Out of Touch || Short Story

E

Liam, wake up, you're gonna be late for your shift. 

Groaning, I forced myself up, got dressed, and combed my hair. Might as well look presentable.

Sprinting down the stairs, past Laney watching TV, and then throwing my shoes on, I dashed out the door. The humid air automatically hit me as I stepped outside. Checking that I had my phone and wallet, I started to walk to work. 

If you had a car, you wouldn't have to walk in this humid weather. Now you're going to get sunburned. 

Well gee, I wonder why I don't have a car.

You're the one that crashed it, not us. 

I rolled my eyes, getting weird glances from a couple walking past me. Arriving at the library, I'm immediately greeted by coldness. Throwing a quick smile at the lady behind the information desk, I head to the clock and punch in my time card. Being a page, you always have a lot of books to put away, so you have to get there early. Looking at the clock, I was two minutes early. 

You know, most pages are at work at least ten minutes before their scheduled shift. 

I grabbed the book cart, overfilling with novels, and make my way through different stacks of books. In the non-fiction section, I stumble upon a teenage couple whispering and giggling at each other. The girl, a blonde with a Journey t-shirt, was on the boy's lap, a brown-haired male no taller than I surely was.

You had a girl once, didn't you Liam? And then you found us. 

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. 

Are you trying to get rid of us, Liam? We're your only friends - without us, you'd be nothing. 

"Do you need something?" the blonde girl asked, breaking me from my conversation. She had peeled herself away from the boy and had noticed me blankly staring at them as I was having my conversation. 

Stuttering, I whispered that PDA was not allowed in the library.

The boy laughed.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you that you shouldn't stutter?" he asked, laughter in his whole demeanor. 

He's making fun of you, Liam. Are you just going to stand there and take it? Or are you actually going to do something about it?

Angrily, I grabbed two reference books from the book cart and threw it at the couple. 

"Ow!" the boy cried. "Man, what are you doing? Are you insane?"

As I was grabbing a few more books, the couple stood up and scrambled away from me. 

I took a breath of relief. 

"Liam," I heard behind me. Carl, my manager. I turned around, and there he was, an annoyed yet pitiful look on his face. "This is the fifth time this week that there's been a disruption because of something you did." 

I just stared at him. He sighed. 

"I let the first few times slide, because your mother used to do so much for our town, but I just can't keep you around if you keep doing things like this and scaring people off," he stated. 

He hates you. He's about to fire you because he hates you. He hates that you have us around, Liam. He wants you all to himself so that he can work you to death. 

"I'm sorry Liam, but I have to let you go," Carl said, his round belly rising and falling with every breath.

Nodding profusely, I walked past him. 

"Wait-"

Not letting him finish, I darted out the door.