Powerocalypse

Start Of A Brand New Day

Chapter One

Jourdan

"You ready to go in?" I cough, offering one final hit to Jaxon. He's been on these weird emotional patterns lately and I feel like the only time he's really himself is when we're fucked up, out of our mind, dancing to some random song at midnight in the park down the street. Jaxon's eyes chase over my hand and then my eyes and then stares blankly out the window.

"Fuck it one more why not?" Jaxon traces his fingers over mine, slowly gliding the joint in between his fingers. I still feel like I'm to blame for Jaxon wanting to be high all the time now. I can't remember the last time he was sober for a full day. He always tells me that same old "you didn't pressure me into this, it's my body, blah blah blah." But who was the one who gave him the idea in the first place? Jaxon moves his fingers towards his face, making sure to brush his hair away from his eyes before taking a hit. I hold out my hand and flick my collector's edition SpongeBob BIC lighter. Jaxon moves the end close to the flame and holds it above for a few seconds before taking his lips away. He breathes out and the smoke fills my car before pushing itself out through the small crack above the window.

Usually getting high before something important is easy depending on how long it's lasting. Family dinner, ACT test, church. Easy! But getting high before a 14-hour shift with no probable break... That's something only depressed teenagers do. Good thing I'm one of those. I've only gotten high before a shift one time and it was ages ago. There is no way my managers didn't know, I was so out of it. I've worked at an arcade for the past year basically, it's worked out pretty well so far. Jaxon recently started working with me a few months ago. We've been together pretty much since. It kinda sucks that I don't get to see him as often as I would like, his parents are super uptight about him having a girlfriend but, it's still better than never seeing him.

"Ready?" Jaxon asks, setting the joint down in the little sea-shell shaped ashtray I bought while I was visiting Florida. God, the weed in Florida was so much better than cowboy country Missouri. I'd do anything for a Florida high again.

"Ready." I simply reply, finally taking my keys out of ignition. Jaxon gathers his things and I quickly exit the car, making sure that I do so quickly as possible to avoid any access smoke blowing out the car door. I slam the door shut and Jaxon exits slowly. "Hurry up! You're gonna blow our cover!"

"Oh shush." Jaxon rolls his eyes and walks around to my side of the car. "Let's go in." Jaxon hands me the small bottle of eyedrops kept in his backpack side pocket. I nod to him, thankful for the gesture. The lid comes off easily and I raise the bottle above my eyes and tilt my head back, carefully squeezing on the bottle as the droplets splash onto the corner of my eyes. I hand him the bottle and he mimics my actions, always making fun of me for letting eye drops fall into the corner of my eyes and roll down instead of putting them directly in my eye.

I look across the parking lot and see Dan's Subaru parked in its signature spot. "Fuck!" I freeze in place.

"What?!" Jaxon stops besides me and looks around to see what the problem is.

"Dan's car is here, I thought Ryan was supposed to be the manager today!" I roll my eyes and continue trotting through the bare lot.

"Ryan's truck is here." Jaxon points to the opposite side of the parking lot, right in front of the bar that's under our company name. The Sandbox (at PowerPlay). Ryan's red pickup is sitting alone in the parking lot, business doesn't open for another ten minutes. I'm curious as to why both Dan and Ryan are here, usually only both managers are in the store at the same time on Saturdays. But it's a Tuesday. Ryan manages Tuesday, not Dan. Everyone always says Dan is the better manager, but Ryan is still my favorite. When I first started Ryan wasn't a manager yet, he helped me out with whatever I needed. Whenever he finally became assistance, he immediately pushed for me to have some kind of leadership around here. "Babe, I'm like... reallyyyyyyy high. Like, this is kinda bad." I look over at Jaxon and see him slouching, his head tilted down towards the ground, he's probably exhausted from the little amount of sleep he got and waking up early to go smoke with his girlfriend before work. I'm such a bad influence.

"You'll be fine, just make sure you keep your eyes open. Your eyes droop when your high."

"I know." Jaxon giggles and takes the first step onto the pavement in front of the store. Only 14 hours and 9 minutes until close I tell myself. You just have to do one hour 14 times in a row, it's not super difficult! I put my hands on the sliding glass doors labeled 'DO NOT ENTER' and push them open, allowing Jaxon to walk infront of me. Jaxon slips inside and holds the doors from the other side as I push myself through. He finally lets the door go and we begin to walk towards the front desk. It doesn't look like anybody else is here besides Dan or Ryan and I don't see them anywhere, Jaxon and I are the first employees here. "Should we clock in?" Jaxon asks, looking at me for advice.

I take a deep breath, not wanting to take the risk of getting caught clocking in before my shift starts. "Yeah" I finally exhale and tap my finger on the touchscreen computer in front of me. I punch in my employee clock-in number and get ready to start a brand-new day. Jaxon gently pushes me away from the screen and clocks himself in, making sure to take his time and get every digit correct. Jaxon clicks on the 'Successful Clock-In' screen and moves away from the computer.

We both slowly walk to the other side of the desk and grab a walkie-talkie each, it's how we communicate with each other in such a big place but then again, it is how most businesses communicate amongst employees. I turn the 'on' switch and the walkie-talkie loudly beeps. Jaxon clips his walkie to his belt and leans against the counter. "I do NOT want to do this shift." He grumbles.

"Well be glad you've only got seven hours unlike your girlfriend over here." I lean against him and stare out the front doors, checking to see if anyone else has showed up. There's a black car parked up against the edge of the parking lot but I can't make out who's in the drivers seat. "It's just a Tuesday."

"Yeah but it's the middle of the summer, we're gonna be busy." Jaxon shakes his head and stands up, walking over to the schedule posted on the edge of the counter. "Let's see who works today..."