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It was dark. Of course, it always seemed to be dark when he felt like this. Fucking sun and its symbolic bullshit. Nilesy slammed the shovel back into the dirt; performing the same mindless task over and over hoping to drown his brain in the numbness of repetition and maybe not have to think about reality for once.
That bastard was drinking, he knew it; "drowning his sorrows" in a bucket of bitter liquor, or something equally revolting. Just like before he was probably sitting in his office; heels kicked up on the desk and never even thinking about lifting a finger to help get work done. That lazy, selfish bastard. Nilesy gritted his teeth and chucked another shovel of dirt onto the growing pile, trying to ignore the anger simmering inside him.
From the slowly growing hole Nilesy could see the harshly bright light of the Sipsco office building. He knew it was probably his imagination that made him see the lumbering form of his boss appearing at the office door to sneer down at him, but every time the shadow crossed the corner of his eye he felt his anger get closer to overpowering him.
“Ignore it Nilesy, he's not worth it” he muttered to himself through gritted teeth, trying in vain to put his mind back on the task of creating yet another pool.
A loud crash made Nilesy jump and turn back to face the building. One of the windows in the door had a large dripping mark splashed across its surface, but before he could think about what had happened another object smashed into the window, sending more liquid jumping across the glass. 'What the hell is that arse doing now?' he thought, throwing his shovel down into the muddy sludge at his feet and reaching for the ladder out; 'I think it's about time I paid that bastard a visit'.
Nilesy stormed across the compounds courtyard, hearing another crash as he reached the office door and slammed it open. He took a moment to take in the scene before ducking down as a cup flew above his head to shatter across the courtyard behind him. With anger in his eyes he straightened up and turned back to his boss who sat at the desk; vacant eyes staring past him into the night outside.
"What the fuck Sips? What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Shove off you baby."
"What?"
"I said shove off, deaf now are you?" Sips grunted and began to spin the next cup in his hands, promising another assault if Nilesy continued.
"Can you try, I duno, THINKING for a second?! What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Piss off, or I’ll make you regret it."
"This is about Sjin, isn't it?" Nilesy knew he had struck a chord as he watched Sips's expression change.
"I'm warning you, you shit, piss off"
"Let's at least try and talk about this before you begin assaulting me with your tea set" He gestured to the cup spinning in sips hand, but the grey man hardly seemed to notice.
"You have no idea what it's like."
"Excuse me?!" Nilesy took another step forward, feeling the anger inside him rise with new vigour.
"To lose someone like this."
"You better be fucking joking mate."
"Go back to your stupid-arse pool, or whatever the hell it is your working on. Just leave me the hell alone."
Suddenly Nilesy snapped and bought his hand hard across Sips face, causing the grey man to lurch sideways and the drink to crash to the ground. Before Sips could react Nilesy grabbed his collar and pulled him back so they were facing again.
"Do you think no one else cares?! Do you think you're the only one that wishes people could come back? That this would stop?"
Sips opened his mouth to spew out a retort but Nilesy bought his palm back across the other man's face.
"Don't you dare interrupt me! You have no right to be feeling like this. No damn right. Do you think you can morn a man you barley even noticed when he was alive? You treated him like shit; just another pawn in the game of Sipsco, and now you think you're allowed to drink your sorrows away as if you lost someone you actually cared about?!" Nilesy ignored the shock in the grey man's eyes as he released Sips's shirt and pushed him roughly away.
"He adored you. Every day it was "Sips this" and fuckin' "Sips that" it drove me mental! But I could see how much he cared, how much he loved you. He didn't mind that you treated him like shit; he just enjoyed being able to spend his days with you. As if a bastard like you had any right to be loved by a man like that". Nilesy stepped back, watching Sips as he registered the silence that now echoed through the room following Nilesy's attack. He expected a retort; for Sips's voice to fill the room with insults and rage; banishing Nilesy from the company forever, but nothing came.
"I'm sorry."
"What?"
"I'm sorry"
Nilesy paused, shock dulling the anger that had consumed him. Sips was silent; head hung and eyes hazily fixed on his palms resting in his lap. As Nilesy took a few steps back towards Sips he could see tears silently running down the grey man's face.
"I ballsed up, I'm sorry. I never meant for this to happen."
Nilesy stayed silent for a moment before he let out a harsh chuckle at the overused trope in the man's words." No one ever does, doesn't stop them from happening though, does it?" He felt his anger fade, replaced by a numbness he had grown used to. Sips looked back up at him and Nilesy returned his gaze with equally empty eyes before slumping back against the nearest wall.
"What the hell are we going to do now?"
Sips shrugged and reached into his desk to bring out a fresh cup, which he filled from his grimy bucket before gesturing towards where Nilesy sat.
"Drink?"
Nilesy let out another empty chuckle as he reached to take the cup from his boss. They were once again in silence, slowly consuming the bitter liquor until they both sat, empty cups in still hands with thoughts that little bit more muted than before. Sips broke the silence with a chuckle of his own.
"What a fine pair we make."
"You could say that."
"We should start a business."
"Call it "Nilesyco.""
Sips shook his head and turned away, dropping the cup back in the open desk draw. "If you want."
Nilesy sighed and placed his cup against the wall beside him before climbing to his feet and heading for the door, planning to leave Sips in silence, but he stopped as he reached the exit, turning back to face the gray man.
"I miss him to, you know?"
"Yea, I know".
He closed the door behind him, stepping down into the remains of one of Sips's cups. They could get through this, maybe, but until then Nilesy climbed back into the muddy beginnings of his next pool, taking up the familiar shovel and returned to his mindless digging as the sun began to peak over the horizon.