Rainy, snowy, hot, cold, it doesn't matter. If it's for my family I'll deal with it. The money pays more than fine. The work conditions? They're good enough for me, although I wish they'd give us hand warmers on some days, or at least heated jackets.
"Hey kid! Come down for a second!" I look over the ledge of a half constructed hospital, I see my team on the floor looking something over with the boss.
"I'll be down in a moment!" I shout back down to whomever called me down. I make my way down, climbing down the ladder with just one thought. "If I jump, will I die?"
A not so pleasant thought to have, but some days, I feel it's more of an instinct than a thought. To escape this world for the better, but I'd leave my family behind. It'll never be worth it.
I reach the floor and walk over to my team, "What's up?" I say while warming myself up.
"The client asked to delay the process of the construction, they didn't state why but it was an urgent pause."
Me and my crew exchange confused looks. Delay the job? This is the only job we currently have, if we don't have this we don't have any money.
The oldest man who I work with speaks up behind me, "Can you try getting an explanation from them? This is the only source of income I have right now, it'll practically mean we'll be jobless."
Our boss sighs, "I already knew this would be some of your concerns, so that's why I talked with our client today. I was going to inform you all about this today anyway, but we have another case of the Graffiti Kids. (Graffiti Kids: Group of teenagers that have been vandalizing construction locations). They drew some kind of satanic shenanigans on the west side of the building. So me and our client came to a compromise, two of you will stay overnight to watch this place to make sure they don't keep this shit up, and I already picked the two this morning."
There are a total of five of us, Me, Evan, Eddie, Erin, and Emma. We're all different besides the fact our names start with an E, it gave our team the name "The E Team." It had a nice ring to it, and we all got along nicely too. But only two of us?
Even is a joker, the site clown, may seem like a dumbass but he's probably the most efficient one out of all of us. Eddie, was the old man who spoke up earlier, he worked with this company for decades, making him the most experienced. Erin, he's just a muscle head, he used to be a football player in college with a chance to making it to the PFL (Pro Football League) but sustained an injury during a game, although he's fully recovered he fell behind and could never make it to the big leagues, but he is still freakishly strong. He's still a body builder and a professional trainer at our local gym. Then there's Emma, the only girl on the team but easily the most mature. Our boss is an idiot with finances, so she helps with taxes, cost, and appointments, almost like a secretary.
Then there's me, but what's so special about me? I'm a 19 year old kid who didn't graduate high school, I will admit working here for 3 years made me built, me and Erin workout together sometimes, but other than that there's nothing special about me. Is it because I'm young? No, Erin was only 4 years older than me, age is no excuse. I never had the time to be better, to do something. Although, I take self defense classes with my sister regular so maybe I can at least fight?
My line of thought is cut off, "Since they're just teenagers, I'll assume they aren't going to give any of you a hard time but I still think it'll be better to scare them off as quickly as possible. So Erin and Elijah, you two will be staying, is that okay with you two?"
"Yes sir!" Erin quickly agrees. I'll be able to do it, I'll just have to inform my mother and sister first. "Alright, I can do it." He smiles, "Good, I talked to the client, he said he'll pay extra for your shifts, $750 a night, 10 PM - 8 AM." What the? $750 a night? That's nearly $75 an hour... The others are obviously jealous and frustrated, but they leave before they say anything.
"You two will start tonight, I won't be here so I hope you two will be here on time. 10 PM sharp. That's all. Bye you two." He leaves in his truck, right now its 2 PM, so we have a while before we have to come back here. "If you want kid, I can give you a ride home?" Erin offers me.
"No thanks, I live close, besides, I need to get my daily exercise in, can't fall behind you now can I?" I chuckle as I smack his broad forearms. He smiles back at me, shrugging it off. "Alright, just stay safe kiddo, I'll see you later." He hops in his mini Cooper and speeds off. How does that small ass car go so fast?
I arrived home after 15 minutes, drenched in sweat. My sister is still at school and my mom should still be at work. My sister is only a year younger than me, she tried taking the responsibility of the family with me but I wanted her to live a nice life without needing to worry about me and my mom.
As for my mom, she went back to nursing school, she recently revived a job offer as an assistant nurse at a well known hospital, she's making good money but not enough.
I only dropped out of high school during my 2nd year, and went straight into constructions. I worked long and hard enough to get us a small apartment in an eerie town but anything is better than the last place. The walls were peeling, the roof had so many leaks it was like we were living outside. But I was able to get us out of there, soon we'll hopefully be able to get back on our feet and move somewhere better, but for now this is good for us.
I go to my room and get undressed before taking a long warm shower. I dry up, and lay down. I reach under my bed and grab a small envelope, I look inside. $50,000, the money I saved up for us. My sisters birthday is soon and I'm going to get her a new car. I helped her get her licence last year, my mom has the only car so this'll help her too. It was my grandpa's old car before he passed away. He put it in the will for my mother.
Everything seems to be going okay in life, for now at least. I turn off my lights and set an alarm for 8 PM, I'll let my mom and sister know before I leave. I drifted off to bed, excited to get that much money for just one day. They'll be thrilled.