Hereafter - Book One of the After Series [On Going]

CHAPTER TWO |

HUSTON, TEXAS
JUNE 24TH, 1992

     MEANWHILE, nineteen year old Leo Stevenson was working at his job during an average Monday morning. His job? Building houses for a company called Texas Homes. To him, it was better than sitting at a computer desk all day, just like his adoptive mother recommended. But Leo was a hardheaded little fellow. As expected, he didn't listen and did what he wanted to do. After all, Texas Homes paid a lot of money to its employees over the usual house building jobs.

A sweat-soaked Leo stepped outside of the single-wide trailer he and his fellow coworkers just finished constructing. He walked out to the side, later turning around to face that trailer with squinted eyes and hands on his hips. His closest friend, Joel, stood beside him, in the same position Leo was in. They were already too tired to stand up straight on their own two feet. Hard physical labor dragged them down once again.

"Ah... Looks nice for a single-wide." Leo remarked. "Walls are good, door's great. Everything's in order."

"Yeah, da Vinci. Looks nice." Joel placed a cigarette in his mouth, lighting the end with his red pocket lighter.

Leo rolled his eyes. He couldn't stand being compared to a historical figure like Leonardo da Vinci just because both of them had the same first names. "Would you stop comparing me to that guy already?"

"Aw c'mon, I'm just giving you a little history lesson!"

"I hated History, so don't talk about it."

History brought up bad memories for Leo in school. It was the subject he couldn't get an A or B on no matter what. The highest grade he had was a B-, and the lowest was a D-. His adoptive parents tried everything to help him, but no matter what he'd always fail. So they just gave up on him after all of the useless help.

Joel laughed. "Okay... Whatever you say."

Leo opened his mouth to let out a smart ass remark, but he was cut off by his cell phone's ringing. He rolled his eyes, assured it might be his adoptive mother asking for another errand to run after work. "Lord have mercy."

"Who's that?" Joel asked.

(1992 cellphone)

"Nunya business." Leo reached in his pocket, answering his "ancient" cellphone without looking. "Hello?"

"Leo?" Richard questioned.

"Richard?" Leo squinted. Richard was the father of Leo's long-time girlfriend, Charlotte, who he didn't see for a couple of months. He'd never called Leo before, but he did speak to Leo in person on a couple of occasions. Leo always got uncomfortable talking to Richard, since Richard was a guy who liked to play around a lot. So it was hard to tell when he was serious and playing around. "Why are you calling me? What's going on?"