CHAPTER 1
Night Shift
The watch ticked silently, the city being illuminated by the building's lights. Car honking can be heard everywhere, mixed with people screaming and yelling at the traffic. Not far from the city lies the alleys, where there dwelled a 27 years old husky under the name Anton Smirnov in an apartment which he rented for a rather modest price. He was getting ready for his night shift as the bartender in the nearby bar. The phone vibrated as he put on his necktie, it was a message from someone he knew for a long time, invited him to drink together later after the shift, which he agreed. Done with the preparation, looking fresh and clean, he left his room, walked down the stairs and left the building, headed to the bar.
He walked, the alley was lively as usual, everyone were doing their job. The prostitutes were trying to hook some customers, some cigarette seller wandered around, he approached one and got himself a pack to smoke on later. Arrived at the bar, he proceed to do his usual routine. Firstly he checked the ingredients whether it sufficed for specific alcoholic beverage or not, continued to wiping the counter while some people started to sit by the barstool. He got the first order of alcohol today, it was time for him to get into action. Experienced for many years as a bartender, he has seen and heard many things, ranged from his clients angry to crying over their lives, bar fights, people who passed out drunk, and many other things, which he already used to it.
A couple of hours later, he took a fifteen minutes smoking break. Sitting outside the bar by the sidewalk, he lit his first smoke of the night and started smoking. He sighed out the first smokes instead of puffing, tired of this city life. Just in a moment, it's not an unusual sight for him to see a prostitute being slapped by a patron, in fact, it's not unusual for people there to see it. Time sure passed quickly as the fifteen minute passed already, he went back to inside to continue his work.
It was 2 AM and he left the place as he finished his shift. As promised, he gone to meet his old friend in front of the apartment he live in, already waiting there with two bottles of alcoholic drink on his hand. Invited his friend into his room, thus they started drinking and smoking together. "How was work?" asked his friend. He sighed a bit, "Same as usual, I believe it's the same for you, yes?" his friend nodded. "Have you reconcile with her yet?" asked Anton to his friend. "Dunno, she still seemed pissed." They just spent the rest drinking without saying anything, his friend left afterward and he went to sleep, ending the night tired both physically and emotionally.