Chapter Four – Moving Job
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Rezzie was doing calisthenics shirtless in his room, training his body to keep it in fit shape – a usual daily routine for him. During his high school years, he failed to adjust to his growing body well and ended up overweight during the first three years of high school. And because of that, he never felt comfortable in his own skin. But during the second semester of his senior year, something clicked in his mind and he started working out extensively. He went so far as to drop 30 pounds along the way. Ever since then, he's always been extremely paranoid about his weight and his physique to the point where it was becoming vain, something that Rezzie was very much aware of.

After fifteen minutes, he got himself off the floor and dusted himself off of any residual dust that lied on the tile floor. It had been a month since when he last had friends over, and a lot had happened in that period of time. He and his father had stripped the carpet and the flooring out of the entire house and tiled the whole inside. It was a grueling task, one that put a major hurting on the both of them. So for the meantime they've been keeping a low profile, letting themselves unwind and relax.

The young man walked over to his closet and pulled out a black and orange tank top off the hanger above his dresser. Slipping it on, he adjusted it to where it would rest comfortably on his body. Once he did that, he stepped out of his room and made his way towards the kitchen. Right now it was the late morning and it was close to lunchtime. He figured that he would just have a couple of sandwiches to tide him over for the rest of the afternoon.

But before he could get started on grabbing himself a bite to eat, he heard the house phone ring in the kitchen. As Rezzie checked the caller ID on the screen, it showed to be Nesha and Titan's father, Lee. It was weird to get a call from him, but for the most part it's usually to do an odd job, something that Rezzie can certainly appreciate. He hadn't made any money this week so he needed to get his hands on some more cash to make up for lost income.

Picking up the phone, he hit the answer bottom and held the phone to his ear, "Hello?"
After a couple of seconds, the phone buzzed before a voice answered, "Hey, Rezzie, it's Lee. How're ya doing?"
"Pretty good, sir, just about to have some lunch. How about you?"
"About the same. Anyways, I got a job I need done in a few hours, and I need some muscle to do it. We're finally a bunch of our stuff into storage so that my older brother can move in. Nesha and Titan will be helping us out, and I'm gonna see if I can get Smith as well," Rezzie listened intently as the man The job pays sixty bucks and I'll even hook you up with some dinner. Sound good with you?"

Rezzie stopped for a moment to consider the offer. The moving itself would only take a few hours, and atop of that he was getting a free meal out of it. However, he knew one thing about them their family is that they live in sloppy conditions. Although it was not nearly to the extent that the crack den they broke into a month back, it was bad enough that Rezzie absolutely refused to go into any of the bedrooms whatsoever, and mostly just hung out in the living room.

The young man gave it a few more seconds before asking, "is the stuff that you're gonna be storing already packaged up and boxed?"
"Yep, it's all stacked up in the living room. We just need manpower to haul it all," the voice answered over the phone.
"I'm in. What time do you want me there?"
"We'll be starting around two."
"Excellent, I'll see you there."

Rezzie ended the phone call and hung up the phone in its holster. His afternoon was pretty much set and he would be able to make a decent chunk of money as well. And since the stuff was already set to be moved, he wouldn't have to enter into any of their bedrooms, much to his relief. As much as he cared for those two boys, almost like his own brethren, even he had his limits to disregarding sanitation. With that, Rezzie pulled out some ham and a loaf of bread out of the fridge and laid them out on the table along with an empty plate from one of the cabinets above the oven. For now he was going to eat a pleasant lunch, and then he will get right down to business.

—–

Meanwhile, Nesha was sitting on the living room playing video games on the television. It was close to two o'clock and he was chilling out until his father could get here with the moving van. With his uncle moving into his old room, as well as Nesha having to bunk back in with his older brother, it would mean that a lot of stuff on everyone's end would have to go to storage. Mostly it would have to be his stuff.

A few weeks ago, he registered himself to go into JobCorp, which was a training program for people looking to gain skills necessary to find themselves work in the real world. As much as he enjoyed the freelancer life, he realized that he needed to find more sustainable income as well as a skill set necessary to survive in this world. In a few months, he'll be leaving the capitol to go to the JobCorp site in Sandsborough, a city which was 50 miles north of the capitol in the middle of nowhere.

His older brother went through the same program last year in order to bolster his cooking skills and become a chef. While he passed the course with flying colors, Titan had two problems. First was his own dysfunctions. Before he went into the program, he was relatively thin. But due to his weaknesses, as well as the profession he was going into, he put on an immense amount of weight in a short period of time and developed an eating problem. It was so bad that their father actually had to put a lock on the fridge to keep him from raiding it. The second was that he was having a hard time sustaining work. Due to his lack of worth ethic as well as his often slovenly appearance and lifestyle, he can hardly keep a job. The longest he has been able to hold one was about two months.

Then again, Nesha couldn't exactly say that he was any better. He lived in similar squalid conditions and had his own problems with initiative. Most of the freelancer's big-paying odd jobs have been when he was partnering with Rezzie. Atop of that he had a major fondness for marijuana, a psychoactive drug that he's been smoking since he was in high school. However, because of the fact that nearly everyone that hires someone does a drug test before hiring, Nesha had the hardest time finding a job. His hope that going through JobCorp will help him clean up his act and get his life together accordingly when he studies to become an auto mechanic.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of motor revving outside. Pausing his game, he grunted to his feet and lumbered over to the front door, sliding past the massive pile of stacked up boxes and freight. Opening it and stepping around the corner, he saw a large moving van parked outside, backed up with the ramp down and the back doors opened. Next to the moving van was his father, and surprisingly enough Rezzie. If there was one thing he liked about the man, it was that he was prompt.

Approaching the three men, Nesha waved to them to make his presence known, "Hey guys. Rezzie, thanks for coming to help. When did you get in?"
"Thanks for having me," greeted Rezzie as he embraced Nesha in a brotherly hug, "Actually, I just got in. My bike needs to have the brakes repaired, so I decided to walk all the way here.'
"True that, true that," Nesha nodded, understanding the situation, "Smith couldn't make it, so it'll be just us today. But we should be able to manage."
"Hey, Nesha, why don't you go get your brother and Johan out here to help us out," Nesha's father ordered as he wiped the sweat off his brow, "we need to get this stuff done fast cause I only got this rig for a few hours."
"All right," Nesha grumbled in compliance.

Nesha walked into the house, through the kitchen and swung open the door to Titan's bedroom that was next to the fridge. Sitting in a filthy, garbage-ridden room was Titan, who was laying on his bed watching television. At the edge of his bed was a collage of dirty dishes and in his hands was a bag of chips that he was shoveling down his throat. Overall, many a sane mind would find it to be a disgusting sight.

Nesha certainly thought so as he cringed at his older brother, "Hey, fatboy, get off your ass. We got work to do."
"I'll be out in a minute," Titan answered as he ate another bite of his chips.
"All right, but if you aren't out there and dad and uncle Jonah get pissed about it, it's your ass. Not mine."

Nesha closed the door behind him and exited the kitchen to head into the living room. From the bedroom hallway on his left came his uncle, Jonah. Jonah was a man in his early sixties and a giant compared to everyone else living there, almost six and a half feet tall. He had silver hair that was combed back, along with a thick beard that went past his neck. He wore a gray dress shirt, blue jeans and black work shoes.

The two men made their way back outside to the driveway to see that Lee and Rezzie were already getting started with moving the boxes out of the living room into the moving van. As Rezzie hopped out of the van, he looked up almost straight up to look Jonah face to face. At first, the young man didn't know what to initially say. But after a few seconds, he extended his right hand for a handshake.

"Good afternoon, sir," Rezzie greeted with a smile on his face, "I'm Rezzie. I'm a friend of Nesha and Titan."
"Nice to meet ya," Jonah took Rezzie's hand into his meaty grip, "thanks for coming to help us out."
"Of course, sir. So, ah…where did Titan scamper off to?"
"He'd say he'd be out in a minute," Nesha answered before throwing his hands up in the air, "if he doesn't come out here, it's on him."
"Seems fair," Jonah shrugged before turning to his brother, "your back going to be all right?"
"It should be fine for a little while," Nesha's father answered with a nod, "if I need to step away from it, I'll let you guys know."
"Well, let's get back to it!" Rezzie spoke as he went back into the house.

After that, the four of them picked up the pace with loading the moving van. Even though there was a lot of freight to be moved, they were able to operate well as a team. After fifteen minutes in, Titan finally showed up, and after getting an earful from his father he helped them out as well. After an hour and a half, they were able to fully load up the last of the furniture.

Wiping the sweat off his brow, Nesha exhaled with a relieved expression on his face, "whew! I'm glad we got all that done!"
"Yep, hard part's over," Rezzie nodded, "Now all we gotta do is put it all in the storage unit. So, who do you guys want me to ride with?"
Lee, after taking a swig out of his water bottle, answered, "you can ride with me. My two boys can ride with Jonah in the SUV."
"Sounds good to me," Rezzie nodded with approval.

Within a few short minutes, the five people got in their respective vehicles and set off down the road to the storage lot. In the moving van, things were quiet between Lee and Rezzie during the drive. They didn't really have much to talk about, and because of that the silence was awkward for them.

"…So, ah, I hear that Nesha is going to JobCorp in November," Rezzie decided to break the awkward silence.
"Oh yeah, I think it's great that he's wanting to improve himself," Lee answered with a small smile, "hopefully he'll better off from it when he comes out as opposed to his brother."
"Yeah," Rezzie looked out the passenger window for a moment before speaking again, "I heard from him that you guys had to put a padlock on the fridge to keep it from being opened. What's that about?"
"Lately we've been having food shortages because of Titan raiding the fridge all the time. While he may deny it, we all know that he's lying through his teeth. So because of that, we had to keep the fridge under lock and key,"' Lee shrugged at his own answer, "it's not like I wanted to, I honestly didn't have much choice but to. I don't like having to spend all the money I do on food only for it to disappear so quickly."
"Well, you have a fair point," Rezzie pondered before going back into silence.

For the rest of the drive it was mostly silent between them as they continued on down the road. Every now and then, Lee would complain about the poor flow of traffic and drivers constantly cutting the moving van off. Rezzie often found during his time in the capitol is that hardly anyone uses their turn signals while driving. He often japed that the ones that actually do use their turn signals are the ones that aren't from the capitol. However, even he couldn't help but to wonder if there was a hint of truth to his japes.

After twenty more minutes of driving, the moving van turned into the front entrance of the storage lot. The security guard manning the gate, after checking some paperwork, opened the gate and waved them through. Driving past numerous storage units, they stopped in front of the last one in the far-left corner of the lot. The SUV carrying Jonah, Titan, and Nesha stopped several yards behind the moving van so that way they can have room to move around and carry freight off the van.

As everyone was getting out of their vehicles, Lee tossed the key to the storage unit to Jonah, and spoke with a shout, "All right, we're making some good time. All we gotta do is move everything in, then it's happy hour!"

Jonah took of the lock on the unit and heaved the heavy steel door up and opened the unit enough for them to get started working. The process of unloading the moving van was much easier for the five men to do than loading it up, as they were moving much faster than they were when they started the job. In less than an hour, the inside of the moving van was emptied out, and the storage unit was not only filled, but organized depending on what belonged to who. There was also enough walking space in-between stacks of boxes and furniture for anyone to move freely.

Satisfied with the job, Lee pulled down the steel door, closed and padlocked the storage unit, "well, that went better than expected. Good work, guys," he then turned to Rezzie, pulled out three twenty dollar bills out of his pocket, and handed them to the man, "thanks for helping us out, Rezzie."
Rezzie looked at the money for a moment, then he shook his head, "No, sir. I changed my mind on that on the way down here. You don't need to pay me for today."
"No, no, I insist. Take the money," Lee urged.
"How about this, sir. We'll just trade favors this time around. The next time I need help with something, you can come and help me out."
"I'm usually busy these days, so how about I just send Nesha or Titan to give you a hand, free of charge," Lee proposed before smiling, "sound good to you?"
"Wait, what!?" Nesha spoke aloud as he overheard the conversation.
"Well, I suppose that sounds fair to me. Deal," Rezzie nodded in agreement.
Before the two could shake hands, Nesha swooped in between them, "Whoa, wait a second! Don't I get a say in any of this?"
"That depends. Do you pay any bills?"
"No, but-"
"But you still live in my house, correct?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then no, I'm afraid you don't a say," Lee turned back to Rezzie, "you need a lift, or do you wanna walk back from here?"
"Actually, I was gonna walk back," answered Rezzie as he shrugged, "I can always use the exercise."
"I'll go with you," Nesha offered, "besides, there's a couple of things that I wanna talk to you about in private anyways."
"Fine with me. If you two are late, then we'll save you a plate," nodded Lee as he gotten into the driver's seat of the SUV, and rolled down the window to continue speaking, "there's a park nearby the storage lot that you can cut through to help save time But with it being dark soon, it's not exactly safe. My advice would be to stay on the main city streets and follow them back to the house. You sure you guys will be all right?"
"Yeah, sure," the two spoke simultaneously.
"All right, see you guys later."

As the SUV drove its way out of the storage lot and down the road, Nesha and Rezzie started their journey on foot the same way. As much as Rezzie was likely to dread the conversation that he was about to have with Nesha, he was honestly glad that he was not walking back by himself. Despite their differences in upbringing and lifestyles, Rezzie always valued his friendship with Nesha. Not only that, he valued his counsel as well.

Nesha was the first to speak, his voice filled with discontent, "that was screwed up, man. Why did you do that?"
"I'm sorry, Nesha," Rezzie apologized before explaining, "I know your father is having to pay the bills on a park ranger's pay, despite his back injuries. I thought that, with money being tight on your dad's end, it was a fair deal."
"Even still, it wouldn't have hurt to consult me when you make moves like that," Nesha grumbled, "you did the right thing when you refused the money, but I lost face in the process. What am I supposed to make of that?"
"You're right, I should've talked to you," Rezzie paused for a moment before speaking again, "from now on, when I make a move that concerns or involves you, I'll let you know long beforehand."
"It's whatever," Nesha shrugged, "we're cool now."

Once the duo left the storage lot, they turned left down the street and came to the entrance of the park. Rezzie took note on what Nesha's father informed them on the park. While it was a much faster way back to Nesha's place, the route was risky business. And with it being close to nighttime, the risks were only going to keep piling up. Rezzie pondered for a moment, torn on the decision. He looked over to Nesha to see what he thought on the matter.

However, judging by the direction Nesha was going, it looked like the decision was made for him, "All right, let's go," he spoke as he walked towards the park trail.
"Wait a minute, Nesha. It's gonna get dark soon," Rezzie said as he darted in front of his friend, "and your dad said that this way isn't safe at night. You sure this is wise?"
"For normal schmucks, maybe it's not safe. But we'll be fine," Nesha shrugged off the concerns, "besides, we're badasses. This is nothing. What can go wrong?"
Rezzie wanted to speak against it further, but in fear of jinxing the situation he conceded, "all right, we'll go through the park. You lead the way, and I'll watch you six."

The two men turned into the park and headed down the paved trail, making their way back to Nesha's house. In his mind, Rezzie was certainly having second thoughts on the decision. But at the same time he couldn't leave his friend behind either. So the least he could do is watch his back and make sure that the two stayed safe. As the sun set over the tree line and darkness was coming over the forest, he could tell that the night was going to be dark and full of terrors.