packs.
when he first started working under enzo, they used to smoke together during the breaks, neither really talked to the other and they liked it that way.
william liked enzo and had nothing against the old man.
enzo, however, never liked william. he didn't have anything against him but his gut feeling always told him that the kid was wrong. and enzo always went with his gut so he never tried to get close to william
" pay day is today, sorry for the wait" he gave everyone an envelope and sighed
'dammit, i might not like him but he's still a good kid. he's a hard woker and he never complained. they want me to fire someone and he's the youngest and last one i hired. man, fuck this world' he breathed in a puff and his brain instantly relaxed
everyone got out and william followed but before he stepped foot outside the office he felt a hand on his shoulder. he turned around and looked at enzo's dark eyes
'shit, he dies ge want. this can't be good'
agitated, william asked " what's up boss?"
enzo shook his head " i'm sorry kid, the motherfuckers back at the company are breathing down my neck. money is tight and they asked me to load off some baggage if you catch my drift" he took a breath of the cigarette dangling betweeb his thick, chapped lips. he didn't look at william's eyes the whole time.
'dammit!! i'm being fired' william nodded at enzo, he already knew the second enzo stopped him from leaving but that didn't lessen the blow. he needed the money and the only thing he's good at is manual labor. he's a very strong man, smart too but he never got a college degree
" i understand boss" william's hand clenched as he went out
he walked towards the exist where he saw danny and georges
he put his envelope inside his bag amd bid the guys farewell.
he didn't tell danny he was fired and just like that, danny never heard again from his friend whom he talked to everyday.
..
' i need to get some bread and eggs from the shop, dammit what the fuck am i supposed to do now? i have no idea where to look for a new job and this week's pay will barely last me a few days'
william was lost in thought trying to figure out what to do next when he heard the scraping sound of a truck's wheels, the truck was headed towards a little girl who was walking on the street with no care in the world. the driver was on his phone so he didn't notice very small frame.
william was somewhat close, if he ran he knew he could push her away, but the truck was too close and he'll get hit in her stead. so he decided to do nothing and watch the little girl, who was barely 10 years old, get hit by a truck.
loud screams were heard, the truck driver kept running over her and never stopped fleeing the scene. a woman in her mid forties ran towards the little girl, she had the same visage of the girl
'she must be her mother'
william looked at her face and surprisingly her eyes looked relieved
'what the fuck?'
the woman was crying and screaming but william knew better, he spent half his life learning to read emotions on people's expressions as his therapist told him, he had experience and whatever that woman was feeling was not grief
william shook his head at the broken neck, bones and pool of blood that used to be a little girl and went inside the grocery shop
' ah shit, i need to get bacon too' he reminded himself
..
a few days later, william decided to go job hunting. he went around the city all day asking little shops if they were hiring but to no avail. when the sun sat, the clock hit 7:30pm so he decided to go back home and try his luck next morning.
he walked back home from the city, it was a 2 hour long walk but he didn't care, he'd rather walk than spend money on a cab.
when he entered his neighborhood, the first thing that caught his eye was the garbage bags laying on the dirty pavement next to an old car that never moved an inch since he first moved here 5 years ago.
'i never figured out who its owner is'
he walked deeper, small buildings with a max of 5 floors covered the streets from left and right. they were very close to each other, barely 2 meters separated one if them. there were only 2 shops in the whole neighborhood but william never got his stuff from here. the were too shady and he liked not walking into a place infested with criminals.
as he walked he felt something squichy under his show, looking down he saw that he stepped on dog shit and cursed.
'this day is not getting fucking better i see' he kept walking as a few prostitutes winked at him, he glared bullets at them and they ran away.
as he was nearing a crossroad, a man walking in front of him appeared, he was wearing a hood that covered his face
william didn't pay him attention and was counting in his head how much money was left from his last paycheck
'i think i got around 20 bucks left, shit i really need to get a job soon'
suddenly the man bumped into him but to his surprise william didn't budge. it was obvious why, william was a tall and muscular man that towered over the hooded man by a good head.
the hooded guy took out a gun and pointed it at william
" give me your money and all your belongings now or i'll shoot!"
william hissed
'fucking great! i'm getting mugged out of my last 20 dollars by a garden gnom!'
"what the fuck are you glaring at?! i have a gun and i won't hesitate to shoot!"
william looked at the barrel and the barrel looked back
" then shoot, motherfucker. i dare you" he said in a cold voice.
before he could let the man answer, william grabbed his hand and twisted it. he pulled him towards him and kneed him in the stomach. before the hooded guy could fathom what's happening, william grabbed his head and kneed him again. the man's head gushed blood and the gun fell off his hand
william then thew an uppercut that made the man fall flat on his arce
"s-stop!! you crazy motherfucker" the hooded guy stammered as he was getting beat up and kicked by william
a good 5 minutes later, when the man was a breath away from dying william stopped
" you're fucking lucky i'm looking for a straight job or i would've tainted my criminal record just so i could bash your brains out "
william walked away and went inside his apartment. he walked inside his bathroom and took off his bloodied shirt, he cleaned it and sighed
looking at his reflection he could see his eyes, whenever he did he remembered his father's eyes the last time they talked.
'man, i was really fucked in the head back then' he shrugged 'well i guess i still am'
after cleaning himself up, he went to bed and slept like a baby.
...