Cubicles - Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Those camping trips that I talked about earlier, the ones where my brother would step on frogs, spit and pee in the lakes that supplied drinking water for the area, this place is exactly like that. It’s huge, and empty. My family had always loved these places, but as for me, I’m terrified of them. Because the trees are so thick, and it’s so quiet, you never know if someone’s watching you or not. These kinds of places drove me off to living in a city. I could never handle living in a place as empty as this, where the empty spaces are only filled with trees to create an illusion.

I’m sitting in the car, staring at the red light, my mind is numb since I haven’t had my morning cup of coffee. My watch is broken, I have no way to know if I’m running late, and I’m not exactly sure if I’m going to be early either.

The sun is rising, the light hits my eyes, blinding me for a moment. I should have brought my sunglasses. After driving past fields of green, large beautiful trees, and luscious fields of flowers, I’m wondering if I was given the wrong directions.

All of my negative thoughts are driven away once I see a house in the distance. There is a truck in the driveway, the windshield wipers are bent crooked sticking out at the sides of the truck, the glass of the window is shattered, glittering on the front seat which is stained with blood. The rest of the truck is collecting dust, and the mirrors and windshield wipers have cobwebs. The old truck is covered in rust as well, chipping away at the dark blue paint.

‘Pity’ I think, pulling over my crappy car. ‘If the car wasn’t such a mess, I could accept it as payment.’

So, I pull my car over next to the truck, and spend a bit of time inspecting the wreck. Beneath all the wreckage, I could tell it was a nice truck when he first bought it. Sighing, I then turn and walk down the sidewalk towards the home. The truck wasn’t the only thing that was a mess. The chain link fence that creates a small space for a backyard is falling apart, it’s got giant gaping holes in it. And the front yard is infested with weeds, killing off any plants that would look nice. Plus there’s this one big ugly tree, that looks like it’s about to topple over at any moment, and it’s leaning right towards the house. I can only pray that a thunder storm won’t cause it to fall over and kill Kale. That would make me unemployed… again.


Walking down the cracked sidewalk I cannot help but notice how empty his neighborhood is, there aren’t any houses around, just a vast space of empty land. The field stretches on as far as the eye can see, and I’m a little upset about the idea of having to mow his lawn. At least he’d pay me well enough, and I couldn’t expect getting that much money if I did nothing for him. But I just can’t stand the idea of doing any sort of physical labor.

Why did I get this job? Oh yeah, to avoid starving to death.

I walk up the sidewalk. A corny smile on my face that makes my cheeks ache as I hold it while knocking on the door and waiting for an answer. The irritating sound of wheels rolling over wood can be heard on the other side as my fake smile is plastered on my face, the constant quiet bump from each time the wheels pass over a crack that separates each strip of wood.
Bump.
Bump.
Bump.
Bump.

How the heck am I supposed to handle that constant quiet noise for hours on end? My smile falters, but returns when the wooden door creaks open, followed by a screen door, and I look down at the elderly man seated in the chair.