'I feel even worse than yesterday'. Colt thought as he raised his pounding head off of the old, deflated pillow he had been meaning to replace. Reaching out to turn off his alarm, he felt a sharp pain rain over his left shoulder. 'I forgot about this' he suddenly remembered how he had been pushed by his neighbor again this week for being "in the way" when getting his rusted bicycle up the stairwell the night previous. The fall down those concrete stairs seems to become a tradition similar to all other unfortunate events that has been Colt's life since he began high school.
It was his summer right after graduation and Colt had believed the bullying would stop after he left high school. It did not. The world outside of class was much worse than anything he had expected or experienced before. His parents had both passed away while he attended the school and was left to fend for himself with no inheritance or job.
"Maybe today will be different" he said out loud with some effort thinking it would mean more than just thinking it.
Stumbling across his one room efficiency apartment that looked a bit more like a public restroom with a microwave and couch, he looked at himself in the mirror with a bit of shock as he saw his new decoration to his forehead. A large gash that had dried overnight and had discolored due to bruising was looking like a scene from some movie with action heroes. Only he was no hero. And this scar had no dazzling story to brag about.
'I guess I hit that railing harder than I thought' Colt realized. With a sigh he began washing his battered wound while inhaling sharply as he touched it with the dirty rag that was every sense of the name. 'I should buy some new wash rags soon' he surmised as he started to calculate his income for this week.
'I should be able to collect about $200 today' he figured as he counted how many shipping crates he had completed since Monday. Today being Friday, he knew that his coworkers would be putting the workload onto him so they could visit with each other and make plans for their weekend. He was never included in these plans, and although he did wish he had friends, these people were some of the worst kind he had met. Kyle, Steven, and Justin.
Kyle was sort of the head guy for his "work team". Tall and strong with a sort of prom king look to him that made most men envious. He controlled the team with a very anger driven attitude that contradicted his appearance and would make anyone want to bloody his nose.
Steven was his right hand on the job. What that boiled down to was that he was a kiss ass and he didn't have to work as much as long as Kyle had his coffee on time and didn't need to get involved with the other workers. So he would do most of the work delegation. Which was overall better for Colt. As this thin, slinky of a man wouldn't be able to fulfill his threats as Kyle would.
Justin was a short, round, and ugly middle aged man that looked like he had decided long ago that he hated everything and everyone he sees. Constantly yelling obscenities at Colt while he slaved away for these three.
Oddly enough the three of them got on pretty well. They had been working for Kings Shipping together for several years and had come to enjoy making each and every new hire wish he had never seen the employment advertisement. Colt was the latest of these unfortunate employees.
Coming down from his room with his bicycle, he hurried past his neighbor's door hoping he didn't bump into him again today in either form of the phrase. He sighed in relief as he made it out to the street and began his morning commute of twenty minutes down the main road just across from his building. He wasn't considered to be athletic but the cycling every day since childhood to get where he needed to be had kept him from looking too frail.
His parents had needed him to do the grocery shopping from a young age since his mother was ill and his father was rarely sober. He was not mean to Colt or his mother in any way but had always remained in the throes of alcohol ever since she had become sick around Colts fourteenth birthday.
He loved his parents and didn't blame either of them for not being there to raise him. After all, you cannot control all health. Physical or mental. He believed he might not have had the fortitude to handle it if the woman he loved was to die before their children turned eighteen.
And so Colt just would sit at times and wonder if this was just how life was going to be. Always being put in the worst situations no matter where he went.
"Hey, Shit for brains!" Colt heard from the large bay door as he was pulled out of his thoughts. "I thought we agreed you would be here ten minutes early!" Kyle shouted. Already showing signs of today being worse than most.
'Why can't I just get a new life' Colt thought as he walked towards the door only for there to be a loud noise to his right before his vision left him.