Slime-Cycle (Humble Beginnings)

7. back to work, charlie

Charlie slowly opened his eyes, to see the blurred image of his cieling. Reaching over towards his bedside table, he fumbled around until he found his glasses. Sitting up, he grabbed them and slid them over his eyes. Blinking a few times, he noticed something.

He looked down at his bed to see his blanket missing. How had he not seen that? He sat up straight and began looking around. He leaned over the edge of his bed, and immediately saw it. His blanket laid on the floor beside his bed, and he had no idea how it got there.

He looked at it for a moment, before slowly stepping off his bed and standing up. He crouched down and picked up his blanket, opting to toss it back on the bed. He reached his arms over his head and leaning back to stretch as he yawned.

He winced as the extended motion caused his head to hurt. He kind of forgot about that. Either way, he made his way out of his bedroom and towards the bathroom.

He opened the door, and stared at his reflection for a moment. He was completely fine. Hed be going back to work today. No one would know he was shot. Everything would be normal. He sighed, internally hoping that was true.

After brushing his teeth and hair, he left the bathroom and went to get dressed in his room. After putting on his blue dress shirt and Jean's, he looked at the clock on his bedside dresser. The time was 11:26, he had less than five minutes to catch his bus.

Oh shit. Charlie rushed out of his room and entered his kitchen. Grabbing a single granola bar, he threw it into his bag along with the rest of his general belongings.

Throwing his bag over his shoulder, he made his way towards his front door. Stopping only for a moment to put on his red convers. Once he had finished tying his shoes, he stood up, unlocked the door and left.

He ran down the stair well, nearly tripping at one point. But once he made it to the bottom, he rushed out the door and into the alley. He slowed when he saw slightly red stained walls. Clearly there had been blood, and he knew it was his. At least it had been cleaned up. He continued down the alley and made it outside his apartment.

He made it just in time to see his bus driving up the road. He got to the bus stop and walked onto the bus. He paid his bus fair and took a seat by the back.

Sitting down, he adjusted his bag to put it on his lap. He leaned back in his seat and looked out the window. Watching as his apartment outside slowly disappeared out of view, he didnt even feel like listening to music. He just sat there staring out the bus window, too tired to think.

. . .

Charlie stepped off the bus, seeing his workplace a short walk away. He watched the bus drive away before entering the circle-k.

He heard a delighted chuckle from ranboo. "Charlie! Welcome back!" He said with a smile. But, then again hes always wearing a mask, so it's kind if hard to tell.

Charlie smiled at the optimism of his friend, "hey ranboo," charlie walked towards the counter, leaving the door to close behind him, "how are you?"

"I'm doing pretty good." Ranboo said. "How about you? How was your break?"

Charlie's optimism faltered for a second, but he managed to keep a straight face, "oh, it was ok. Could have been better."

Ranboo raised an eyebrow, "oh? What happened?" He asked.

Charlie let out a huff of air, he needed a good excuse. "Uh, well I fell and hit my head, so. I've had a pretty bad headache all day." He spoke. It wasnt entirely a lie, he did have a bad headache. The only difference was how he got it.

Ranboo let out an exaggerated gasp, "oh my gosh! Are you ok little baby? Here, come take a seat. I'll make you some nice warm chicken soup until the light of dear old baby jesus makes you feel better." He said with an exaggerated tone of voice, obviously implying a joke. They got up from the chair and walked out from behind the counter, motioning for charlie to take his place.