my delilah

02

Elijah wondered if he'd peaked in high school. Ever since he dropped out of college, life had turned into a monotone jumbled mess and most of the time he had no idea what day it was, considering every one seemed to be the same as the previous. He worked, he went home and took care of something around the house, and then he ate a mediocre dinner, making sure to leave enough to last him the next day at work too.

Usually he could always look forward to Wednesdays when he had a day off - he had a changing schedule but Wednesdays had become sacred to him and the only constant he could count on. That's why he was so disappointed when his boss had called him the other day, asking him to come into work on his day off that week. He'd been irritated and grumpy at the proposition but in the end, he didn't have it in him to say no. Thinking about it he realized that he didn't have anything out of the ordinary planned anyways.

It'd been one of those mornings where everything that possibly could go wrong seemed to do just that. It started with burnt toast that triggered the fire alarm, and soon after the lightbulb in the kitchen died, having him fumble in the darkness for a new one with little success. All on top of waking up a bit too late, he wasn't in a good mood when he drove down the street towards his workplace.

Fresh out of high school Elijah had applied for a local college and gotten in, construction engineering had sounded like the perfect branch for him to aim for. Just after the term started, he realized that the education was way too theoretical and he missed working with his hands, creating things - it was short-lived, and soon enough he dropped out. He often wondered if he was the family disappointment, dropping out of college to work in retail.

Once he'd began working after his college fiasco, he saved his money carefully and quickly. He found a plot of land just outside the city and a dream was born of moving out of his city apartment into something he'd created himself. His confidence in his own abilities was high and soon enough he got building - it wasn't a large house, but it was just enough for him.

Elijah had always been pretty handy, and that's why he'd been so excited to get a job at the local handcraft-store. Having built his house, himself sure looked nice on the resume, especially when applying for a job in the handcraft-business. Though he had no experience in retail he took his chance, hoping for the best. The recruiting had been a short process and he hadn't questioned it, before he actually began working there - long and tiring days, rude co-workers and a careless boss. It didn't take long before he began searching for a new job, though this time the process was long and tedious.

One day he just so happened to walk past a store in the small town, and he saw the flyer on the door; currently hiring. Elijah had always loved music, and he assumed that sheer interest could get you pretty far when it came to that subject. So, he applied for work at Open Mind Records, and after a month he began working. He enjoyed most days at his work, and life was overall satisfying, though boring at times. The boredom and the mundane nature of his life had grown into such a constant in his life that he hardly thought of it anymore, purely recognizing himself as someone who found his place in the world. It felt nice to work for a stand-alone business with good morals and respect for the workers, and really that was all he could hope for.

The parking lot was of course empty, seeing as it was before five in the morning. He loved working the early shift because he felt as if the days became longer when he did, and he had more time to work on his own projects in the afternoon when he got home. No matter how much he wanted to be at home in his own bed with a cup of coffee, he was at least satisfied with the workplace he got to go to.

"Morning," a voice called when he got out of the car. Out on the parking lot stood Azlan, a young man with high ambitions and a kind personality. He'd only worked at the company for just over a year but he was quickly rising in the ranks and had, just a few weeks earlier, gotten full responsibility for the recruiting of new employees on top of being one of the more hardworking workers.