Elmo's World

Chapter 1: Late to Work

Kaden Avery slept in on the morning of January 13th for a variety of reasons. His 2-windowed apartment in the middle of New York City was probably in the low 40's; he was inherently depressed over his ex-girlfriend Amie, and his alarm was set at 7:30 p.m. instead of a.m.

Kaden woke up to the sound of the usual arguing of the old married couple next door. Although he could never quite tell what exactly they were arguing over, he typically could assume that it was financial issues, considering the gross complex that they lived in. Kaden hated it as well; Roaches and rats were a common sight to see in his small kitchen area, and the walls seemed paper thin (maybe that's why the arguing woke him up constantly). Kaden immediately drew his hand to his eyes and rubbed the corners of them to force them open. Kaden's eyes slowly adjusted to ceiling fan above him, as he took a deep breath through his nose and sat himself up. He hunched over, annoyed that he had to cover his coworker's shift again today. Without eyeing his clock, he got up to take a shower.

Kaden walked into his condensed bathroom and kept the door cracked. He looked in the mirror and was marveled by how dark his under-eyes were. He turned on his small shower, removed his sleep attire and stepped in, only to not even attempt to wash himself. He caught himself staring at the half-full, clear bottle of purplish shampoo that was left behind by Amie, which undeniably made him upset. He sighed, and turned off the shower. He stepped out, wrapped a towel around himself, and wiped the condensation off his mirror. He brushed his teeth, dried his hair, put on deodorant and the like, and stepped out of the bathroom.

He casually walked over to his bed, as he was in a tight studio apartment, and sat down. He picked up his phone to scroll through his notifications, when his eyes fell on the time:

08:12.

He had to be at work at 8:30.

Kaden let out an angered and frustrated grunt as he dropped his phone on his bed. He rushed over to his dresser, and flung open the drawers, throwing the variety of clothes he needed for his uniform onto his bed. He rushingly pulled on all his clothes, finishing with his belt. He scrambled around the small room to find his shoes, finding them slightly hiding underneath his bed. He messily tied them up, grabbed his keys, wallet, and phone, and rushed to the door, trying not to trip over the messy room. He grabbed his hat and his burly coat, threw them on, and ran out the door.

He felt lucky that he lived on the 2nd floor of the 14 story complex, as it took no time to run down the steps and out on the street. he checked his phone again once he began to run down the cold, near desolate street:

08:16.

He breathed out the word "fuck" as he continued to run. He mapped out the route quickly in his head; he'd soon have to take 2 lefts and a right on 3 half mile-long streets. While this wasn't too bad, Kaden would be stopped by traffic, which stalled him. He continually bumped into people, hoping to whatever God there was no one would chase him, like that bald dude with the eagle tattoo on his right forearm from last week, or the red-haired lady in red Loubotin's in December.

After running for what felt like 45 minutes, Kaden found himself at his workplace: Little Joseph's Pizzeria. While Kaden washes dishes most of the time, he was moving up the ranks in the kitchen and had started making pizzas 2 weeks ago, which he considered himself pretty good at.

He flung open the door of the store to see the coworker he was covering the shift for behind the counter. He looked up with a shocked and embarrassed look on his face. Kaden rubbed his eyes.

"Ricky, what the fuck? I just ran here, freaking out that I might be late, to cover YOUR shift!" Kaden said, while taking in deep breaths to slow his heart, which felt like was beating out of his chest.

"Sorry, dude. Mr. Rivera wanted us both in today— Did he not tell you that he wanted to talk—?" Ricky replied, being cut short as his boss, Mr. Rivera came out of his small office with a man, presumably a customer.

"...And again, thanks for the order! Y'know, we don' usually do caterin', but you, my friend, have brought a new business prospect to the table! We'll see ya next Wednesday, Mr. Santiago," Mr. Rivera said, walking the customer out.

The customer thanked him as he left, and as soon as he left, Mr. Rivera spun right around and eyed Kaden.

"My office, Mr. Avery."

Kaden's heart sank as he looked up at the clock behind the counter: 8:31 a.m. exactly. What could the problem be?

Kaden followed Mr. Rivera as he passed by him. They stepped into the rather small, but well organized office, and Kaden sat down in front of it, anxious as to what his boss had to say.

Kaden's boss sat down, sighed heavily, and looked Kaden in the eye.

"Kid, you know in the time you've worked here we've loved ya. Every one of your coworkers have nothin' bad to say about ya, you're a real personality; Hell, even my wife loves ya."

Kaden sat in the office, beginning to break a sweat.

"But you've lost my trust, kid."

Kaden gasped. "Sir, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be late, I've just—!"

"Avery, I gave you a few days off after your girlfrien' dumped ya, I let ya to work a short shift yesterday, I've been easy on ya; I was your age at one point, I get it kid. I do," Mr. Rivera interrupted, "But I take ONE look at the cameras that we installed jus' 3 days ago, and what do I see? I sees you, takin' a twenty out of the damn register!"

Kaden let out a shaky breath. No one had let him know since he had been gone that they installed security cameras.

"Let me give it back to you! I have it in my wallet—"

"I don' want it. I have no choice but to let ya go. I can't trust someone who takes money out the register. I'm sorry, Kaden, but ya made this choice, not me."

Perfect.