The Crew: A New Beginning

Chapter 1

Josh Hollister sat at his desk in his dad's law firm, looking bored. He glanced at the clock on the wall and inwardly groaned. It was only an hour before he would finish work and go home. Since what happened 2 years ago at the Coast, his father had moved him and himself back up to the inner city suburbs of Brisbane. Josh hated living in the city. It was noisey, cramped and loud. The only thing that lulled him to sleep at night at his father's apartment was the distant sounds of cars making their way downtown at 10pm at night. He knew it was cruises but since he was banned from ever going near any car meets or anything rather to do with cars, he was stuck. At least he still had his photography. Or sort of. His dad had taken away his licence for owning a business too, so there was no way he would be able to start up his studio again. Thinking about his studio made him think about her. It hurt not seeing her again. After his dad made him abruptly leave his old life behind, he had also bought Josh a new phone with a new number and made him delete and change all his social media. Josh had been so angry, it was his own life, he was his own adult, and yet his father still had the authority to rule over him. Thinking about this now while he stapled and binded booklets together at his desk Josh accidentally nicked himself with the stapler. "Fuuu," he started to swear when Penny, his supervisor, looked up from the secretary counter across from him and raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong young Hollister?" The wiry grey haired lady asked with a clipped tone. Josh's hand now burned where the staple had nicked him and a small cut was forming. "Uhh yeah. Just need to get a Band-Aid," he replied, with a tight smile. He got up from his desk and headed into the stationary room. Bob, his dad's best mate and who also was a barrister, was in there looking for some new folders. "Ahhh, the young Hollister, how is things my man?" Bob asked cheerfully. Josh resisted the urge to roll his eyes. At the moment, he was the only younger person to be working at the firm. His father had cancelled the young trainee program last year in case his son got any ideas about fraternising with the workers. There were at least 40 people working at his dad's firm, all over the age of 37. And they all treated Josh like he was still an intern. Josh nodded at him as he took out the first aid kit from a low hanging shelf. "Yeah not too bad. Close to knock off time so that should be good," he said with a shrug. The room filled with Bob's burly laughter. "Ahhh, had enough already? Don't worry mate, I'm sure things will turn on the upside for ya soon. Your dad isn't really a bad bloke ya know? He may be harsh bout some things, but he cares," Bob told him before heading back out with an arm full of folders. Josh leaned against a bookshelf and sighed. Yeah right, his father took away the people and the things he loved most. He thought about his mum, who had been disappointed when his father decided that they were going to get a divorce. Josh had thought that few months away 2 years ago would've done them a world of good, but it didn't. Him and his sister both knew that there had been trouble in the waters, but they didn't think it would escalate to them being ripped apart. Now his sister lived with his mum and he lived with his dad and his sister would come up on alternate weekends every 2 months. His dad didn't care about anything else otherthan himself. Josh slipped a Band-Aid from the first aid box onto his finger and then headed back out to his desk, hoping that the time had moved faster.