The shouting of machines, and the clanking of metal. It all seemed second nature to the man. He's been working here before some of his co-workers were out of the womb.
"Jerry, how're the kids doin'?"
The usual chit-chat began between the close co-workers.
They typically talked about their family. Birthdays, things that occurred, school, and whatever would happen. Later on, in these talks they discussed the most recent games of football or basketball, voicing their dislikes and hopes for their team in the future.
"C'mon, you stubborn old man! He threw four touchdowns last night in the first half. You're just mad it was against your team. If it was versus anyone else you would be jumping like a teenager who just got his cherry popped!"
The group of oldies bursted into laughter, slapping each other's backs as they gasped for air.
"Alright alright, that's fair. But still! One game isn't enough to show someone's worth." Salvador exclaimed, shrugging his shoulders to brush off the mocking of his co-workers.
The curl on his lips vanished as he went back to handling the machinery he was ordered to use.
He fiddled with the joystick as he picked up long panels and placed them down, a team of workers who idly sat by retrieved it and walked over to the unfinished section of the floor and neatly installed it.
"Nearly halfway done, heh."
Aviodo Construction was the most prominent construction business, mainly popular for its new task of assembling the tallest building to get built on Earth.
One of the workers tasked with this job was Salvador Marquis, a far too experienced construction worker who looked far beyond his age.
Wrinkles coated his face and his skin grew dry, grey hair which only contained a sliver of its old lavishness brushed into a neat slick back.
His eyes were hollow. It was evident he was growing old.
Soon, he would be forced into retirement.
Luckily, with how long he worked for Aviodo he would be able to live a leisurely life for himself and his kids
Raising a pair of kids as a single father was far from easy.
Yet, everything he did was for their sake. All the money that wasn't used for necessities like house utilities and food was dumped on his children to give them the most comfortable and exhilarating life possible.
Despite his old age, even he emerged himself into the advanced VR games both of his sons played.
Compared to when he was a teen, anything to do with electronics or games took a tremendous leap forward.
Instead of wearing large headsets that weighed your head down, you could enter a capsule and get a full-body experience in fighting or whatever was available.
Luckily, no matter what age you were, there were no physical restraints once you entered VR. If you were 100 years old, you could still move at the speed of a normal teenager, a blessing for most.
But with such amazing inventions, addictions were sure to come along with them.
Outside of school and hanging out with Salvador, his kids were always in their capsules, never coming out for anything but food.
It was tiring, he wasn't able to achieve as much time as he wanted to with his kids. He was left to himself, indulging in hobbies he did when he was in his teen years which were only reading and playing video games.
He couldn't help but release a sigh at such saddening thoughts. He just hoped that soon enough, it'll get in their minds to spend more time with their father. Until that occurred, he'd let them enjoy their teen years as much as possible.
"CRRNG!"
A sudden vibration could be felt on Salvador's seat, followed by the sound of a screw or bolt falling.
Looking down, a ginormous gap in the middle of his crane was blatantly visible.
And within that space was supposed to be the primary part that held the crane together.
"SALVADOR! JUMP!"
Without hesitation he listened to the voice, leaping from his crane onto the finished building next to him.
Yet, as if destiny thought differently, as he leaped the crane began falling, ruining his footing and causing his leap to turn into a pitiful attempt of a jump.
He missed the ledge by a long shot and began to fall to his inevitable death.
The wind fiercely blew on his skin, overloading his lungs at any attempt to breathe.
'So out of every way I could die, it's from a crane failure? How funny.'
He began pummeling to the ground. From afar it appeared as a small black blur falling, no one would guess it to be a human falling from such a height.
He could only see the shocked and disturbed faces of his co-workers as his hand failed to reach theirs.
'Alchred and Kenny.... I wish I would be able to see you guys grow into adults... Become the top player in whatever VR games you guys play and hell that new one was releasing pretty soon.'
In the final moments of his well-accomplished life, he could only think about his sons.
If his sons didn't exist he would've killed himself far long ago.
Pitiful, but the truth.
He had no reason to live, none to strive on and continue with his life. It was just unfortunate it had to end like this.
He turned his body in the air, heading face-first into the road below him.
As he neared it, his vision grew brighter until it was eventually swallowed by a bright white light.
A few seconds later, all of his senses were erased.
He couldn't feel anything.
He couldn't see anything.
He couldn't smell anything.
He couldn't taste anything.
He couldn't hear anything.
It was pure bliss.
Rid from the world's torture, just him.
'So is the afterlife just emptiness? Doesn't match anything I read.' He nonchalantly thought.
'Is this it?' He muttered.
As soon as that thought finished, a cacophony of sounds rang in his head.
A mixture of yells, screams, shouts in glee, and cries entered his ears.
The never-ending bright light gradually started fading away, revealing a dimly lit room loaded with silhouettes.
**"You didn't birth him? You're just saying he popped up on your doorstop like some fucking present!"**
Although Salvador couldn't understand the words the man spoke, he could somewhat gauge the meaning based on his tone.
It seemed like he wasn't happy about the baby.
**"Yves! Language!"** The woman shouted in retaliation, shaking her head. **"We don't know who this baby belongs to, but we know why it was left. We'll keep it and care for it,"** She paused as she peeked at the neck of the baby, reading out the name to the large man. **"Salvador is the name."** She stated.
(A/N: Any text that starts/ends with ** means Salvador doesn't understand it.)
'This isn't how I imagined the afterlife.'
One thing was sure, and he was alive again.
"I was reincarnated... Just like those fucking novels..." His thoughts were spoken out loud which only came out as cute baby noises to the others.
"Goo Goo gaga!"
The lady carrying him turned a bright shade of red and began playing with the baby, who was unfortunately Salvador.
She kept poking his cheeks and motorboating his stomach.
Truthfully, it did tickle him slightly.
During the fit of tickles and giggles, an abrupt wave of tiredness washed over him, setting him to sleep instantly.