Leroy Adkins is an underperformer. He barely graduated. He barely got a job, and he hardly socializes in his day-to-day life.
Zachary Turner has been sick for as long as he can remember, and as he grows older the crushing realization that he never...
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At first, Zachary hadn't been too keen on the copywriting role. Sure, it was something he knew how to do, and could probably accomplish with his eyes closed, but the time restrictions and demands of a job were things that had previously disqualified him when he tried job hunting after his college degree before eventually giving up. Companies weren't interested in making disability accommodations—especially accommodations that weren't as straightforward as the ones he needed. He didn't need just a ramp, extra sick days, or a bit more time. Things were more complicated than that, frequently after a bit of back-and-forth Zach would get that dreadful email letting him know that they'd decided to go with another candidate.
With this role Leroy's employers had offered, they had promised Zachary flexibility and all the time in the world, but he wasn't going to hold his breath. He was still under government disability and had to check in with them every few months to make sure he was following guidelines and not making too much money. If Zachary was still employed by them and had made a threshold of income, he would be let go from the government aid program, and if he'd made under the threshold or wasn't employed at all by then, he would continue as usual.
Zach wasn't too worried, though. He didn't expect to last more than a month, regardless of how excited Leroy and his company were about it. Doing the background check, sending them his direct deposit, and signing the contraction papers had gone by like a blur, with Leroy mostly shadowing him and explaining the process whenever he had the time. When it was all done, they left Zachary with a company laptop, complimentary discounts to a couple of stores, a company email, a health package, and card excess to their office down if he ever felt like stopping by and working in person.
It felt like a real job.
It was a real job.
He'd always wanted one and had given up hope after a while of looking, but here he was staring at a welcome email from HR on a Monday morning in bed.
A part of Zachary was excited. Though a part of him was anxious about the future, worrying and pacing around as it lay down probable outcomes in the following weeks. He was probably not going to meet any deadlines regardless of how long they gave him, and he might get hospitalized in between, forcing them to pull their employment after he'd exhausted his six leave. There was just too much that could go wrong, and it prevented Zachary from dwelling in the excitement of the moment.
He spent most of the day looking through the project he'd been injected into and doing introductory meetings, and by the time his work was over, he didn't have much energy for anything else.
Zachary had no clue how long he'd been sleeping, but his eyes peeled open when he felt his phone buzzing under his pillow. At first, he frowned, staring into his bedroom with blurred vision as he tried to piece together where he was and what time it was. The phone stopped buzzing, then started buzzing again just a few minutes later, and this time, Zachary was wide awake. He reached under his pillow to look at the screen, and at that exact moment, he heard knocking too.
