The alarm on my phone startled me out of my sleep and I jolted up. Scrambling for my phone, I groaned, a little irritated, and grabbed it from my nightstand before turning the 7:00 alarm off with a squeeze of the power button.

The alarm was meant to be peaceful, with birds chirping, wind chimes, and a melody from some flute-like wind instrument, but because I had maxed out the volume on it, the sound was distorted by the pathetic speaker on my cheap smartphone. The result of which became a haunting mess of noises that looped in my head with vivid clarity for several minutes after turning it off.

My body was still half asleep. Not in the peaceful, relaxed way, but the stiff, lethargic one-like a corpse reanimated. A corpse whose heart was racing from being jumpscared by Default Ringtone #12.

My eyes still closed, I signed and flopped back onto my bed. It didn't feel quite right though. There was a slightly uncomfortable bulge where my back met the mattress.

'Albert, buddy. Just gimme a couple minutes, will ya?' I thought.

I lay there for another few minutes, mentally preparing myself to get ready for the day.

I sighed again and kicked my blanket off, then used the momentum of a second kick to get myself upright again and swing my legs over the mattress.

I had less than an hour to be at work.

I showered hastily, forgoing shampoo in favor of keeping my perfect work attendance. I never ate breakfast since I usually got it for free from work-one of the only benefits of working where I did-so I left without eating.

It wasn't that I particularly despised my job, it just wasn't exactly what I would call creatively or emotionally or financially or socially or spiritually fulfilling…

Plus there was Audry.

The ride to work was usually pretty nice, but today was one of the days I wished I had a car. My bike was small and I could feel each crack, hump, and hole as I made my way down the poorly maintained road. Any other day I would have been able to ignore them, but today the street made me feel like I was a bean in a maraca. It wasn't how I would have liked my day to start, but I wasn't about to start complaining.

I had made my bed, so I was going to sleep in it.

Heh… If only…

I pulled up to the back door and as I got off my bike I hit the doorbell. Behind me, the morning delivery truck was pulling up too.

A few seconds passed and the door opened to reveal one of my coworkers, his face plastered with a smirk.

"Ben! You're late!" James said playfully as he held the door open.

"I can leave if you want," I replied with a grin, flipping him off, "Find a crew who actually respects me."

James and I laughed in unison, then he patted me on the back as I walked my bike inside, "Welcome to Hell."

"Thanks for the warm welcome," I said, my grin growing even wider knowing how much he "hated" my awful dad jokes.

"Shut up," James spoke, his words an overly dramatic groan as he rolled his eyes and kicked the doorstop down.

I parked my bike in its usual spot next to the large industrial dishwasher that had been broken for months. I stared at it for a few seconds and sighed, "Are they ever gonna fix this thing?" I thought out loud.

A humorless laugh erupted from the office that felt like a spit in the face.

My skin crawled.

I grimaced and any semblance of morale left my body, immediately draining what little energy I had come in with. I was really hoping she wouldn't be the opening manager, but I wasn't so lucky.

My shoulders slumped and a heavy sigh escaped my lips. I made my way to the office, dragging my feet as I did.

Audry sat at the computer entering numbers into a spreadsheet, her back to me.

"I'll clock you in," she said, smacking her lips as she chewed her overly-scented gum.

"Thanks," I said, the word empty of any gratitude.

I turned to leave, but Audry spoke again, "I don't wanna hear about that dishwasher anymore. We have a sink."

"Okay," I replied.

The rest of my body betrayed my tone.

I left the office with my hands balled into fists, jaw clenched tight, and an expression of unstifled rage, seeing red. It may have been the lack of sleep, but her comment hit me harder than it usually would have. Her dismissive words were like a prod with a hot poker, one of many I knew would be jabbing me that day. 

For someone in her mid-forties she was infuriatingly immature. She hated working mornings and anybody misfortunate enough to have an overlapping schedule with hers on those days was guaranteed to have a miserable time.

As I washed my hands, I took some deep breaths to compose myself.

Today was going to suck.

I glanced at the clock and was relieved to see that I only had another seven minutes left of my shift. I just needed to hold out a bit longer, then I could go home and crash. The thought of wrapping myself up in a blanket and letting my body melt into the mattress was the motivation I needed to get me through the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, Audry had other plans for me.

I could feel her standing behind me as I cleaned my station, staring.

‘Come on, what is it? What do you want?’ I thought, becoming more agitated with each passing second she remained silent.

What did she want? Why was she looming over me like a judgmental art teacher? Her scrutinous glare was burning a hole in my back and I was doing my best to pretend like I didn’t notice her. It was clear she wanted to say something to me, but I wasn’t in the mood for it. It was like a sixth sense… I knew she was about to say something that I wouldn’t like and I was steeling myself for it.

“Hey, Ben,” Audry said.

Another jab… 

How many had that been today?

I didn’t turn around, instead wiping slightly harder at the cutting board with my cleaning rag. “Yeah, what’s up?” I replied, more friendly than I felt.

“I need you to stay a few more hours.”

I tensed, gripping the rag so tight that sanitizer began dripping down my knuckles. A flash of hot rage ignited in my chest.

It was so clear what she was doing.

“I can’t do that,” I said, struggling to suppress an outburst as I continued to wipe. It took almost everything in me not to spin around and scream the words in her face.

“Why not?” Audry asked, sounding annoyed.

‘Don’t fucking start with me,’ I thought.

“Because,” I answered, “I got here at eight. I can’t stay more than eight hours.” I held my breath, trying not to devolve into seething pants. That time it did take everything in me not to explode on her.

“It’s not a problem. You won’t get in trouble if you stay past when you’re scheduled.”

She spoke as if she would be doing me a favor… Like she’d be allowing me to work an eleven hour shift… The audacity… 

The auduracity…

I smirked, and as if a switch had been flipped, a sense of calm overtook me, the rage I had felt before evaporating.

“Let me rephrase,” I said, turning to face her with what was probably the most pleasant expression the muscles in my face were capable of making, “I will not be staying more than eight hours.”

“Don’t give me attitude,” Audry said, jabbing a finger in my face, the irritation in her tone increasing, “Do that again and I’m giving you a write-up.”

All at once, the rage flared up again and it took everything in me not to smack her hand away.

“I’m not giving you attitude, Audry” I spoke, my voice passive, “I don’t want to stay any extra hours today.”

Audry frowned, her hand dropping to her hip, “What about Daniel and Heather? You always pick up extra hours when they ask.”

‘I fucking wonder why…’ I thought.

The calm was returning, “I have a dentist’s appointment in an hour,” I lied, “I can’t stay.”

Audry gave me a mean, skeptical look, “Mm-hmm… So you’re not gonna stay?”

“Am I required to stay?” I asked.

There was a brief pause as Audry pursed her lips, “No.”

“Then no. Sorry,” I replied, feeling no sympathy. I turned away to continue my cleaning.

Audry stood behind me for a few more seconds, then huffed and walked away. I had no doubt she was furious with me, livid because I had won her little ego battle. Because I had stood up for myself and didn’t let her bully me into staying past my scheduled hours. Because I had given a bullshit excuse that she couldn’t challenge.

I rolled my eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.