Silvian

*ring* *ring* *ring*

A sluggish hand reaches out of a pile of blankets and feels around the bed. Clumsily searching around for a while before it picks up the noisy phone and pulls it back under the blankets.

"....hello?"

"Where the heck are you!? It's well past 8 dude.

Did you forget you had work today??? Look Silvian, I can't cover for you like this anymore. If you are going to keep this up, then you should just leave already."

The angry voice showed no signs of letting up

.... ..."Keith. I worked all night for Sarah. *yawn*

She said her kid had a fever or something and promised to take my shift instead. Did you not see the note I left on the front desk? "

Silvian pushed the covers away and rubbed his eyes.

Still groggy and tired from working until 5am. He stood up and decided he needed to get ready for work again because although it was annoying, this was a regular occurrence.

For some reason everyone liked to push all the work towards him and not take the responsibility for failing to do their own work.

" I saw the note. Sarah said that she worked all night, not you, so stop lying and come to work already. I'll let it go today but if you do this ONE more time I'm going to have to let you go. I need you here within the hour."

Silvian agreed and hung up the phone. He brushed his teeth, took a quick shower, and got dressed. He didn't even have time to grab breakfast before he walked out the door. Silvian had gotten so used to this treatment that he didn't even try to protest anymore. He didn't get paid extra for working their shifts. He knew that if he didn't listen to his coworkers then they would get rid of him. Nobody else is willing to hire him though.

Silvian is a 26-year-old man that makes a living by working at a front desk. Answering phone calls and dealing with any unruly customers that arrive while also doing most of the janitorial work is a normal day for Silvian. He sets appointment times throughout his shifts and is barely surviving.

Silvian grew up without a family. He went from foster home to Foster home. For some reason, that he couldn't fathom, nobody ever cared for him for as long as he could remember. Once he turned 18 he was thrown out on his own. Braving the world alone while living on the streets was extremely hurtful and hard. He applied to so many jobs but nearly all of them rejected the applications. The job he currently has, he believes they allow him to stay because he does things that they don't want to do. He's okay with that because doing that allows him to have a roof over his head and a bed to sleep in. Sometimes they'll keep their word and work his shift but very rarely.

He doesn't have any particular talents, mostly because he can't afford the luxury of having things to do besides work. Even sleep is hard to come by most nights. He longs for a place where he can be happy and people like him, but no matter where he goes or what he does that's never the case.

Silvian is 5'6 with midnight black hair and cobalt blue eyes. His ivory skin has calluses all over his hands and feet from working all his life. His thin figure is loosely hugged by a thin fabric covered in patches. Since new clothes are too expensive, he just fixes the ones he owns.

" FINALLY. Go handle your post and just because you were late today, you don't get to have a lunch break. If you don't want to be fired, don't talk back. Go put your uniform on. I don't know why you wear those rags to work everyday. You have no work ethic either. Why did I even hire trash like you"

Silvian nods at Keith and walks on to the changing room to put on his uniform. He's learned not to talk back at all, and the day will be okay.If he did talk back, he would never hear the end of it and even have his pay cut again.

6 Hours later and Silvian was looking forward to going home and having a quick meal of ramen and a boiled egg. Just enough to fill his stomach before he goes to bed and starts all this over again tomorrow.

Just as he was about to walk out the door..

"Hey Silvian, I need you to stay a couple hours over today. Paige called and said she was going to be late so you need to cover her shift. You aren't about to say no, are you?"

Silvian slowly took his hand off the door handle and nodded his head and went back to put his uniform back on, his head was feeling really fuzzy and he couldn't stay focused on what was in front of him. Everything was a complete blur until Paige came. She didn't even thank him and just scoffed at his appearance before going to grab some coffee.

Silvian staggered out after changing out of the uniform. He struggled just to make it home. Once he made it in the door he collapsed onto the floor and woke up a few hours later. He hadn't even closed the door behind him.

He made a pot of ramen and added two boiled eggs.

Silvian didn't have any furniture other than a bed, a fridge, and the stove. So he had his dinner right there on the floor. It was much too hard to wash the blankets in the sink this late, so the floor was a better option than the risk of dirtying anything tonight.After eating he washed the dishes and crawled into bed.

Silvian had a dream for the first time in ages. It was of such a beautiful place. There were grass covered fields with little animals darting through the taller grass. The soft running streams fed into larger rivers filled with vibrantly colored fish that shined brightly in the sunlight. There were birds flying around and diving into crystal clear water trying to secure their lunch. He could even feel the soft breeze swaying the tree branches. He walked through the grass and sat on the side of the river. He dipped his legs into the water and it was cold to the touch. For the first time in forever, he finally felt at peace. In the distance he saw shimmering silver butterflies fluttering around some flowers.

*beep* *beep* *beep*

A phone alarm was going off but it suddenly went quiet. Silvian was ripped away from his peaceful Dreamland and forced back into this dull reality once again. He realized he hadn't charged his phone and the battery died, so he had to leave it and go to work without it.

On his walk towards work he noticed a big commotion on his normal route. It seems there was a car accident. Instead of trying to make it past all of the police and paramedics, he opted to go another route to work. It would add another 15- 20 minutes to his commute and rob him of his $2 french toast for breakfast. He's walking along wondering what he could snag for breakfast.

He just made it around the corner of the building that he saw a sign for a few minutes earlier. There was a one day only special promotion on waffles, a $1 per takeout box to help promote the business. But before he made it inside the sliding glass double doors, all of the sudden, there was a loud screeching. That was the very last thing he heard before everything went black.