One by Midnight - Prologue
#3 of One by Midnight
one by midnight: prologue
"Ugh! My job is leaving me restless. Without you Boris I would go absolutely insane."
"Woah there buddy I'm afraid I'm going to have cut you off there. Its 1 am and the club closes in about two hours. I'm not gonna sit by and watch you while I close up shop again, and I certainly refuse to let you drive home buzzed."
"Okay okay, I understand. I'm not sure why I decided to come on a weeknight, I just had to escape my daily routine."
"You're lucky I stopped you from making a few bad decisions tonight Dusk. You nearly got in a scrap with that 'yote over there earlier, and its safe to say you would've lost."
"Well..... may you remind me again as to why you manage a gay bar if you're straight?"
"No need to get defensive kiddo. Face it no husky can take a beating like that after 7 beers, its just out of your species. Plus that guy looks dangerous, who in the world brings a trench coat to an open place. Since you're sobering up I'll say this one more time. This area isn't known for being very open minded, so the queers need some place to buy their beers right? Besides my wife never lets me hang out with the guys so this way I can have a few brews with the boys and the Mrs wont get so frustrated at me. Now I'd like you to answer my question. Why should I keep supplying liquor to a twenty year old?"
"Okay, I see where you're going with this and I must say its because I love you sooooo much."
{Boris looked at me and sighed}
"Why don't you get up and dance lazy ass you're starting to make me feel uncomfortable here."
"I don't care for this song that much."
"You aren't gonna be satisfied until the DJ starts blasting hard rock are you?"
"I just don't feel comfortable dancing in public"
"Thats what the alcohol is for."
"Okay I'll give it a shot"
I crept my way onto the dance floor and started mingling around with the crowd until I lost all the energy to do so.
"Back at the barstool again eh?"
"Ever since I started working for the firm I haven't gotten many opportunities to exercise."
"Well it seems as if the crowd is dissipating for the night. That mysterious 'yote is still here though."
"Yeah, I wonder what his deal is."
"I dunno much about him, but he seems to be a regular here. Since he's the unpredictable type I highly suggest you try to avoid him."
"O shit! I forgot I had work tomorrow. Dammit today is gonna suck!"
"Bye bye Duskie"
On the way to my cherry red SUV I stumbled off course towards the end of the parking lot and started heaving my guts out. I now realize that seven beers on a workday was a bit overkill for me.
{Great, I don't have much time until work either}
I head home to my apartment and drooped onto my bed. Fatigue got the best of me directly after I set my alarm clock as I collapsed onto the soft stack of mattresses. It couldn't have been but 10 minutes later my pesky alarm clock started buzzing. There wasn't a point in history where I have felt more anger towards father time. It took me five minutes just to gain my bearings. I rushed through my routine making several mistakes like forgetting to grab a pair of underwear out of the dresser before I made my way into the shower. It was a miracle that I made it to work in one piece, the lack of sleep combined with minor inebriation blurred my vision. Thankfully I had people in the office that were on my side. Shina kept me from possibly forfeiting several hours pay by reminding me to punch in my timecard for work. Other employees were aware of my drowsy state and would warn me when the higher ups were incoming. Today would've been unbearable had I not had a smaller workload. Each time I had papers sent to my office I would finish them with plenty of time to spare, then use the remaining time trying to position my head on the desk to make it look like I was reading files and not sleeping. At the end of the day I was awakened by the sound of the boss slamming his fist on my desk.
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't get much sleep last night. I had to drive my aunt to the airport."
"Don't lie to me boy, I can smell the strong scent of alcohol amidst your breath! If I recall correctly you are a quite a few under the legal age. Listen kid, I know how much you need the payments so I'm just going to count this as a sick day."
I was angry at him at first because I still kept up with my paperwork, but not firing me was more than enough mercy. I left work in a bad mood.
When pulled into my apartment complex's parking lot I saw the landlord putting up a flyer on my door, so I approached her calmly because I was in no mood to start anything major.
"What's going on today?"
"We have some renovating that we need to get out of the way, and we have to collect everyone's rent a little earlier than expected."
"you promised that I could have it in by the end of the week."
"No Dusk! I told you that I needed the money BY this week. I'm giving everyone 25 hours to pay up before I evict them."
I scowled at her then pouted my way inside the building. A good nap seemed like it could cure everything at the moment. I wasn't sure how I could afford living like this but as long as I have my job and car, the end isn't over. I slept in till 7:30 pm exactly then I sat on the edge of my bed with my blanket covering my underwear just thinking about how I could resolve everything. There was only one route that seemed to be open. The best way to deal with this was to......
Go clubbing!
I rushed into the bar to hear the usual sound of ear-shattering bass. Boris greeted me in a surprised tone.
"Isn't three straight days of binge drinking a bit much for you?"
"I'm getting evicted soon Boris."
"Then why don't you go out and make you some money's instead of just wasting your time in here."
"Boris, I'm getting evicted tomorrow."
"Well in that case, drink up!"
I ended up breaking the promise to myself to not overdo myself when it came to drinking. The worst part was that I really did think that drinking myself under the table would somehow resolve things, but all it managed to do was cloud my priorities. until my next paycheck I was left with pocket change. As I reached into my wallet to pay for my last few beers I ended up coming up short.
"Boris, how much did you say my tab was."
"$127.64"
"I gotta use the atm outside I'll be right back."
I opened up my atm account using my pin then I stared at the screen emptily while it displayed the warning: insufficient funds. Instead of reporting the news to the manager/bartender I took the scenic route and ditched to my car. I thought there was nothing better I could do than enjoy my last day at home in my apartment. When I started up the SUV the car's the fuel gauge read empty, I'm not quite sure how I overlooked that major detail on the way here (I must have been really eager to kill my liver). I spent about 3 minutes just banging my forehead on the steering wheel, until I heard a commotion in the parking lot.
I saw the mysterious coyote being held up against a car by a common thief. I dashed over to the coyote to assist him but nearly halted when I saw that he was held by gunpoint. Immediately the gunman spotted me and in his reaction he shot off a few rounds my way. The first two rounds hit the front of the car but then the third round ended up catching me right in the chest. I felt like I'd been hit in the chest with a hammer, the immediate pain triggered my body's defenses and had it release endorphins in a weak attempt to mask the pain. Before I collapsed the last thing I saw was the coyote disarming the bandit, then the sight of coagulated blood seeping slowly down the gas tank lid on my car.