Chapter 1: The Interview

It was night time and Anakin headed to the local bar to have a drink to celebrate. He had an interview the next day and he was excited. He couldn't wait to hopefully get the job and start a new chapter in his life.

Anakin entered the bar and found a seat at the front. He waved the bartender over and asked for a shot of whiskey. The bartender turned around and moments later handed Anakin the shot. He chugged it and demanded another shot. The bartender rolled his eyes and gave Anakin another shot. He only came down to have a few shots but he was completely wrong. Two shots of whiskey turned to 20 shots of whiskey. Anakin was so drunk that he passed out on the counter.

He suddenly woke up to the bartender touching him.

"What", Anakin says aggressively. The bartender knew he was drunk so he didn't get mad.

"Sir the bar is closing, you have to leave now", the bartender says politely cleaning the shot glasses. Anakin looked confused and stared down at his watch. His eyes flew wide open when he saw the time.

It was 1:30 in the morning and he has an interview at 8:00am.

"Fuck I gotta go", Anakin yells. He throws change on the counter for the bartender and rushes out of the bar. He stumbled into the wall a few times on his way back. He forgot that he was drunk and running just made him want to throw up. After 10 minutes of walking he returned home and took a shower. Anakin exited the shower and shaved his stubble that covered the bottom part of his face. Now he was a clean shaven man. He entered his bedroom and opened his closet. He sighed looking at what to wear for tomorrow. He decided to wear a casual white button down shirt with a black tie and dress pants.

"This will do", he says laying the clothes down at the edge of his bed. He walked to his alarm clock and he set an alarm for 7:25 in the morning. The elementary school was in the suburbs located outside the city and it was a 15 minute drive. Anakin never liked being late and tomorrow would be no different. He wants to prove to the principal that he is dedicated and really wants the job.

Anakin finally hopped in his bed and yawned. He was tired and needed to get to sleep. He reached over and shut his lamp light off, and then closed his eyes.

Dream

"Ahhh", Fives shouts falling backwards.

"Fives", Anakin cries jumping to his best friend's aid. But as he reached his best friend his body burnt to a crisp in front of him.

Anakin looked up out of the ditch and saw both of his parents.

"Mom, Dad", he says nervously. They both smiled and his mom held out a present.

"Happy Birthday sweetie. Me and your dad love you", Shmi says passionately. Anakin smiled at seeing his parents and he slowly started crawling towards them. He ducked his head a few times to dodge the bullets flying past him.

As Anakin made his way to his parents a loud explosion went off.

"Noooo", Anakin sobs as he sees his parents being blown up into pieces. However their skeletons stood back up and smiled at him. Anakin was frightened and ran back towards the other side of the ditch.

"Come here my son", Shmi's skeleton says reaching her arms out.

"GET AWAY FROM ME", Anakin screams.

End of Dream

Anakin jumps out of his bed and threw his covers to the side. He quickly pulled out his glock 18 and cleared out his apartment. A part of him felt that someone was inside but after clearing the apartment there was no one.

"Anakin it was just a nightmare, you need to get back to bed. You have a fucking interview tomorrow", he tells himself. Anakin pushed the nightmare out of his head and went back to sleep. However the nightmare came back and it was worse than before.

He jumped out of his bed and was sweating profusely.

"Fuck I already showered", he curses wiping his forehead. Anakin knows he needs help. If he doesn't find someone to talk to right now he will keep having these nightmares till morning. Then he will look like a wreck at the interview. Anakin called his friend Kicks for help. Ever since he moved out of Manhattan and to Cambridge Kicks never left his side. He left Manhattan as well and followed Anakin to Cambridge and set up a new Veteran focus group near Anakin's apartment. It was 2:05 in the morning when Anakin called Kicks and he felt that he wasn't going to pick up. Luckily Kicks did and called Anakin to his focus group.

Anakin opened his closet and grabbed a hoodie and some sweatpants. He exited the apartment and walked to Kicks focus group. When he entered the door no one else was there. But he soon realized that it was 2:10 in the morning and no one else would be up at this time.

"Hey Kicks sorry to wake you up, I just had a bad nightmare. I need your help because I have an interview tomorrow", Anakin says scratching his hair. He felt that Kicks was going to be angry because Anakin woke him up. But Kicks wasn't mad at all he seemed somewhat happy.

"Aye that's great to hear. What job are you interviewing for", Kicks smiles. His smile made Anakin feel better. He pulls a chair out and sits across from Kicks.

"Well it's for a job as a security guard at a elementary school", Anakin says.

"That's great to hear. I'm happy someone at least gave you a chance, I was feeling that you might never find a job but you proved me wrong", he chuckles. Kicks however knew that Anakin wasn't there to socialize, he needed help and Kicks was going to do just that. He turned around and pulled his duffle bag out.

"Here take this", Kicks says handing Anakin pills. Anakin looked at the pills with concern. To him it looked like drugs and he doesn't want to get addicted to drugs again.

"Is this drugs. Kicks I'm out of rehab. I'm not going back to drugs", Anakin responds quite harshly. Kicks facepalmed at Anakin's response.

He grabbed the pills from Anakin and showed him the description.

"They are not drugs, they are sleeping pills. You take one tablet everytime you have a nightmare okay. If you want on friday I'm having a focus group with other veterans. You can come join, if you talk about your nightmares more often then it will soon leave your mind", Kicks says calmly. He handed back the pills to Anakin who stuffed them into his hoodie.

He stood up and embraced Kicks.

"Thanks brother I don't know what I could do without you", Anakin smiles. After Fives' death Anakin was in a terrible state of mind. However Kicks always came to his aid and helped Anakin fight through the grief. Even after leaving the Green Berets Kicks never left Anakin to deal with his problems alone. Seeing that his friend has a job interview puts a smile on his face. He knew Anakin was a intelligent, disciplined man. It sucks no one ever gave him a chance. Yes he can be short-tempered and impulsive but he still deserves a chance to prove he can work. Kicks was a caring and compassionate man. It seemed odd to civilians when they understand that he was a green beret. People believe that he would be an angry, problematic man but turned out to be a friendly dude. When he left the green berets he decided to work as a paramedic. He loved continuing his career in the medical field. Kicks usually works 24 to 48 hours shifts so whenever he has a day off Kicks organizes a talk with other veterans. Kicks was a good man who cared deeply about veterans and hated how the VA treated them, so he felt obligated to help them the best way he can.

Kicks patted Anakin on the shoulder. He pulled a picture out and handed to Anakin. It was a picture of him, Fives, and Kicks right as they joined Rex's team. That was the happiest day of their lives.

"Thanks Kicks, this means a lot to me", Anakin says warmly.

Kicks nodded "I know it does. That is why I'm giving it to you." Kicks began to clean up the space because of how dirty it was. It was only Monday and his focus group meeting was on Friday.

"Kicks you need help", Anakin says folding a chair up and putting in a corner with the others. Anakin was the person who loved to help. If he saw someone working alone or struggling with something Anakin came to help them. However if he was working alone, he didn't like to be bothered. He liked to be by himself. Kicks turned and shook his head.

"Nah I'm good. Go home and get ready for that interview", he shouts encouragingly. Anakin grinned and exited the building. He walked back to his apartment and five minutes later he entered his apartment and went into the bathroom. He took his clothes off and turned the shower on. After that he hopped out and brushed his teeth before heading back to his bed.

He pulled out a pill and a glass of water. Anakin dropped the pill in his mouth and grabbed the glass of water and drank it. He coughed and pulled the blanket up to him. He closed his eyes once more.

5 hours later

beep,beep,beep*

Anakin reaches over and slams the alarm clock causing it to fall and break.

"Whatever", he groans. Anakin gets up and stretches his body. He walks over to his bed and puts his clothes on. He fixes his tie till perfection and heads into the bathroom. Anakin brushed his teeth and messed with his hair a bit. He stared into the mirror and smiled, he looked like he was 18 again. Even at 28 years old Anakin still exhibited his young personalities. He never had the joy of going to college which made him sad because he always heard stories of how fun it was. He dropped out of high school at 18 yrs old to join the Army. Ever since then the military was the only thing Anakin knew.

His social skills with regular people was awful. He hated talking to civilians. The main reason was because he couldn't relate to them. When they talked about girlfriends, boyfriends, parties, etc. Anakin just rolled his eyes. The only thing he remembers is shooting guns and watching men die. Going on ruck marches and doing PT in the morning. When he was a kid Anakin was a comedian, he always made people laugh. Now he is more of a brick wall. Nothing could make him laugh and he never told jokes to civilians. People thought he was emotionless and boring to talk to which isn't the case. The only thing he knew were military jokes and whenever he tells them to normal folks they give him weird looks. Because his jokes are pretty awkward, but to veterans it was the funniest shit ever. Anakin never really talked to girls or even made any friends during his childhood. During school he was usually by himself at lunch tables and at recess. During school projects he would be placed with the other rejects because no one wanted him in their group.

After years of being made fun of and being rejected Anakin honestly felt happy being alone. Dealing with normal people was the worst thing he ever had to do. But he has to throw that away and learn to talk with them if he wants this job.

He exited the bathroom and walked into his small kitchen to make a quick breakfast. He grabbed a box of Frosted Flakes and milk. He sat down and quickly devoured his cereal. After the military Anakin somewhat lost some of his manners. Like yes he was still disciplined and obeyed anyone that was above him. But if someone tried to boss Anakin who wasn't above his job, he never listened to that person. He hates to be bossed around by people who weren't technically higher than him. He preferred to work alone and excelled at it. Sometimes he would let his anger out and threaten the person trying to boss him. Anakin had a short fuse but tried his best to control it and is quickly learning to calm himself down but sometimes he can't hold it back.

After finishing breakfast Anakin placed the bowl in the sink and exited his apartment. He made his way out front and hopped in his parent's car which he now inherited. He turned on the car letting the engine roar.

He pulled out of the parking spot and drove to the elementary school.

Fifteen minutes later, Anakin finally arrived at the elementary school. It was not as big as he thought it would be but didn't mind. He needed a job and honestly didn't care what it would be like.

He hopped out of his car and stood outside the entrance of the school. It was 7:45 and he was there early. School starts at 8:30 and the principal usually comes at 8. So Anakin stood outside watching cars pass by while periodically staring at his watch. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through social media. This was the first time in years that Anakin used social media, because even since he saw the bombing in the mall he never used it again. But he is starting a new chapter in his life so it wouldn't hurt to get back into it.

It was eight o'clock and Anakin frantically looked around for the principal but there was no sign of another car. Suddenly the door opened behind him and Anakin stared at a short old man.

"Hello, you must be here for an interview. My name is Yoda, I'm the principal", Yoda grins. Anakin was confused where he came from. He looked around and realized that staff park in the back and visitors park in the front. How could he be so dumb.

"Good morning sir and Yes I'm here for the interview", he simply says. Anakin follows the principal into the school and walked to his office. As they entered Yoda signaled Anakin to take a seat. As Anakin sat down he only saw Yoda's head that peeked over the desk. Anakin was a giant compared to Yoda he was 6 foot while Yoda was 4'11. He had a serious face on the outside but on the inside he was laughing hysterically. He never seen someone so short but he quickly pushed those thoughts away because if he gets the job this man will be his boss.

"So you are Anakin Skywalker", Yoda says placing his reading glasses on and staring at his resume.

Anakin nods "Yes I was born and raised in Long Island, New York".

Yoda didn't say anything but kept silent as he read through Anakin's resume.

He placed the paper on the desk and stared at Anakin.

"So Anakin, why do you want to be a security guard at Coruscant elementary school", Yoda asks. Anakin pondered for a minute, he came totally unprepared. "Why do I want to be a security guard", he tells himself. He didn't know what to say so he just started talking casually.

"Well after my military service I wanted to find a job to transition back to civilian life. My time of service was over and I felt that I should start a new chapter in my life. So when I saw there was a job opening here to become a security guard I took it. Maybe my expertise in the army can help protect these children", Anakin says full of pride. He wanted to show the principal how dedicated he was to getting this job and how much it means to him.

"Your parents must be proud to see you back home", Yoda chuckles. Anakin fell silent at the thought of his parents, they died so soon in his life that they never got to see his accomplishment. But he knew they were in a better place, and they are probably proud of him even though they aren't physically with him. He didn't want to tell the principal but Anakin felt it was the right thing to do.

He paused for a moment and stared at the old man.

"Well my parents are actually dead. They were killed in a terrorist attack", Anakin says trying hard not to shed a tear. He somehow kept his composure and took a deep breath. Yoda felt sorry for the man, he didn't mean to bring something so sad as that but he didn't know.

"I'm truly sorry to hear that", Yoda says caringly. Anakin felt the sincerity and the change of tone in the principal's voice.

Anakin straightened up his posture and fixed his hair.

"It's okay. It was a years ago I finally moved on. They are now living in a better place", he says softly. As Anakin talked more and more about his life he never mentioned about his time as a green beret or the hardships he faced after leaving the military. He only told Yoda about his 4 years in the army. He didn't want him to know of his drug abuse because then he probably wouldn't get the job.

After 10 more minutes of talking Yoda sent Anakin outside to let him think for a few minutes. Anakin waited outside fidgeting his foot. His body was weak and he had butterflies in his stomach. Anakin was nervous, if he doesn't get this job then he will be hopeless. No one will ever hire him and he will be living out on the streets. He never thought after the military he would be in such a bad spot. All the discipline, the skills, and years of rigorous training he been through in special forces will come to a waste if he doesn't get this job.

Door Opens

Anakin quickly clears his mind and stands up. Yoda exits his office and closes the door.

"Anakin Skywalker", Yoda pauses. Anakin's anticipation was flowing through him. "Am I hired. Fuck he isn't saying anything I guess I didn't get the job", he says to himself.

Yoda reaches out his hand and Anakin shakes it.

"Your hired", Yoda beams. Anakin kept his excitement inside of him, it was hard to control but he was beyond happy to finally have a job.

"Are you serious. I'm hired", Anakin says ecstatically. Yoda nods "Yes, congratulations. Tomorrow you will start your first day. There will be a locker room at the back of the school where the security guards place their belongings. You have your own dedicated locker. Tomorrow you will get your uniform and I will have one of the guards walk you around the school. Also before you come to school tomorrow please head to the local police station and they will issue you a glock 18. I will call them after the meeting, so they know when you come in tomorrow", he continues. Anakin shakes Yoda's hands once more and exits the school happier than ever. He hopped into his car and drove back to his apartment.

"I won't be living on the streets", he happily tells himself. The ride back to his apartment was the best feeling Anakin ever felt. He opened his sunroof the weather was nice, the sun was out. It was like God knew this was going to happen.

Anakin looked up at the beautiful blue sky.

"Thank you God, I am glad that you are there for me. After my parent's deaths I thought I would never move on but you helped me. You helped me accomplish my dream of becoming a green beret and now you helped me get a job to restart my life. Thank you", he says wholeheartedly. Tears of joy ran down his face as he felt the sun's race touch his skin.

A few hours passed

It was night time and Anakin was feeling pumped, he wanted to do something. He decided to call Rex and Kicks to come to the bar and celebrate.

They all made it to the bar and celebrated Anakin's successful interview. Rex was like a mentor to Anakin, he looked for his best interests. Out of everyone in his A team Rex and Kicks were the only ones he kept in touch with. The others moved on and had families. Rex decided to open his own gun range and always invited Anakin and Kicks to come and shoot.

It was getting late and Anakin was once again hammered.

"Fuck it's my first day tomorrow", he says dazed. Rex abd Kicks laughed hysterically as they watched Anakin's face fill with worry.

"You will be fine, just rest up", Rex says calmly. "Yeah Anakin take a sleeping pill it will help you rest better", Kicks informs.

Anakin quickly got up and waved his goodbyes to Rex and Kicks. He walked to his apartment and entered it. Anakin went straight to bed and when he tried to set an alarm he realized that it was broken. "Ah damnit", he curses. He grabbed a pill from the container and swallowed it. He pulled the covers over him and closed his eyes. Luckily he didn't have any nightmares that night and he had a good night's rest.