The Terran Enclave - Klithian Chronicle 1 #Wattys 2016

Chapter 4 - I need help Kevin

Brice looked back over the last week as he was relaxing in the small apartment he shared with his sister and aunt. After Mr. Kevin Pederson had approved his application for work Brice had jumped at the offer. Even if it didn't last that long it was good money and would hopefully provide a step up from where they were at. The apartment wasn't very big and barely had enough room for the three of them. His sister was fourteen and soon to be fifteen and in ninth grade. Their Aunt was older and a smoker, well former smoker, and was frail.

Their parents were gone and had been for over a year. When they had passed on Brice had taken responsibility for his sister. Their parents had just enough life insurance to cover their bills and not much else. He had even had to pay for the funeral himself and they ended up being cremated since it was cheaper.

Since he had needed someone to babysit after school, he had asked his favorite aunt to help. One thing Brice had demanded was for her to not smoke where they lived. It had led her to stop smoking which he was pleased with. She still had major health issues since she had smoked for so long.

Work was interesting even though it wasn't what he wanted. Brice had noticed that some of the people knew ASL, American Sign Language, and others didn't. What bothered him was he couldn't really say why some did and others didn't. It was a case of more knew it than he would have expected. What did help was that for the most part he didn't have to deal with many people. Those who he worked for did know ASL which was a great deal of help.

With a slight smile he thought back to the first day of his actual work. It had been an interesting day since the morning had been filled with signing forms, and related crap. The afternoon had been his supervisor taking him to a small clinic in the building for a health check. That had been interesting though mostly normal. Everything had been as he expected until the final part of the day. He had been given a bracelet.

Why he had to wear a bracelet for access he wasn't sure but they had indicated it was mandatory. When he had looked at his fellow workers he had noticed all had either a bracelet or a matching set of bracelets. As he was thinking about it he glanced down at his wrist and the bracelet which was a dark brown. It fitted his arm comfortably and had a smooth finish to it, overall it was slim, no more than 3mm in diameter. For an odd reason it had a warmth to it but also for some reason it didn't bother him at all. It was comfortable enough he tended to forget about it much of the time.

Brice realized he had been thinking for a while and chased his sister off to bed after giving her a hug. He gave his aunt a hug and headed towards bed as well. He had noticed his sister had started to need more sleep and figured it was her going through a teen thing.

~~~

Brice had been working at the company for several months when his worries about his sister finally made him schedule her an appointment. She had been rather tired and almost listless for several months. Sophia looked like she was losing weight and her appetite was starting to decrease. She had been telling him she was fine but he had been forced to overrule her. The following morning at work he had informed his supervisor that he had to take his sister to an appointment the next day. He had made it as late in the day as possible.

The next day when they went to the appointment it had gone okay though the doctor had drawn some blood. She told both Kevin and Sophia that chances were that it was just her going through a growth spurt but she wanted the tests. He told her to do what was needed and to call him once they had the results.

~~~

When Brice walked into work that morning he was horribly pale and looking extremely upset. Even before he reached the front desk the receptionist came around and hurried over, "What is wrong Brice? Did something happen?" Without thinking she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a good hug. When he started crying she contacted Storm, *Liraque, something is wrong with Brice, I am sure you have sensed it but I am going to take him to your office.* He didn't need to be seen looking as he did.