1 (1A) At A Loss

"Give it here or you're dead!"

In a dark alleyway in a bustling city on a stormy afternoon, a young man was held at gunpoint. The mugger wore a black bandana over his face, ripped jeans, and a black hoodie.

"Please man, I just lost my job. This is all I have!" The boy's name was Andy, and he wasn't lying. He had gone through several jobs over the past few months. Always fired due to… strange circumstances.

'This can't be happening, not after everything else..' His thoughts were filled with anger and hopelessness.

"Tough luck kid. You think I have a job either? Now hand it over before I blow..."

Before the mugger could finish his sentence a flicker of darkness appeared behind him and knocked him unconscious. It happened in an instant. Andy stood there stunned. He couldn't explain what just happened, but he was certainly lucky. He foolishly planned to try to disarm his aggressor, as he thought he had nothing left to lose.

Andy wasn't big, but he was tall. He stood 6'2" in height, and was skinny. He was 19 years old, only 1 year out of high school. He had bright blue eyes. His black hair was kept styled in a short pompadour. Giving him almost a pop-star look if not for his attire. He was, and frequently would wear a T-shirt, sweatpants, and sneakers.

He decided to pick up the gun in case the mugger woke up soon, and pulled out his phone to call 911. He could claim self defense after all. His phone was covered in cracks from dropping it or knocking it off his table, and now he had dropped it again. It slipped out of his sweaty, nervous fingers, and shattered on the concrete.

"Fuck my life," he said to himself. He owed a lot of money on that phone still. It was his only device. His only means of finding employment without walking for miles around the city with no money.

With only the gun in his hands, he pondered on his life thus far. His parents died when he was only 15. They were physicists and had died in an explosion at their laboratory. It killed nearly everyone that worked there. With no other family to reach out to, he ended up in foster care until he became an adult.

He wasn't the most popular in school, but he was well liked by most. He had a girlfriend named Kylie. They had gotten together when they were both 16. Once they graduated high school they decided to get a place together, but were struggling as Andy couldn't hold a job.

The latest job he had was delivering cases of drinks (beer mostly) to restaurants, bars, and stores. This was his 2nd job this month. He lost this one to a situation oddly similar to the one he was in now.

"Hurry up you piece of shit, I don't want to be here all day!" His coworker Tom said. Andy's coworkers were always ugly to him as he was slower than the rest of them. At the time he was standing on a lift handing cases of beer down to Tom on the ground.

Suddenly a flicker of darkness had appeared above Tom, and the case of beer that was in Andy's hands was gone. It had landed on Tom's head knocking him unconscious. Andy could only assume he had accidentally dropped it.

Tom told his superiors that Andy had done it on purpose. And being the kid of one of the company managers, they obviously sided with him. Andy only wished it was on purpose now.

Similar events had caused Andy to be fired from his other 5 past jobs as well, but he was never able to notice the darkness.

As he was walking home he called Kylie to tell her the terrible news once again.

"I can't do this any more, Andrew. I'm sick of it. Why cant you go even a month without getting fired?!" Kylie said, furious.

"Babe, it was an accident. I swear I don't know how it happened. It's like it disappeared from my hands!" Andy's voice was trembling. He knew she would be pissed.

"Enough, Andy. I have to tell you something anyway. I've been seeing Brian. The one we went to school with. I want to be with him. This isn't working. We're done. The apartments yours. I already packed my things."

"YOU WHAT?!?" But before Andy could say anything else, she had hung up on him. He called back shaking in anger only to find that she blocked his number.

He continued to walk home with tears running down his face. 'How could she do this? The only person I thought loved me.' His thoughts were fragmented, filled with emotion.

'Now I have no job, and I skipped last month's rent.. I'll be without family, homeless, jobless, and friendless. What do I do?'

He turned into the alleyway leading to his soon to be vacant apartment. A man was standing in the alleyway leaning on the wall. The mugger…

Now seeing his assailant on the ground, and with a heavy heart, Andy put the barrel of the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

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