Melissa scrolled through her phone, staring at the small screen intently. She was scrolling through an app, an app Tory had recommended for her.
"It's an app I found some days ago. You can apply for small jobs or even good ones and throat can be good sometimes. Just look through the job listings and see if there's anything you can do there. I hope it'll help." Tory had said.
Melissa was checking it out, like Tory had said. Surprisingly, there were a lot of job posting on the app. Request to dog sit a German Shepherd and a Rottweiler three times a week, another request to clean a small paralegal's office five times a week, and a request to babysit for children once a week.
There was a lot more jobs, and Melissa kept scrolling through each of them, looking for the appropriate job to apply for, something she could do with ease. Melissa shook her head. This was no time to be thinking about comfort. As long as the job paid well, she would take it even though it would be taxing for her.
Melissa placed her phone down on the couch and sighed through her nose. She had been scrolling through the app for hours and had not found one job she could do, nothing at all. It made her frustrated and she started losing hope slowly. Melissa rested her back on the couch and rubbed her eyes.
No, she couldn't lose hope, not now, not ever.
Brandon. He was the only one that ever crossed her mind there days. He was the reason she was all bothered like this. Melissa gathered her resolve an picked up her phone again. This time she was going to apply for any job she saw, no matter what it was.
She scrolled through for a couple off seconds stopped when her eyes fell on a particular job listing. The job was requesting for an event planner for a big wedding. Melissa's eyes gleamed as she read through the details of the job. She shot up from the chair and stared at her screen wide eyed.
The job was perfect for her. Melissa was into designs and decor back in high school and took a major in that field in college before she dropped out. It was something she wouldn't enjoy doing and wouldn't cause her any stress whatsoever.
She scrolled through the details further and her mouth dripped open as soon as she saw the payment details. The money was so much, Melissa had to blink and look at the figures again. The money would be enough to pay more than half of her debt and fund Brandon's college expenses, tuition, accommodation, everything.
Melissa didn't hesitate. She applied for the job immediately without batting an eye lid. She wrote out her application letter meticulously, cross checking twice after she had written two sentences and finally did a final double check before clicking on the send button. Melissa sat back down on the sofa, tension finally leaving her body as she relaxed in the couch. She put her arm over her eye and sighed. Melissa hoped and prayed that they would accept her application as she felt her eye lids getting heavier and heavier. She finally slid them shut as she drifted off into a deep sleep.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Melissa's phone vibrated and rang loudly. It jolted her awake from her sleep immediately. She grabbed her phone and rubbed her blurry eyes to clear her vision as she tried to make out the person calling her. It was a number, one that she wasn't familiar with. She answered the phone reluctantly and placed it on her ear lazily.
"Hi, is this Brandon's sister?" a female voice piped up.
Melissa paused. She was finally awake. She sat up straight on the couch as she spoke.
"Yes...who is this?"
"I'm a friend of Brandon's. We're kinda in a pickle here."
"What happened? Is Brandon okay?" Melissa inquired persistently.
"Well, he's not in any physical danger, but he's drunk."
"Brandon's...drunk?"
Melissa couldn't believe or even comprehend what she was hearing.
"Yeah, we had a couple of drinks and he's out drunk. We don't know his apartment, so can you please come pick him up?"
Melissa glanced at the wall clock. A few minutes till 10pm. How could Brandon stay out this late? She was getting riled up, but decided to calm down and handle the situation with all rationality.
"Tell me where you are, I'm on my way."
Melissa said as she walked over to the front door, grabbing her coat.
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
The bar that Brandon's friend had described was close to their apartment. It was a small bar sandwiched between a hot dog stall and a candy shop. Each shop contrasted themselves. Melissa approach the bar and pushed open the glass door. She scanned each table until she saw a table at the farthest end filled with high school kids. They easily stood out since the bar was filled with middle aged people. She walked over to them and noticed Brandon, resting back on the chair, his eyes closed and his mouth parted slightly. At first glance he looked dead and void of life, just how much bottles had he chugged down?
"Youre Brandon's sister right? I can tell by the hair colour." A boy piped up.
Melissa ignored him, he was obviously drunk and all she wanted was to get Brandon out of her. Two boys helped Brandon up and handed him over to Melissa, who slung his left arm around her neck and wrapped an arm around his waist to support him. She walked out of the bar hastily and made her way down the street slowly.
Carrying Brandon like this brought back memories of when she would carry him whenever he got a slight bruise on his knee and he got those often whenever he went to play at the park. Melissa sighed and looked at her brother. How much time had passed? He had grown so much that he was much taller than her, and heavier.
Brandon groaned and his eyes opened slowly.
"Looks like you're finally awake? Are you sober? Can you explain to me why a high school student is out drinking this late?"
Brandon clicked his tongue and wriggled out of her grip. "Leave me alone, that's none of your business."
Melissa grimaced and watched Brandon wobble down the street.