Chapter 8

Thursday 4:00 AM

Ting, Ting, Ting, Tok!

"Aaah, I'm up. I'm up." This was begining to feel like too much! This was not even the first time he had been woken up like this and, whatever method Veelo used to wake Alva up had been causing him to sneeze so much, he had heavy allergies for at least 30 seconds each morning after waking up. "Do you even have a set time for waking me up or, do you just pick a time when I seem to be enjoying my dream the most before waking me up?"

[" You have been sleeping at different times each day and I have to compensate for that. Also, I have to account for the time you have to go to work, how long you can sleep without affecting you mentally, the quality of sleep, and so on."]

Begrudgingly, he accepted it with a slight growl, "Fine, what's on the agenda for today?"

["First, get cleaned up and make some breakfast then, go to work.

After, come back home, get cleaned up again, then plan on how you are going to start your business."]

"Nice. Alright, world, here I come!"

___

Thursday 12:05 PM

"I'm going to die! It's so much work! It's been 'rush hour' for only about 5 minutes but, the amount of people coming through this restaurant is already so overwhelming. At least a hundred people have come through that door in about 5 minutes. What is this?" Alva was beginning to feel discouraged. Suddenly, becoming the wealthiest guy in the world didn't seem as easy as he thought.

It was coming down heavy outside and, usually, no one wanted to stay outside for long because, if you did, your clothes and even your skin might be eaten through by the acidic rain. It was not safe at all. Clean up teams existed for these kinds of situations but, only in the rich areas. The cheapest option was to use concrete and other building materials that were treated to make them 'Acid Rain Resistant'.

["Didn't you say you were going to become the wealthiest guy in the world? Just these little things shouldn't stop you. Just look at them as stepping stones."]

"..."

Of course, Alva agreed but, he was too annoyed to talk to Veelo. This guy, Veelo, was talking all this stuff but, Alva was sure that if Veelo was in his position, he would have given up already. He could talk the talk but he was a system. He couldn't walk the walk. He didn't have to do any work! Even if Veelo gave him excellent advice, he still felt like giving him a couple tight slaps!

This went on for a whole 3 hours before the rain stopped and even then, they had to wait an extra

3 hours for the neighborhood grandpas and grandmas to spray their home-made 'Acid away' solution to neutralize the acid in the rain. The poor were really looked down upon over here.

As Alva was about to head home after cleaning up.

"Alva wait up." He turned around, only to see the same guy he had been trying to avoid since this morning. Now he couldn't pretend to have not heard- he had already turned around to face him before he fully realized who it was.

" Oh", he awkwardly laughed, " I didn't expect to see you here."

Chefy gave a suspicious, 'Are you an idiot' look as he thought, ' Hmph, kid, do you think I'm just a kid like you? You kid! Haha, I was going bald by the time you were born. Didn't you see me here this morning?. What are you talking about?'

"Follow me to my office."

"Sir, please,if it's about 'that' incident, then, it was all a misunderstanding. It's not what you think. Please don't fire me! I don't want to go back to the streets! Do you know the stuff I have seen? I once saw a man bathe in his own pee... his own pee- it was so yellow, it was brown, and that woman by the police station- she cut of her own boobs just to squeeze some milk for her baby, I don't want to be like that...and... and, Crazy Carl". Alva was wailing on his knees now. He was practically begging. If he thought really hard, he could still smell Crazy Carl. He couldn't go back! Never!

Chefy wasn't even planning to fire this guy in the first place, even if he did, with this performance just now, he wouldn't be able to bring himself to kick him to the curb.

"Relax kid, I just want to talk to you. I'm not going to fire you."

"Re... really?" Sniff, sniff, he wiped his nose on his forearm. "You really just want to talk to me?

"Yes, yes, yes. For the three hundredth time, yes."

Alva looked at him suspiciously but still decided to oblige.

On the way to Chefy's office, as he passed more and more employees and the distance between them and his office continuously decreased, Alva got more and more nervous.

'What did I do? I cleaned up the house, I don't ever mess up while I clean up here, I do the dishes... What's really going on?'

"Sit down, kid."

"A- are you sure sir? I may not look dirty but, I've been cleaning up after everyone the whole day, I- I just don't think you want me to sit there. I'm all sweaty and-"

"Shut up and sit down."

"Y- yes sir." He immediately sat down. Chefy looked annoyed now. There was no way he would allow himself to lose his job just because he wouldn't sit down on a chair. He would rather become friends with Crazy Carl! Wait, no, no, he didn't mean it, that was just a figure of speech!

"I wanted to talk to you about 'that' incident."

"S-s-sir, you said it wasn't about that. Please don't fire me!"

"Don't start crying kid, I said I wasn't going to fire you. I didn't say I wasn't going to talk about 'that' incident."

Alva immediately gave him a suspicious look, as if he thought he was being fooled. He looked at him like he had lost at least 50 percent of the trust he had for Chefy. Hmph, old man, did you think I've never been fooled? I've been fooled at least 3000 times out there on the streets- I'll definitely show you J Pizzy. Did you think that I wouldn't know of such tricks? You old timer! Haha, with that mirror on your head, I can see through all your lies, HAHA!'

Obviously, Alva just thought this. He wouldn't say it out loud now that his job was at stake.

"What really happened in the washrooms, huh, kid? What were you really doing with those toilets boy? Tell me the truth. If I suspect that you are lying- even a little bit, I'll kick you out right now."

"Sir,it went like this..."

"I see, so you were tired, fine. You can stay but, get your sleep in. I'm not going to have you out here smooching my toilet seats, if I catch you doing those sort of things again, I won't care how tired you are, you're going to be out there on the streets. Capiche?"

"Understood sir!" Then he gave a salute.

"Alright get out."

"Yes sir!"

"Oh, Alva, hold on, turn back."

"Is there a problem, sir?"

"Come here."

"Yes sir!", then Chefy poked him in his sides.

"Hmm, you're getting a bit flabby over here. Take this."

"What is this sir?"

"Practice that morning and night. Don't ever miss a day."

"O-okay-"

"Get out."

"Yes sir!" Scuffle, scuffle, bang!

"Ahh, that hurts." He had somehow been able to smash his pinky toe on the edge of the chair through his shoe. It was like the edge of the chair was purposely seeking out his toe. Alva would have his day someday! This meant war!

___

*Sigh, inhales deeply.

"I'm finally home, hey Fred."

Side eye.

"..."

"Okay, moving on, I put some food down for you this morning did you eat it?"

"No."

"Then why is it gone?"

"..."

"I'm going out on the porch."

Squeak.

"I have to oil that door's hinges one day, so, Veelo, let's talk. You're like my advisor or something now.

I want to start a business, I know how to start it, I know what I need to start it, but, I don't have what I need to start it- money."

["Why don't you just get a loan"]

"Huh? I'm never getting a loan. There's no way in hell I'm ever getting a loan. That's how you become a slave!"

["Okay, then you can do what I suggested- a side hustle"]

"Yeah, let's do that.

["Well, there's photography, cooking, cleaning, cutting hair, plumbin-"]

"No! No! Never again! I can still feel that grandma hitting my body, and, her taser, she pulled it out of her foot long bra and then... and then..."

["Okay... you can also- wait, what do you know how to do?"]

*Twiddling his thumbs

"Does reading count?"

["..."]

"I can clean."

["You already clean at the restaurant and you're usually almost dead tired when you come home from work. Do you really want to do cleaning as your side hustle?"]

"..."

*Sigh, ["How much do you get paid?"]