Return the hope

Chapter 13. Think good thoughts!

"Red! Red, my good man! Come to your senses! Can you hear me?" - Green gave a gentle shake to a soaking wet guy in a school sports uniform who had walked into the Staff Room a couple minutes ago, collapsed on the couch, covered his eyes with the back of his hand, and didn't move.

The door swung wide open and Norman practically ran into the room with his cell phone to his ear, "Found him! He's here! Lying on the couch... condition! Now, wait..." - the man walked over to the guy and asked: "Red, are you okay?", but there was no answer.

"He came in all wet and here he is... lying there for a few minutes now and not talking," Orange standing nearby decided to clear things up a bit.

"Red, for fuck's sake! What happened? Answer me!" - Norman was clearly worked up.

The guy stood up from the couch, took a deep breath, and without raising his eyes said: "It's not like I'm late, so I'm fine. I'll go get ready."

"Did you hear that? I don't know what's going on. He's all wet and his condition is so-so... Maybe he's sick! Okay," Norman agreed with the person on the phone, disconnected his cell phone and grabbed the guy by the shoulder, who had already taken a few steps toward the bathroom.

"Clean yourself up and go home. They'll be here for you soon. I'll deal with the customers - we've got Indigo sitting idle, let him work it off!" - After these words the boy looked up and looked around, and in the room, besides Norman and Green, were Indigo, who was sitting in a chair with his legs apart, and Orange, standing beside the sofa. All had concerned expressions on their faces, and the guy in blue was looking at the perpetrator of this commotion studyingly, and surprisingly without his usual caustic smile.

"Dial Grandpa again and tell him I'm staying," Red said, and Norman realized that this flower boy was clearly out of his mind as he began to reveal personal information aloud, so he put his arm around him and led him down the hallway. The boy, without resistance, obeyed. As they were leaving the room, Orange ran up to them with a towel and threw it over Red's shoulders: "Here, take this. The air conditioners are running full blast. Don't catch cold."

Left alone with the boy, the man began to speak in an already calm tone: "Honey, I can see you're not feeling well at all. Go home and clean yourself up. Ms. Makoto will be making rounds of the properties tomorrow, you better show up for work"

"I can still work today, P. I just need fifteen minutes...I'll be ready," Red said in a quiet husky voice.

"Can you even hear me? Have you thought about what's going on with Troy right now? He made a big fuss when he didn't find you at school! He made a fuss, yelled at your coach, and I got the brunt of it all at once," the boy looked up after the words about coach, but immediately lowered his eyes again.

"I'm here to work off my debt, right! I can't be sick or this punishment will drag on. I'm going to get myself together now and work this day off," Red's voice without any emotional coloring, as well as the blank stare, made Norman realize that none of this was good at all, so he went to extreme measures:

"Okay, little one, listen to me carefully! You go to the bathroom, dry off, and leave this place! If you don't follow orders, I'll... I'll fine you a month's wages and your term in this cloaca will increase! And I don't want to get into the noose of my own guts, and that's what's waiting for me at the hands of your "grandpa" if you stay here now. You got it? Let's go! I expect to see you at the bar tomorrow!"

Red realized that it was pointless to resist further, opened the door and went into the bathroom under the stares of his colleagues.

Without undressing, but only threw off the towel from his shoulders, he stood under the warm jets of water in the shower, closed with a transparent plastic curtain, and cried again. The tears brought out all the pain he'd accumulated over the week. He leaned his arm against the wall, lowered his head and watched the jets of water running down his face and running down the drain: