Get it right

Maxence was a barman in one of the numerous night clubs of the town. He liked his job. He just didn't like the place he had been hired in. He wasn't a fan of night clubs. They were full of noises and the music was awful. The population here wasn't over 30. Most of the time, they didn't have over 25. He hated all of them those pretentious brats thinking they were better than him, thinking he should let them drink until they passed out in the toilets. He wasn't getting many tips from them, but lots of insults. He was doing it for their safety, as much as they hated it. He was also doing it for himself. It was a chore to be directed to clean their mess when they fought or puked because they were too drunk. It had happened a few times and that's why he hated being in charge of the closing of the establishment.

He was a barman but he wasn't drinking alcohol. He wasn't touching that poison because he knew how many damages it could cause to anyone. However, he could understand that some people wanted to forget some things from their lives. It was getting hard out there. Money, war, attacks... He felt like he was living in Hell sometimes. He was sort of detached of it all though. He was working all night and sleeping all day. The only personal drama he had lived in his life happened when he was two years old. He couldn't remember but he would wear the scars forever. Anyway, he had gotten over it, without the help of alcohol or drugs. Only by fighting and getting a life worth it. Which hadn't been quite easy. Fate seemed to like betting on him when it came to difficult ordeals. So far, he was a good horse to bet on.

First, he had survived the deadly love of his father who thought that stroking his face with clenched fists and his back with a belt was the right way to raise him. Then, a blood disease had been thrown into his way. He had had to fight it only to be free of it at 20. His teenage years had been ruined by this fight he had to go through with his mother alone since he had no friends. He had been spending most of his time home or in a hospital room, taking meds. Because of that, he had been homeschooled. Reaching the adult life with such a past had been quite hard for him. He had had a lot of small jobs, couldn't apply to prestigious jobs because, despite the fact he was clever, he only had his A-levels and no one wanted him. Especially since he could have a relapse at any time. It wasn't easy on him already and this was making him feel worse when he had to face refusal for befuddling reasons.

Of course, he wasn't telling his mother the struggles he was having to find a job. Joanne had been fighting for him all along his childhood and teenage years, he didn't want her to have to do it again in his adult life. He wanted to do it by himself. However, fate decided to go against him once again when Joanne caught him reading the classified ads of a newspaper in the pub she thought he was working in. He had had to tell the truth on this one and she had spoken with a friend of her she was having sort of an affair with. That man was very gentle and Maxence was okay with him dating his mother. Obviously, that was giving him some advantages. The man was the owner of a couple nightclubs and he had trained Maxence to be a barman. That's how he had ended up behind that counter.

Despite the young people looking for troubles with how strict he was with alcohol and drugs, working as a barman in that night club was pretty nice. He could observe people and meet new persons. Something he had never had the chance to in his youth. He wasn't making friends but he was an excellent listener for everyone who were heavy-hearted. Those people were sometimes very grateful and were giving him a good tip he would later use to buy something he really wanted but couldn't afford with his normal salary. He couldn't complain. After years of struggle, he was finally having a stable life and he was healthy. He was always terrified whenever he got a cold, when he was coughing or when his throat hurt but after a few false alarms, he had stopped going to the doctor or the hospital. He was dealing with it all by himself now.

'

Rose was a young artist who was struggling to find her place in the world. It was quite a hard thing when art was more and more considered as useless and 'too expensive for what it was'. How many times had she had heard this when she was trying to sell her paintings? It was frustrating but she never gave up. She believed that one day her talent would be seen, that people would want to have a 'Bad Wolf' in their living room. For now, all her masterpieces were gathering dust in a room of her flat. There was a lot of them in that workshop. It used to be a little studio that was now littered with unsold paintings and art supplies. She should have stopped hoping and trying a long time ago but something was making her continue on that way instead of finding a 'real' job. That also was something she had heard too often.