It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault… Is it?

“Grant, get in my office, now!” A beep followed the angry voice that distorted from the walkie talkie clipped to the waistline of Grant’s pants.

“Oh, you’re gonna get it now!” Jack grinned at Grant, who countered with a disgusted face, being as this was a regular occurrence.

“Yeah, whatever. Just wait ‘til the day I lay it back into him.” Grant rose from his knees where broken down cardboard boxes laid around him.

Zenall—the company Grant worked for—always had to make a huge deal about every new season, using one-fourth of the store for temporary items. For Grant, it was such a hassle. As soon as he thought he had all the new locations memorized it was time to change.

Grant made his way past all the customer-less aisles, coworkers were setting the merchandise that later consumers would purchase.

The aisles were to be stocked full before the store opened. Not that it was a challenge, but the CEO demanded too much from them. New seasons called for new schedules. Instead of waking up early in the morning and coming in at around four, their internal clocks were forced to adjust to starting at ten at night.

Grant passed by the locked entrance doors and glanced outside. The sun was nowhere in sight, although the moon sent weak threads of light. He sighed. Not even an hour had passed since he arrived for his shift.

Being day one of the new schedule shift took a toll on everyone’s mental health. Many people were transfixed into quick turning moods, especially management.

Jack didn’t seem to mind the shift. His schedule seemed odd to most, including Grant. Even before the schedule change, he woke up at six in the evening and would do who knows what until work started.

Being a stocker wasn’t too demanding for Grant. Nor was shifting schedules; this had been his tenth time being around for a season change, after all. His breaking point neared its limit for other reasons.

“Yeah, what do you need?” Grant topped the staircase and hollered before the chipped brick wall that surrounded the office door was in sight.

“You’re being too slow. We need you to pick up the pace.” Henry responded once Grant came into view, a pen twirled between his fingers.

“Am I not at the same pace as everyone else? I see no difference between me and the other workers.” Grant’s eyes danced between the scuffed desk and the office chair that had stuffing falling from the armrests.

The manager raised his eyebrow. “Is that so?”

Grant looked directly into his eyes and wore an apathetic face. “You’re making my time even slower. Thanks for nothing. I’ll be going back now..”

The manager's face snarled into one that resembled a pig, his nose accented as his eyes grew downward. He slammed his hands to his desk and Grant cocked his head to the side, acknowledging the thump even from halfway down the stairs.

Everyday at work played out the same. What choice did he have though? Without this job there would be no way of paying rent.

He often wondered what it would be like to leave. Would living in his car as he searched for his next source of income be that bad? Although another part of him didn’t want to be looked down on by society if finding his next job would take too long.

That wasn’t the only thing stopping him. Without him at the house, he would feel guilty not being a servant to his parents. He felt he owed his parents all of the labor that had been forced upon him. He felt that until recently, that is.

For the past few weeks Grant had been thinking if all his abuse was justified.

Getting older brought in new ideas. His thoughts of being worthy enough to have freedom grew everyday. Of course, he did still have his bad days.

Grant made sideway glances to his other coworkers as he passed by. No smiles, no greetings, just eyes locking on for acknowledgement.

“What’d he want this time?” Jack asked.

“Oh you know, the same thing as last week. Why doesn’t he just fire me? At least then I would have no choice but to look for something new. ”

“You know he can’t afford to do that. We could basically get away with anything, they are really hurting on employees,” Jack laughed as he continued placing boxes of inflatable tubes onto a shelf.

“I guess. I do really need to get out of here though. Not just jobwise, I just want to start over somewhere else. I’m so tired of everything man.” Grant looked down at the box in his hands. An inflatable smiling sun that was used to sit on in the water. Is this really all my life will be? He stared at the sun beaming back at him.

What a joke.

He heard coworkers always talk about their plans in the future and climbing the corporate ladder at Zenall. He couldn’t relate at all. Oh how he wished his life could be so simple.

Jack never let on to his future goals though. Maybe that’s why he was one of the few he didn’t mind talking to. They both rarely shared anything about their lives. They worked, had few conversations, and went home.

“Oh, where are you thinking of? I know of a place where you could live, it’s real far from here though.”

Although, if there was one thing Jack always brought up about his life, it was this. Grant had always been confused why Jack was so fixated on this place.

Grant looked over at Jack with a bit of a smile starting to form. “Oh yeah? Where?”

“Lyros.”

“I knew you were going to say that. You always bring up that place as if you are the spokesperson of that tiny village,” Grant laughed. “What are there, five people who live there?”

“Around twenty-some, actually…For real though, they have an empty trailer for sale. It’s extremely cheap. If you’re interested just let me know.”

Jack’s father lived in Lyros, he always said whenever he would visit there it was like jumping off into the unknown. Apparently, it felt like another planet. Whenever Grant would ask why he didn’t live there, his answer never changed. “The small town life isn’t for me. People get too personal.”

“You know, my dad is still looking for more help. He always tells me if you can find someone, he will pay your rent. That is, if you will work for him. The job isn’t hard at all. You’ll just need 2,000 ramas to purchase the trailer.”

Grant had this thought many times before. Jack always tried to sell him this trailer, hyping it up by adding different details each time.

2,000 ramas was a steal. Did Grant want to be in a middle sized city working for a company and spend time with a family that didn’t care about him, or work in a tight knit small village where they might actually appreciate him?

“Come on, you said you want to get out of Tonim, right? Join the trailer park village. Do it. You’d enjoy it,” Jack said.

“Grant! Get back in my office!” The walkie sounded off, vibrating Grant’s leg through his pants.

Grant let out a heavy sigh. There was no option anymore was there? Everyday, more and more, he could feel life draining from his body. Whatever the consequence waited ahead, he would face them.

“I guess today is the day I’m laying it into him. Fine, I’ll try out your dear Lyros now.” A slight smile formed on his face. “Is there a way I can get a hold of you after you get off?”

“Yeah, just stop by the apartment three blocks to the east. It’s next to that gas station that sells the firewood in the front. Eastern Rail is the name of the apartment complex. I’ll wait out in front of one of the doors when I get off at six.”

“Thanks man, I can’t imagine Lyros being worse than my current living condition. I’m kind of excited. Kind of.”

Jack waved him off and chuckled as Grant dropped his walkie from his belt to the floor, creating a loud echo. His other coworkers paid no mind to it.

Grant glanced about the store as he reached the doors. Nope, there was no way he was going to miss this place.

The warm night air surrounded him, wrapping him, like the comfort from a hug he hadn’t gotten since he was a small child. He had to hurry home if he wanted to prepare everything before his parents went to sleep.

He opened the door to his rusted maroon car and entered the dust filled interior. The car gave a few roars before it started up and Grant took off.