2 Chapter 1

EDITED.

*Elijah*

I smiled down at the baby. It was Ella. I vaguely remember the day she was born, since I was about five. I was so excited that I couldn't even eat. Papa had to force me to eat and then make me take a nap before Mother came out of the operating room. When Mother found out that she was going to have a baby girl, she was excited. She decorated the nursery in purple and blue because she didn't believe in gender stereotypes. I helped Papa paint the walls and we set up the crib, he did most of the work though.

When my Mother went into labor I was scared because she was yelling at Papa to get everything ready to go. She didn't show that she was in pain because I'll start crying if she did, so she kept quiet until we were near the hospital. "Is the baby hurting you, Mama?" I asked her worriedly.

"No, baby, I a-urgh!-am okay." The moment we got to the hospital, she was taken away. Papa and I stayed outside and waited.

My grandparents came when I woke up. Also, I was in the hospital bed with Mother laying next to me. She was asleep. I looked over at my grandparents and Papa to see a little baby. "Is that her?" I asked and everyone turned to me. Papa nodded and lowered himself so I could see my baby sister. "She's ugly." Everyone laughed at that.

That day my Mother showered me and my little sister with kisses but she was tired and I was a big brother so I had to accept that she wasn't only going to pay attention to me.

I wish I could hold on to that memory of my mother.

Suddenly, I was startled awake by my alarm. "Fuck!" I yelled and smacked the alarm so it would shut up. I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost seven. "Shit! I'm going to be late for work." I quickly got up and ran to the bathroom to take a shower and then proceeded to get dressed in my ugly work clothes. The color of the shirt was mustard yellow and then khaki pants.

I brushed my hair and then walked to the front of my apartment. I saw my roommate laying in on the couch with his phone in front of him. "Morning sunshine." He smiled at me.

"Morning, Shithead." I smiled back. They were the nicknames we had for each other. I walked to the kitchen to see most of the food gone. "You know, if you're going to eat something at least you can do is restock it."

"You know me, Sunshine. I'm a lazy little shit." Melvin rolled to his back. "I'll pay for you to do it for me. When I get my check."

"That's never going to come in a million years." I rolled my eyes. I grabbed the house keys and my car key. Quickly putting on my shoes I turned towards Melvin. "You better have the fridge restocked before I come back."

"Sure, Sunshine." He rolled his eyes and went back to his phone. I flipped him off before walking out. I guess I don't have the worst roommate, some people have it worse than me.

I shook my head as I focused on driving safely to my work. I hope that I find some other work where I get paid more and that is closer to my apartment.

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I sighed as I swept the floor. Though it was clean I had to do the job because the manager thought that she saw dust somewhere. I quickly finished my job, but not too quickly because I knew that I would have to do something else after I finished. The other workers, which are two girls and another middle-aged guy, were stocking up the supplies. I am kind of glad that the manager had a little crush on me. I didn't want to ruin it and tell her I was gay and that she had no chance.

Once I was finished sweeping the floor I walked to the register and began checking out the customers that were waiting to pay for their things. "Thank you for shopping at Skipper's* please come again." I smiled at each one of them when I finished serving them. It said that I was required to do that because it was important to be friendly. That makes more customers want to come to the store. Which is a total bullcrap.

When one of the girls took over I walked to the staff room for my break. I skipped breakfast so I was starving. I bought the frozen Lunchable and microwaved it. Sitting on the small desk that was in the middle of the room, I began to eat the disgusting nachos, with cheese and salsa. I liked to mix the cheese with the salsa sauce because it tasted better. Don't get me wrong, it was a shit lunch but it was better than nothing.

Then the door opened and the manager came in. She smiled at me. "Hello," she said and then sat down next to me.

"Hey." I smiled at her and then went back to eating my lunch. The manager, Katie Valder, was in her early thirties. She hasn't married yet and is currently single. How do I know that? It's because she fucking told me every time the word 'relationships' came up in a conversation.

Katie was a beautiful woman and she had a good personality but I didn't swing that way and every time I went to tell her she would ignore it. "How was your day so far?" She asked as she unpacked her lunch. I think she cooked it at home.

"Oh, it's been better. I'm just tired." I replied politely because she was like a friend to me. "What about you?"

"Good. I can't wait to go home and catch up on the new series on Netflix. I heard they were good." She replied.

"Have you had time to watch the shows I recommend?"

"No, sorry. I've been so busy that I didn't get the chance. With school and work, it's kind of hard to watch tv." I replied as I cleared up the containers and the box. I threw it in the trash. "See you around, Katie."

I didn't turn around when I heard her squeal. I sighed and went back to stacking the shelves. I couldn't wait to find a new job and get out of here. I just hope it isn't as bad as this and paid better.