Chapter 10: Nobody
There was nothing worse than having a great dream of the past, only to be forced awake by the piercing sound of a phone ringing. Jack groaned, his eyes opening and burning from a beam of sunlight. The man growled and turned over as he set up. The nearest clock read that it was around lunchtime. Typically, he worked evenings to nights, so this was quite early for him to wake up.
There was ringing coming from the pile of clothes he had dropped when he first got home. He stumbled towards it, wiping sleep from his eyes and finding the phone in one of the pockets. Only one place ever calls him.
"Talk to me."
"Hey, Jack! We got a new recruit over in the Squad and hoped you could come in early and help train them." The voice of his boss blared through the phone. "You've been here the longest, so I figured you'd be the best for it."
"I'm not the one who normally trains new recruits. Wait... Do we even train recruits?" He sighed, rubbing his eyes. He had just been thrown into the deep end when he first got the job. On top of that, he had never been asked to train someone in the fifteen years he had worked here. Most people quit after a week, maybe a year, due to the conditions.
"This one is a little special." His boss admitted. "Just get down to the office when you can. That's an order."
"Sure thing, boss." He closed his flip phone and rubbed the sleep away from his eyes. "Maybe the overtime will be worth it."
The ride over to the office wasn't long. He lived close by. "Hey, Jack! Welcome! C'mere." The voice of his boss shouted at him. There was almost no one else in the building. Most of the workers were either stalling before they'd have to head out or had already left for another big job.
"Yo boss. So, where's the new part-timer?" His words stopped as he entered the small office building and saw his boss, a thin man in a suit who only managed the paperwork and bills, never actually doing any of the physical work, standing next to a young girl.
The girl couldn't have been older than fifteen, maybe even younger. She was so young, he would guess she was still in school. She wore a red T-shirt with the famous pop singer hero on it. Her raven hair was long and wild, and her eyes were a childish bright blue, the kind that hadn't reached adulthood yet, hidden behind a set of round glasses. She was young. Just a kid.
A very familiar kid at that. Instantly, he could tell she recognized him. They both stared at each other in shock, processing it. Oleander was a massive city with dozens of areas and living conditions. What were the actual odds of running into one another again?