Workin' for Amanda
"Ah!"
A loud smack was heard inside the room. Grey had fallen off the bed onto the floor. 'Ow, my back! Maybe I should install some safety straps next time?' Grey wondered if strapping himself to the bed would be feasible, but shook his head at the thought. 'I wonder how much time has passed? It should've been an hour or two.' He picked up his phone from the nightstand and turned it on.
"Five hours?! Holy shit!"
Grey stared with his eyes wide open at the time displayed on his phone. 23:59, it read. He entered the video game at about 18:27, so it had been roughly 5 hours since he started playing. 'Maybe I should set a timer next time? Who cares, I really have to sleep! I have work tomorrow, and my boss will kill me.' At the thought of his boss, Grey stiffened up. It's not that his boss is cruel to him, however something about him scares Grey. He heard that his boss' ex mysteriously disappeared about a week after she broke up with him. The police didn't find any evidence, but it was a bit too convenient in Grey's opinion. Anyway, the point is that Grey is terrified of him.
'Let's just go to bed. I can worry about this tomorrow.'
24:00.
'Well, later today.'
"Fuck fucking Christ oh my jesus-"
Grey could be seen running down the stairs of his apartment building at full speed, cursing to himself.
'I can't believe I overslept! I'm actually going to get killed!'
Grey thought to himself while looking at his watch. 9:15, it read. He was almost 1 and a half hours late!
Grey works as your average IT guy at Unknown Company, a small website development software producer, which is a fancy way to say they make websites for people. Grey usually keeps the servers up and fixes people's phones when they lock themselves out of it, because they forgot the password.
He isn't an important employee per say, but people will definitely notice if he is gone, and his boss certainly will.
'I wonder if my boss is sick today?' Grey prayed to himself. If the boss was absent, he may get away with this! Turning the corner, he sees their office building. Not the highest quality, certainly not something like Nicrosoft would own. But being a small building has its charms, as it is easier to figure out where to go.
Grey rushes past the receptionist, Amanda, while yelling to her, "Sorry Amanda! No time to talk!" and ran into the elevator. He hears a small shout behind him, but is too focused on pressing the elevator button to notice. He pushes the button for the 5th floor, and the doors close. Grey breathes a sigh of relief, and pulls out his phone.
'Has anyone been posting about the game online? I don't want spoilers, but maybe reading up on it won't hurt.'
Grey opens Twooter, a social media platform. He searches for the hashtag, #AlionOnline, and looks at the posts.
@lordbattler69 twooted:
#AlionOnline looks and feels great, but combat sucks ass! It's so difficult having to swing it yourself, and there's no tutorial?? Who the f#ck decided that would be a good idea?!
@AwesomeSwordBro42 commented:
You just suck at the game lmao
@HardWoWplayer commented:
Learn how to play the game before taking your opinion to the internet lol
@OfficialAlramProductions commented:
Combat is intended to be as realistic as possible. If it is too difficult, the game may not be for you.
@AwesomeSwordBro42 retwooted this comment
@HardWoWplayer retwooted this comment
Comments have been disabled by the original poster.
"Pfft."
Grey snorted to himself. Even Alram had to comment on this guy's post. As Grey immediately felt better about himself, the elevator opened. Stepping out, he began walking towards his desk when a voice he did not want to hear spoke behind him, "what's the rush, Grey?"
Grey froze in place. His boss was here, and he sounded like someone you did not want to be around. Grey tried to come up with a plan as fast as possible in his head, but before he could do anything, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly he spun around, and now was facing towards his very angry boss. Grey put on a stiff smile and said in his best tone possible, "Heyyyy, Jason. How's it hanging? I was just out on a coffee break, that's all!"
Grey could visibly see Jason's face souring after those words left his mouth. 'Maybe it was a bad idea to lie to him…'
"That's your excuse?! You are almost 2 hours late and you tell me you were getting coffee? Are you f#cking serious? What kind of idiot do you take me for!? I should fire you on the spot!"
Jason yelled right into Grey's face. A bunch of spit landed right on his face, but he had to take it. This job was extremely important. Where else was he going to get hired? There's a shortage of available jobs right now, he can't lose his income? Grey cupped his hands, and begged Jason, "Please boss. I really need this job, don't fire me! I can work overtime the next few days, and I-"
"Leave him alone, Jason."
A voice resounded from the elevator that just opened. A woman walked out of the elevator, towards Jason and Grey. 'Isn't that… Amanda?' Grey thought. Amanda walked over towards Jason, who was fuming. Smoke could almost be seen coming out of his ears, and his head was as red as a tomato. In an extremely loud voice, he yelled, "How could you even say that?! He always arrives late on time, and is so unproductive!"
"And yet he is our best IT guy." Amanda responded.
"He is our only IT guy during summer!"
"So he isn't expendable. What would we do without IT? Our entire company revolves around it? What would you do if the servers suddenly broke down and no one was here to fix them?"
"Well-"
Amanda walked right in front of Jason's face and put her hands on her side. In a bossy tone you couldn't expect from a receptionist, she told Jason, "Just reduce his pay for the month, no more."
'My paycheck!?' Grey weeped silently to himself. This would mean that he had to live off of instant noodles for a couple of days. Which is a slightly better outcome than getting fired. He grievingly looked at Amanda's back for a couple of seconds, before she turned around to face him.
"And Grey. You'll show up on time, got it?"
The last few words were said with an ice-cold voice that Grey had never heard before. Amanda sounded truly pissed. All Grey could do was nod silently while looking everywhere other than at her. Amanda sighed, and walked back towards the elevator. Jason gave Grey an intense glare, and then begrudgingly left, probably walking back to his office. Grey breathed a huge sigh of relief, and walked over to his office booth. He didn't really say hello to anyone, as his entire department was gone for the holidays, and he didn't really know anyone else. Well, except Amanda, but he had a feeling she didn't want to talk right now.
"And with that email, I am done for the day!" Grey sunk into his chair as the sun began to set outside the window. He had to work a couple hours overtime, Since he got there a few hours late. This appeased Jason a little bit, but he still hates Grey's guts. Grey got up from his chair, put on his jacket and walked towards the elevator. Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder. 'Ah crap, that must be Jason! Where's Amanda?' Grey thought aggrievedly. He looked around with pain in his eyes before he noticed that Amanda went home for the day already. Bawling his eyes out, he slowly turned around to face his doom.
What awaited him however, was the goofiest smile on his dumb coworkers face. "Hey there Greyyy, what'chu doing..?" The coworker known as Birch grinned with a wide smile. Grey's eyebrows visibly twitched before he clutched his hand and swung it right into Birch's cheek. A bird outside the window almost jumped in fright from the loud noise and flew off.
"What was that for??"
"You can't just sneak up on me like that.!" Grey yelled. He inhaled through his nose, looked at Birch's goofy smile, and then sighed. "Fuckin' idiot…"
"The fuck you saying??"
"Nothing, nothing."
"No, I'm pretty sure you called me an idiot though?"
"It's your imagination."
"But, I could've swore…"
"It's your imagination."
"...Right."