August 9th 2012
It's the third day in a row that Karkat refused to eat. After he had stated that he wasn't hungry in a sleepy drawl with his head in his hands; you simply sighed and stared blankly ahead at the dingy, yellowing wall behind your younger brother. At this point, you've completely lost your appetite too. Not just of the overcooked pasta on your plate, but your whole humdrum routine that erodes you five days a week.
"Hey shit for brains." You perk up out of your thoughts when Karkat tosses a crumpled napkin at you. "Can I go back to bed now?"
Without a response, you wave your hand dismissively and rub your tired eyes. It almost breaks your heart to see him so morose. The only thing you can do is let him rest and give him food that he refuses to eat.
Misery eats at your overworked flesh, yet you still manage to stand and scrape your food in the trash barrel. You frown down into the thing plastic bag, seeing how much you let go to waste- which also reminds you that you have to take out the trash. With a roll of the shoulders and a good rubbing of the eyes, you're back in business again to finish the job of your prosaic Thursday. Only one more day, you could do it. Friday's payday- the day that you can finally buy Karkat some more pain killers since they are the only thing that keep him running, more than food.
Both of you need to keep your engines going or you'll be in a shithole. Distractions are inevitable for you at work. You often find yourself dozing, which is never a good thing. In fact you've been doing it now, staring down into the full trash barrel. It was only a matter of time before you started drooling.
Putrid stenches rebirth once the bag is lifted, causing you to gag for a good minute. Your fingers scramble to tangle the ends of the bag together to control the smell before you head out the back door, tossing the bag in the large green grin to your right.
Though it's only eight, you're ready for bed. Floorboards groan under your weight, adding some noise to the house besides the silence that is all too loud. The sound of your walking is muffled once your feet transfer to the carpet of your room and remain dead silent when you topple onto your bed.
There's nothing you want more than to escape, preferably into your plush body pillow. It had been a Christmas present from the Maryams just last year, but you found yourself using it much more these past few months. Eventually, you find yourself curled around it, calming yourself by shoving your face into the pillow. You wonder if this would count as fuzz therapy, which you have heard of before on the internet. Whether if it was or not, this pillow was definitely therapeutic.
You blindly pulled your phone out of your pocket, holding down the power button so that absolutely no one could bother you. This was your special time, just like everyone else was entitled to have- your time to rest and enjoy the quiet that other than times like this, was unbearable. You allowed your eyes to close, bidding the horrible Thursday a goodbye.
August 10th 2012
In what seems like a blink of an eye, you're back in your office. Sleep did help some, but not enough. There's still some kind of uncertainty that drowns your thoughts. There's nothing to worry about, Karkat's little clown friend was at the house with him. What was his name again? You choose not to dwell on it any further and instead continue to scroll through documents on your computer screen. Damn, this thing is filthy.
Your fingers begin to wipe off the dirt, though you only end up smearing it even more. This cubicle's getting smaller by the day. The workforce's internet is getting slower, workers more forgetful, and your damn boss even more of a bitch. You sigh and push out of your swivel chair and slide open your desk drawer to get yet another dark chocolate; you're not even in the mood for chocolate, but hey, you need fuel off of something.
They keep you from hopping the border of sanity and you soon have a small mound of purple foil on your desk from them. You're nowhere near proud of how many you ate, in fact you feel a little guilty, knowing you could've spent that money better... Maybe on Karkat for something that he needed.
Guilt ate away at you a while longer until you get an email from your boss.
I need to have a word with you in the next few minutes.
After rereading the message, you sigh, scooping up the chocolate wrappers and tossed them into the small barrel under your desk. The work day was almost over, so her small chitchat with you would end it. You smile, seeing this as karma for all of your hard work.
The last chocolate in your drawer is popped into your mouth since having nothing to eat that day, but chocolate and a bagel left quite a bitter taste on your tongue. You decide that your few minutes are up and you head to your boss's office. You stand in the doorway, knocking on her door and she looks up at you expectantly over her magenta glasses.
"Take a seat." She is at her filing cabinet, clearing her desk and makes her gold earrings sway. You do as you're told and wait for a response. Meenah Peixes is what the gold label on the front of her desk reads, and with her high power and sour aura combined, it's safe to say that you find her intimidating.
She was quite a few years older than you, somewhere in her early thirties while you were fresh out of college at the young age of twenty three. It was strange being one of the youngest in your workforce; the dull atmosphere made you feel twice as old and left you longing to just leave.
"Now, you've been here for a good year now, so you may not have been so aware about our company's shape." She didn't sound as confident as she had previously been, which could never be a good sign. It would almost be comforting if you'd stop overthinking. "Look Vantas, we're going downhill with this place and I can't keep everyone together as much as I want to."
"What do you mean?" You blink slowly, trying to comprehend what she's saying. Wow, you're tired. She glared up at you, chewing on her plump lower lip.
"Kankri I'm gonna have to let you go." Before you could get a word in, she began babbling hollow apologies. You didn't want to speak, nor did you think you were going to.
"It's alright." You murmured with a small smile. She shut her mouth, giving you an uneasy look before sighing.
"It was a pleasure having you."
You nod and stand, walking to her doorway. "May I at least use one of the empty paper boxes to take my stuff home?"
She gives you a nod, returning to her work and you chose not to bother her anymore. She looked fairly remorseful.
Thankfully there aren't that many people left in your area of the building so they won't have to watch you with your walk of shame. You quickly packed up your belongings in the empty box you managed to scoop up beside the copying machine. All you have is a couple picture frames, two small silver ones to be exact, of Karkat as a toddler and a more recent photo of him; Aphrodite, your venus flytrap; and the empty bag of chocolates.
You miss the sweetness of those chocolates; you could really use them right now. You leave your office with a once sensational taste now gone bitter in your mouth.