Chapter Text
Kayden had volunteered at Anne’s shelter for men frequently for the past two weeks. He was the newest volunteer, but he felt as if in his time as a volunteer, he had seen many weird people come and go.
Kayden’s usual tasks were preparing and serving meals, and as far as Kayden was concerned, this was the best task to be assigned to. The shelter only served one hot meal a day, dinner. Kayden would come to the shelter after work for a few hours and help cook dinner and then serve it to those who had lined up for a meal.
Kayden’s volunteering had started to become part of his routine. Besides giving back to his community volunteering at the men’s shelter, even with its occupational surprises, Kayden found a sort of comfort in the consistency it provided his daily schedule.
So as usual, Wednesday, after Kayden finished work, he headed to St Anne’s. Today Kayden found he was in a very relaxed mood. He had a very slow day at work, with almost no customers visited the Biggerson’s that he worked at and he even had time to start reading a new book.
This mood shattered and overtaken with one of anxiety when Kayden saw job board.
The job board listed what each of the volunteers was going to do that day, and Kayden found that his name was not limited by his usual food service. In fact, he couldn’t find his name anywhere on the list.
Confused, Kayden walked over Eugene.
Eugene was one of the other frequent volunteers at the shelter. But unlike Kayden, Eugene was one of the oldest volunteers. Oldest in the sense that he had volunteered at the shelter the longest out of any of the volunteers. He had been a volunteer for so long that at this point he ran the shelter when he was there.
Eugene must have spotted the look on Kayden’s face, for as soon as he spotted him he stopped what he was doing to talk to him.
Eugene turned to Kayden, “So I suppose you must have seen that your name is missing for the board right?” he said.
“Uh yeah,” said Kayden.
“Okay, so I noticed that you volunteer here pretty frequently. I mean, you’ve worked here almost every day the past few weeks,” Eugene said.
Kayden frowned and found himself unconsciously fidgeting with his finger nervously. He didn’t know where this was heading.
“Yeah, I guess I have?” Kayden said.
Eugene nodded, “So, anyway, working food service is a job that I only assign to the inexperienced and infrequent volunteers. I figured I would start teaching you what I do if you are going to continue to be here as much as you currently are," He said.
Kayden agreed, honored to be personally trained by the most respected volunteer at the shelter.
Kayden found that Eugene’s job consisted of helping new people enter the shelter housing system. As Kayden trained he found it surprising to find out how difficult actually getting a spot at the shelter was. People couldn’t just stroll up and get a bed for the night but actually had to request a bed at least the night before.
Yet, Kayden found himself bored as the night went on. He followed Eugene around observing him as he helped people check into the shelter. Observing became old very fast.
But Eugene noticed his obvious boredom.
“Hey, so I’m sure you have a good idea of how the system works. There is only one more guy that I need to check in for the night. I think that you can handle it,” he said, “I’m going to head down to the kitchen to help the other volunteers clean up, just holler if you need any help”.
Kayden nodded, “Okay but don’t worry I should be fine, by the way, what's the name of the guy I’m checking in?” Kayden asked.
“ his name is Clarence, no last name listed, he is waiting near the bench in the front,” Eugene said.
Kayden walked over to the bench Eugene mentioned. The man there was dressed like many of the other seeking help from the shelter. Yet, his posture was strange. He was sitting very stiff and seemed very alert. None of these characteristics were uncommon. Unfortunately, there were some veterans struggling with homelessness that had similar traits. he tried to rationalize the strange gut feeling Kayden had, but he couldn’t help but feel there was something off about this man.
“Hey, you’re Clarence right?” said Kayden.
Clarence nodded and stood up from where he was sitting, “yes that is my name”.
“Right, so my name’s Kayden, I’m a volunteer here and, uh, I’ll be helping you set up your bed for tonight. So follow me then,” Kayden said.
Kayden silently cursed himself. It was obvious that he was new at this, he sounded like an idiot.
As Clarence followed him into the shelter, Kayden found himself yearning to return to the kitchen. In the kitchen, Kayden never had to deal with the awkward silence he was currently faced with
Kayden stopped and grabbed a bag off a nearby shelf, “So here is a bag of personal hygiene items. And over here,” he knocks on a door labeled restrooms, “Is were the toilets and showers are,” Kayden said.
Clarence took the bag. A strange expression came over his face. If Kayden had to guess he would say that it was one of gratitude or grief.
“I can not take this from you.” Clarence shook his head, “You must have your own need for such items.”
“Uh, don’t worry about it, dude. This isn't my stuff it’s all from donations to the shelter. Also, it's kinda required that you take them to keep the place clean and safe for everyone.” Kayden said.
Clarence tilted his head in almost a bird-like fashion before nodding, “Yes, I understand,” he said.
“So like I said, hygiene is important, so it required that you take a quick shower before I show you your bed. This is to prevent bedbugs and stuff like that. There isn’t much privacy in there, but everyone is at dinner now so you have a good chance of being the only one in there. Oh and I also have to take your backpack to store in the lockers overnight”. Kayden said.
Clarence frowned and tightened his grip over his bag, a determined look washing over his face.
“No I need this bag, you cannot take it from me,” he said.
Kayden laughed nervously, this Clarence guy could look scary when he wanted to.
“Hey relax I’m not taking this forever, I’m just going to lock it up for the night, to prevent theft.”
Not to mention that the shelter did this in hopes it would prevent other things like weapons and drugs from going in. Not that it ever seemed to work.
Clarence didn’t move for a few seconds, deep in thought before handling his bag to Kayden with great reluctance. It seems he decided that a place to sleep for the night was worth the risk.
“Alright, if this is to prevent theft, then I will give you my belongings,” Clarence said.
Kayden nodded taking the bag from Clarence, “So, um, I’ll go put this bag away while you take a shower. Then I’ll meet you here to show you where you’ll be staying tonight. Does, uh, that sound cool?” he said.
“Yes, that sounds…” Clarence paused mulling over the words, “cool,” he finished lamely.
“Uh ok so I guess I'll see you in a few minutes then,” Kayden said.
When Kayden returned Clarence was standing the same spot that he was in when he left. Only this time he was looking a bit better having shaved and taken a shower.
“Hey so follow me to the beds and I'll also need to mention a few things about how the shelter works. So there is a 7 p.m. curfew each night and a 5 a.m. wake up where you will have to wake up, take a shower, and head out for the day. Each day to keep your bed you will be required to spend some time volunteering. For example, often one of the jobs is to help clean up trash by the church and the cemetery near it,” Kayden said.
“Yes, I should be able to abide by these rules,” Clarence said
After that, they fell back into the silence that was bugging the hell out of Kayden. It was the silence that made Kayden feel a need to fill it.
“So, Clarence is a pretty cool name,” Kayden said
Clarence, at this statement, gave Kayden a confused look. A look that Kayden would say was justified given the random statement he had blurted out.
“I mean it's like the angel right?”
Clarence stopped walking and turned to Kayden. It was as if Clarence’s personality completely changed at that moment. His posture become rigid and menacing, his eyes had a dangerous gleam as he took a threatening step towards Kayden.
“What angel?” Clarence said
Clarence moved his hand to a pocket inside his sweatshirt. Where, unbeknownst to Kayden, an angel blade resided.
Holy shit, thought Kayden as his eyes widened. This guy was about to pull a knife or gun on him, was he that offended over the comment about his name?
“Woah! Relax man,” Kayden said
Kayden took a step back and put his hands in the air, an action that seemed to pacify Clarence a bit. his hand stopped reaching in his pocket.
“I just mean like from the movie,” Kayden said.
Clarence frowned, anger seeping out of his body and replaced with confusion, which seemed to be his default emotion.
“A movie?” he said.
Kayden nodded furiously.
‘Yeah it is from It's a Wonderful Life, Clarence is the name of a character in the movie who is an angel. It's a pretty good movie and a classic,” said Kayden.
Clarence signed exasperated, “An angel, from a fiction movie?”
“Ugh yeah?”
At the confirmation Clarence relaxed, “I apologize, I thought you were talking about something else,” he said.
“Oh uh, no problem then?” Kayden said.
What else could he have said to that? Kayden racked his brain for a second trying to think of what he could mean by that. In the end, he settled for that angel was some sort of code name or something, who knew who Clarence was, for all Kayden knew he could be a drug lord or a hitman. It wasn’t until later that even when Kayden reflected on his day when he came to the realization that none of that was likely. It was more likely Clarence was a veteran suffering from PTSD or some dude who was low on cash.
Kayden found himself revealed when they finally reached the beds. Kayden gestured to an empty bed.
“So this is where you will be sleeping tonight. Remember you have to get up early tomorrow. There will be some bagels and granola bars in the kitchen and some sandwiches for lunch. Those go pretty quick so I would get there quick. Also, dinner is the only hot meal available,” Kayden said quickly, the sooner he finished the sooner he could get the hell away from this guy.
“Thank you for your help, I have found it interesting how often humans take their time to help others because they believe it is right,” Clarence said an introspective expression taking hold.
Kayden once again felt himself fill with uncertainty with how to respond.
“Yeah I mean, I guess I enjoy helping others out you know? I mean I’d like to think that if I ever needed help someone else would help me too?” Kayden said.
“I hope you are right, I suppose I will see you later?" said Clarence.
“Yeah I guess so, see you around Clarence,” Kayden said as he turned to head back to the kitchen.
On the walk back Kayden reflected on the dreamlike encounter. Kayden joked to himself that that man, couldn’t be human.