Indigestible! Absolutely indigestible!
Those were my thoughts after waking up to the worst stomachache of my life. It felt like there was a war taking place within my belly. Every time they sounded the cannons, I could feel an intense pain from the impact. The only thing I could do to ease my discomfort was reminisce. The battlefield had seen better days—it used to be a beautiful garden where butterflies and bees nestled atop the many blooming flowers. Now, the ground was barren and covered with blood and soot. The once-clear skies had been filled with smoke, coloring them a dark gray. That lovely garden was degenerating into a dismal wasteland.
This was all caused by what I considered to be the worst mistake of my life.
If only I refused! If only I ran away when I had the chance!
I don't know why I did it. I should've anticipated something like this happening. I hate myself for even thinking that it was a good idea.
That's enough. Self-admonition won't get rid of the problem at hand. What's done is done. The fact of the matter is that I ate Lyra's cooking and now I must suffer the consequences.
Indeed. Call me an idiot, but I actually ended up eating what she made for me last night. I even initially thought that I was in the clear since the food didn't taste so bad. I truly wish I'd known better.
To add insult to injury, I noticed something when I made my first trip of the day to the bathroom and looked in the mirror: somebody had taken a black marker and drawn all over my face while I was asleep. I now had a very grotesque mustache and unappealing unibrow, as well as some profane words plastered on my cheeks.
My stomach suddenly began to rumble. I was going to get angry at the drawings, but it would only have made my condition worse. I was suffering enough already.
This might just be hell on Earth.
As I sat down on the toilet, I realized how obvious the culprit was. Who else would have been immature enough to pull this sort of prank on their guest?
Marius! It was definitely Marius!
I had slept on the couch in their living room that night, which meant that I was completely vulnerable to attacks like those. I was naive for thinking that I could rest unbothered, especially in such an open environment. I should've known that I wasn't safe. It was clear that I had enemies in this household that would stop at nothing to make my life even more miserable.
That little brat! I'll get him back twice, no, three times as bad!
A sharp pain in my stomach caused me to grimace. I was quickly reminded to put all of my focus into the battle at hand and plan for the next one later.
Agh, damn! This won't be pretty. Thinking about the future is pointless if I don't even make it out of here alive.
Time passed. There were moments where I thought I was done for, but I persevered. And eventually, after a long and painful struggle, I made my way out of the bathroom with a sense of ebullience and a wide grin to go along with it.
Sweet victory. I feel great.
My enemies weren't aware of how much it took to bring me down. That applied to the one I just defeated as well as the ones in this household who still didn't approve of my being here.
"Good morning, Adriel. Did you sleep well?"
Lyra greeted me as I continued to bask in my glory. If it weren't for her interrupting me, I probably would've burst out into maniacal laughter right then and there. Now I was forced to clear my throat and compose myself instead.
"Yep, I slept just fine."
There was really no merit in telling her about how her mischievous grandson scribbled all over my face with black marker. It didn't seem like disciplinary action would work on him, and besides, the last thing I wanted to do was complain.
"You were in the bathroom for quite a while. Is everything okay?"
I chuckled. "Yes, don't worry."
Little did she know that she was the cause of it all.
"No one's home today?" I asked, looking around. None of the grandchildren were there.
"The two kids are at school and Erin has work. It's nice and quiet without them, isn't it?"
That made sense. Erin had to have a job. There was no way Lyra's fried salmon business alone was earning the four of them enough money to sustain themselves.
"Almost too quiet. Are we going to work on your recipe now?"
"Well…I actually have other plans for us."
"Other plans?"
"We're going to find you a job."
"Huh? Isn't helping you with your stall my job?"
"Maybe, but it won't earn you a living. You're supposed to be an independent adult, yes? That means you need to provide for yourself. The fried salmon should just be something you do on the side."
My biggest concern when accepting the offer to work with her was if I was going to get paid or not, but it seemed a little late for her to break the news that I would now have to find an actual job while still helping her with the stall. I couldn't really be angry about it, though. She had given me a place to stay, and now she was going to help me find a place to work. That was more or less what I'd been looking for when I first became homeless.
"I guess you're right. Do you know any places that are hiring?"
"Of course. There's a perfect place that we can go and apply to right now."
"Really? Right now?"
"Yes, let's go. We shouldn't waste any time."
Shortly after, we went outside and made our way through the narrow streets of our town. A thin layer of sweat had developed on my forehead from the heat. Although the weather was bearable for me, someone as old as Lyra probably would've found it grueling. The fact that her elderly self could manage so well in an environment like this one was a marvel.
Okay, okay, maybe I'm exaggerating how old and feeble she was. The heat also wasn't as bad as I'm making it out to be. Still, the old hag did appear a little more brisk than other people her age. She must've done plenty of exercise when she was younger.
As we continued to saunter, we entered a part of town that I was very reluctant to show my face in. There were too many ghosts of my past wandering around there. In order to avoid being recognized, I made my shirt act as a mask by pulling it over my nose.
"Why are you covering your face?" Lyra asked.
"I grew up around here," I responded, warily scanning my surroundings. "Someone might recognize me."
Lyra laughed and suddenly smacked me on the back. "Oh, man up. You're acting like a child. Is being noticed really that scary?"
You all might be thinking the same thing as her, but put yourself in my shoes. I no longer lived there, so if I were to encounter someone who I used to know, it would give way to an incredibly awkward reunion and perhaps even cause questions pertaining to my situation of homelessness to arise. It's not like they would know the specifics of how I became homeless, but simply talking about anything remotely related to that was something I was completely unwilling to do, especially with the old hag right next to me. A past life was meant to stay in the past.
I still ended up uncovering my face because I couldn't stand the thought of Lyra calling me a scaredy-cat as a new insult, but I remained vigilant for the rest of our walk.
After a few minutes, we stopped at a restaurant that had a very conspicuous outward design. I could honestly have seen it being one of the more popular spots in our little town. The sign above read "Celestia." I wondered if that name was the owner's or if it was just a play on words. Maybe their tagline was something stupid like "food that's out of this world." Frankly, I really hoped it wasn't. I'd feel bad for laughing.
In any case, this seemed to be the place that Lyra had in mind for me.
"Am I going to apply here?" I asked.
"Yep," Lyra said, nudging me towards the entrance. "You can go on in. I won't be able to join you because I have some grocery shopping to do, but don't worry. There's someone inside who's willing to help you."
Someone inside?
Before I could ask any more questions, she turned away from me and left. I never knew grocery shopping could be such an urgent matter.
Well, at least she led me to a place that's actually looking for employees, I thought, eyeing the "NOW HIRING" sign on the window. This is probably a good thing. I bet she would've been a liability if she stayed.
I pulled open the door and entered the restaurant. It wasn't even noon yet, so there weren't many customers besides a few here and there. To my left, there was a counter where I assumed guests were greeted. A young woman dressed in a formal blue and black attire was behind it with her back turned, and it looked like she was writing something down.
She looks familiar…
"Welcome," she said, slowly beginning to look my way. "Why don't you have a seat and I'll—"
We abruptly caught sight of each other.
Oh, I see. This is where Erin works.
It wasn't that much of a surprise. I sort of had a hunch that this would happen. But there was something that did indeed shock me, and that was the sign posted up on the wall behind her.
The restaurant name was on it in big bolded letters, but below it, there was a rather lame sentence.
"Why are you here? And what are you smiling at?" Erin asked.
What a crazy coincidence. What an abysmal tagline.
"The food is out of this world," I announced, trying to hold in my amusement.
She traced my line of sight and looked back at the poster. It was probably just my mind playing tricks on me, but it seemed like a little smirk appeared on her face for a brief moment. Perhaps she understood my humor.
Putting that aside, I knew it was time to get down to business. I had to demonstrate my ever-expanding expertise in the realm of cuisine and land a job at this restaurant, so I cleared my throat and took on an air of dignity.
"I'm here to apply for a job, actually. How can I do that?"
Erin wrinkled her nose. "You're invading my life at this point."
"Sorry, but the sign outside says you guys are hiring. Is there an application—"
She took out a paper and slid it towards me. "Fill out this form. You'll be interviewed later."
Interview? I'm not looking forward to that.
I took a minute or two to complete the form, and just as I was about to hand it back to her, someone else appeared behind the counter and began to speak.
"Oh, are you one of our future employees?"
I looked up to find a slender middle-aged man in front of me. He gave me a friendly smile as he extended his arm out for a handshake.
"I hope," I said, shaking his hand. "Are you the manager?"
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, you aren't dressed in the same way that Erin is, so you probably aren't a regular employee that does serving or cashier work. It's obvious that you're not a chef either. Nobody would wear clothes like those while dealing with food. After narrowing it down, the only job that really fits you is some sort of supervisor or manager position."
The man stroked his chin and thought for a moment. "Wow, you're a sharp one. I really want to hire you now." He looked over the form I'd just completed. "Ah, Adriel—a splendid name. I'm Yannis."
My chances of acquiring the job had skyrocketed. A good first impression was the key to being wanted.
"Erin here is one of our most diligent employees. Are you her friend?" Yannis asked, gesturing towards her.
Erin chuckled. "He's more like a stalker."
"Really?"
The manager looked at me and waited for an explanation. Of course this girl had to go and act as a hindrance to my success. She was my enemy from the start, and I would've been a fool to think otherwise.
"We may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but I'm not a stalker," I retorted. "Her grandmother showed me this place and told me to apply."
"The situation between you two seems complicated. If Adriel is hired and you both become coworkers, would it pose a problem?"
"I was joking," said Erin. "It doesn't matter to me whether you hire him or not."
"That was a joke? Maybe I'm getting too old to understand your humor." Yannis sighed. "I noticed all these new wrinkles appearing on my face, too. It hurts to think about my age."
I'd taken what she said seriously as well, but that was because I knew how much she didn't like me. It only felt natural for her to call me a stalker (even though I wasn't one).
"So what should I do next?" I asked.
"I'll probably look over your application again, and then we can do a little interview. How does tomorrow at noon sound?"
"It sounds great. Thanks a lot."
Progress had been made. I was looking forward to landing this job, but more than that, I was excited to finally be able to call myself a contributing member of society and say goodbye to the pitiful and incompetent Adriel that I once knew.