The Final Dance: Hearthless Nights

Arvad

Chapter 1: The Day of Dread

The charming whistling of pigeons and sparrows wafted through the crisp autumn air. They heralded the start of another busy day in San Francisco. Throngs of pedestrians flocked through the steep hills of the City by the Bay, all with places to be and things to do. At this time normally, Arvad would've been out on the streets, pushing through the crowds and heading to his office at the edge of the Financial District. 

However, as Arvad lay hunched over his laptop, still in bed, he was starting to realize just how abnormal today would be. 

"Due to unseen and unfavorable circumstances, we have decided to terminate your program's employment..."

The rest of the politically correct garbage that came out of the HR representative's mouth fell on deaf ears as Arvad lay back in bed, still focused on those last few words that he'd just heard.

"Terminate your position."

The smartphone that lay next to the laptop was insistently vibrating as his coworkers in the program went through all of the stages of grief. 

But all Arvad could was sit there as the world dulled around him. It didn't seem possible that he was losing his job. That wasn't the way today was supposed to go. That wasn't the way any of this was supposed to go. 

"Unseen and unfavorable circumstances."

Arvad couldn't have predicted any part of this situation had he been slapped in the face by a fortune teller everyday for a week. 

But Arvad had to face the reliable facts that he had just moved to a new city two months prior, had left everything behind, started a new lease, and started a new life, only to have it crashing down with the callous excuse of unseen and unfavorable circumstances.

Arvad's mom had been of the opinion that moving to a new city so soon after graduation was a terrible idea.

"You're going to leave everything behind and have no idea how to take care of yourself. You just graduated a few months ago, maybe just spend some time at home planning your move?"

Arvad had spent some weeks listening to his Mom consistently scold him about his choices. But he'd already made up his mind. And he knew his Dad had already made his peace with that. 

Arvad had been so confident about his choices and now what? How could he even tell his parents the news, lest they simply harp their needless warnings.

As the minutes passed, the silence seemed to fill the entire room. It took a few minutes for Arvad to realize that the call was over, effectively silencing any attempt to negotiate or refuse the finality of the decision.

Still ignoring his phone, Arvad unsteadily clambered out of bed, and made his way over to the door that led out of his room. He had to get out. It felt too hot in there, almost as if the very air was suffocating him. The window was like the slats of a jail cell, inviting him to gaze out at a world that lay more oppressive than ever before.

Arvad stood unseemly in the hallway, swaying slightly. He felt sick to his stomach, but still unable to understand what exactly was happening. There was no way he'd just lost his job in the span of an hour right?

He knocked on the door of the room to his right, once, twice, three times he knocked on the door. 

"Jung?"

Finally, Jung answered the door, looking slightly frazzled as if he'd just woken up. 

"Why do you keep knocking Arv- wait what's wrong."

Upon noticing his friend's face Jung immediately straightened up. 

Arvad opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. How could he explain something that he himself was still struggling to understand?

The back and forth knocking seemed to be the most noise that had been heard out in the hallway all morning, as it only took a few moments for Konstantin to open the door to his room and the end of the hallway and peak his head out.

"What's going on?"

Arvad took a deep breath. He knew he had to say it. 

"I think I just lost my job."

"WHAT?", said both Jung and Konstantin in unison.

***

Jung and Konstantin say at the foot of Arvad's bed as they read through the multitude of messages that were pouring in after the mess of a morning call.

"It looks like around 10% of the company is being laid off", read Konstantin from the laptop screen.

"How can they do this. Dude... are you sure that you're being fully laid off?", said Jung as he patted Arvad on the back.

"Caput", whispered Arvad glumly, staring out the window at the bright beam of the sun starting to rise high into the sky. He'd woken up early on this particular day to work out before heading to the office. Looks like neither of those things would be happening today. 

"It's really shitty practice for a company to do...", Konstantin hesitated, "But it doesn't make it illegal unfortunately."

"I just don't... don't know- what I want to do", said Arvad suddenly, standing up and starting to pace the room. He hated the idea of just sitting in one place, taking this all in from the stuffy confines of his room. He hated everything that was happening right now.

Out of the corner of Arvad's eye, he noticed Jung staring at him curiously as he stopped in one corner, "How are you feeling right now?"

"Not too good", said Arvad sarcastically, resuming his pacing as his hands dug into the mess of his bed head. 

"Oh you're getting a few dms, I think your manager wants to hop on a call with you.", said Konstantin, looking up from the laptop and staring as if he'd just now noticed that Arvad had stood up, "What are you going to do?"

Arvad was tired of their incessant questions at the moment. He was tired of thinking about how he was getting sacked from a job he'd barely even started in. He was tired of looking at the messages of people tired and stressed, and angry about having to get back into the tireless grind of recruiting. But most of all, he was tired of sitting in his stuffy room that felt like it was starting to boil.

"I need to go on a walk", Arvad muttered, before grabbing his laptop out of Konstantin's baffled hands, stuffing it into his backpack, and sliding into a pair of slip ons and walking out the door. He couldn't sit there for a moment longer.

He took the stairs two at a time, and half ran out the door to his apartment. Panting slightly, starting to bristle in the frigid noon air, Arvad looking around at the people moving with a sense of purpose, each step taking them closer to completing one of their goals. 

Arvad joined the natural clamor of the streets, immediately standing out due to the simple fact that he had no idea where he was going anymore.

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Notes: 

Welcome to the first chapter of my story, The Final Dance. I've had this story idea for a while, but I wasn't sure how exactly to start it until now. This will be a completely fictional story, with some inspiration from real life events around me. All facts and names are completely made up, however, and any relation to people around me is purely speculative.

This story will be switching between the perspectives of our three main protagonists for now, although there could be several additional POVs added over time. I'll keep that up to my own discrepancy :)

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to let me know in the comments, or message me directly. Thank you so much for reading, I'm so excited to see where this story goes.