Shadow of A Rose

Chapter 3

"Do what you love to do and give it your very best. Whether it's business or baseball, or the theater, or any field. If you don't love what you're doing and you can't give it your best, get out of it. Life is too short. You'll be an old man before you know it."-Al Lopez

"Kyle Crawford! This was your last warning! You're fired!"

Kyle woke up with a start, his blue eyes bloodshot and head pounding from the hangover he was nursing. He had resorted to alcohol last night in anger after his roommates had managed to get them an eviction notice from the pathetic apartment they called home. He had never been able to handle alcohol well.

He had been the only earning one out of the four of them since a year and the expenses he had set out for food and basic necessities had been mysteriously dwindling. At twenty-three years of age, he was much younger than the other three and he did not want to incur their wrath by confronting them, because they beat him up quite often. They had been spending their time and his hard earned money on drugs and booze, and he was finding it hard to support them. They pushed him around, physically abusing him whenever they wanted to. This had been going on since the last four years. The only reason he was tolerating them was because he did not want to end up on the streets. He was somewhat used to this by now.

He had always wanted to be a journalist, but his father had forced him to become an engineer. About four years ago, he had dropped out of college, severing ties with his father and ending up living with these three older men in their apartment. Not having a degree, he took a job with a popular news channel, Channel5 News as a freelance photographer and wrote columns for their weekly magazine.

His boss, Mr Macadandang was a stocky middle aged man whose temper was shorter than his height. He loved to remind him about fact that he did not have a degree, but his freelance job was paying for a degree. A degree in Journalism at NYU.

A fog cleared in his mind a little as he took in his boss' words. He was about to lose his only job.

Shít.

"Mr Mac, I can explain!" He yelled, quickly pulling himself to his feet, his vision darkening with the sudden rush of blood as he stumbled towards the office, tripping over the piles of paper on the floor around him. Blood rushed to his cheeks as the others stopped their work to look at the commotion he was causing.

"I want nothing to do with you! You were sleeping on the job, again! Take your severance pay on the way out," yelled Mr Mac, his round face contorting with anger. He tried to close the door of his office, but Kyle put a foot in, preventing it.

"Mr Mac, it's just the second time! I swear this won't happen again!" Kyle said, helping himself inside the office. "I get more stories than the others! I've even worked overtime without extra pay! You can't do this to me!"

"Second time? What, you want me to fire you the third time you sleep at the job? Or the fourth? Is this a joke to you?" Mr Mac's pale face was now bright blotchy pink and his eyes were bulging. He looked like he was about to have a stroke. "Let me remind you that I hired you despite not having a degree, so don't give me that sh!t about overtime."

Kyle looked down at the cream tiled floor, his hand picking at a loose thread on his shirt, trying to give him time to cool himself down before he responded further. He desperately needed to keep this job if he had to survive.

"Please Mr Mac, let me stay. I'll do anything!" He said, clasping his hands in front of himself, when Mr Mac's face had finally started to turn pale again.

Mr Mac looked at him tiredly. "Alright, stop with the dramatics and the puppy eyes." He rubbed his hand against his eyes. "J-C Co. Is holding a press conference. Secure an interview with Y James and the job is yours again."