Eviternity: Book 1 Jerry's World

One

Rick

Rick grumbled to himself as he staggered out his front door and squinted at the overly-bright sun. Scowling, he fumbled in the inside pockets of his jump suit until his fingers brushed cold steel. Pulling out a flask, he unscrewed the lid and brought it to his lips, sending the burning liquid down his throat as he turned away from the harsh morning light and headed down the street. Shoving the flask back into the pocket, he zipped up his work uniform with a harsh jerk.

As he walked, he fought the urge to sucker punch every one he passed that looked anything close to happy. How could they be happy at five in the morning? It was way to early for that shit.

Rick's long legs tended to help him move faster than most people, but he was still painfully aware that he was going to be late to work. Again. And all because his goof of a grandson forgot to wake him up.

Again.

He tried to be angry, but all he could manage was something resembling annoyance. That stupid boy, little Mortimer Smith, was always doing something wrong, but Rick could never seem to stay mad at him like he could at other people and he just couldn't figure out why.

His sleep/alcohol clouded thoughts were stopped when he arrived at the place where his entire family had been employed. The most useless factory he could possibly imagine. The glitter factory.

Getting more and more pissed by the second, Rick pushed the worker's door open and clocked in, stalking across the factory's ground floor to where he knew his grandson was stationed. But before he got there, a movement caught his eye and he turned to see Jerry.

Stupid, worthless Jerry Smith, the pathetic excuse for a human being that had gotten his daughter pregnant. Snarling, Rick turned and followed his son-in-law, keeping just far enough back that Jerry didn't notice he was being shadowed.

Rick didn't know what exactly he planned to do. Not until Jerry went up some stairs to the upper platforms used to oversee the workers and leaned over the railing.

Rick's boots made a dull clang against the metal beneath his heels as he strode towards Jerry, getting rid of that last distance before he could fully comprehend what he was about to do.

Jerry started to look over, surprise in his dark eyes. Rick spit and grabbed Jerry by the back of his jumpsuit, hauling him over the railing and dropping him before the brunet knew to scream. "That's what you get for banging my daughter."

Without bothering to stay long enough to see if the work was done, Rick quickly walked away, hands in his pockets. He went back to searching for Morty, weaving between workers and avoiding crates of sparkly glitter shipments.

When he finally found Morty, the little boy was sitting on a crate, brow furrowed, studying something on a clipboard. Morty glanced up and the second he registered that it was his grandfather in front of him his face fell. "O-O-Oh geez, Rick! I-I'm so sorry! I meant to w-wake you up, really, but I just-"

"It's-" Rick's words were broken by a loud burp- "uhg, fine Morty. Just thought I should let you know that your dad's probably dead."

"WHAT?!"

Rick shrugged and moved out of the way when Morty barreled past him, heading in the direction Rick had come from. Sighing, Rick followed his grandson, hands in his pockets.

Hopefully committing murder wouldn't turn out to be too much of a pain.

Morty was moving through the crowd much faster than Rick had, the smaller boy able to dart around people with relative ease. Rick shoved people aside and pushed himself forward, trying to keep the boy in his sight line. But the press of the growing crowd cut him off and he growled in the back of his throat.

Why was everyone suddenly rushing this way at this moment? Rick continued to push forward, half carried by the workers around him. Gasps and excited exclamations were starting to be heard over the hum of machinery and when Rick finally managed to get a look at what everyone was so antsy over his jaw dropped in shock.

Jerry was sitting on the ground next to a pile of glitter that had spilled from a crate that had about to have been shut and loaded on a truck. He was obviously confused, looking around at the growing crowd with silver and gold glitter in his hair and on his clothes. The sunlight that streamed through the skylights overhead was reflecting off the glitter, almost making Jerry look like he was glowing.

Rick glared at the man, hatred radiating off him. Seriously? Did the guy have to bad at everything, including getting murdered?

The mutters of the crowd were starting to get louder and as Rick looked around he started to hear snippets of the shouts.

"-just fell from the-"

"-completely fine-"

"-Look at him! He's glow-"

"Is it him? Is he the one?"

"-prophesy said-"

Oh no. Did these people think...? But surely not. They couldn't possibly think that Jerry Smith was the one mentioned in the prophesy, right? But as Rick watched, the workers around him slowly got to their knees, bowing to the stupidest man alive.

Oh no. What had he done?