Lightning Bolt

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

MATT'S POV

A MAN IS AT HIS YOUNGEST,

WHEN HE THINKS HE IS A MAN,

NOT YET REALIZING THAT HIS ACTIONS,

MUST SHOW IT.

I sat in the seat of the work van burying my head into my hands, my body cold from the shock running through my veins.

I had just been given the bad news of my redundancy.

It had been on the cards for a while now but Karl my manager and business owner assured me my job was safe up until five minutes ago. The company I had been working for ever since I was nineteen was going into liquidation.

Tom suddenly startled me, slamming the driver's side door.

"Fuck!" he cursed angry and frustrated. "Claire is going to freak out!" he said, his head falling into his hands mirroring my actions.

We looked like two defeated men with both our fears coming true but I knew whatever I was going through Tom was bound to be feeling it a hundred times worse.

He had a wife and child at home with one on the way and a mortgage to pay. I had worked a long side him for five years now. He was a decent guy, a family man, a man who supported his wife and protected his child. A man you would want to inspire to be and instantly I could see the strain of the news weighing on his mind.

"Hey" I said calmly "It'll be ok."                                                                       

He nodded the panic evident on his face.

"Look, I know it might not help but I'll keep an eye out for you. If I hear of anything I'll let you know" I told him once again trying to reassure him but failing miserably. I couldn't even begin to imagine the extra stress he was under.

"Thanks Matt, but you have your own life. You need to be thinking of yourself and Thea" he returned kindly.

A blanket of silence descended upon us like a heavy thick suffocating fog as we tried to wrap our heads around it all, a creeping dread entering my bones.

Tom suddenly shifted, sat up straighter. I watched as his face turned hard, his defences risen, set into place.

"Come on we better get home and face the music." he declared as if he was preparing for battle.

I returned home feeling deflated and wondering how the hell I was going to break the news to Thea. How would she react?

I knew she would worry. Thea was a born worrier and this knowledge now ate away at me.

I was supposed to be the person who protected her from this world. I was the bread winner, the one who brought home the bounty. Thea helped with the bills a little but her money alone could never cover the expensive rent and support our lifestyle and it shouldn't have to. I was her provider, her safety net, her rock and to me this was how it should be. Maybe an old fashioned concept but it was the only way I saw it.