Chapter Text
A loud crash woke up Jill. She was still not used to the amount of traffic accidents that happened near her apartment. She closed her eyes, even thought it didn’t change much, due to the darkness. Maybe a deep breath or two could calm her down. The frequent crashes had been a great source of stress for her lately and it getting to her. Jill opened her eyes again and noticed a dark outline was making its way towards her. The cat jumped up in her bed and found a spot that met his standards next to her. Fore had been good at noticing when Jill was on edge lately.
“I’m here for you, Jill.” ‘Fore’ Said in a hushed voice.
“Thanks, cat.” Jill replied with a weak smile. “You’re being such a great help by taking up half the bed.”
Jill sounded like she was complaining but she really did love that Fore was here. Lately she had not been very social. She actually hadn’t been very social ever since VA-11 Hall-A closed down two years ago.
Jill focused on the room again and it had already gotten brighter. She looked at her alarm clock. 5:33 AM.
“Lovely...” She mumbled.
“Too bad you can’t stay here and sleep all day like me.” ‘Fore’ mocked her.
“Shut it, cat.”
Jill got out of bed. She definitely wasn’t going to fall asleep again at this hour. The shift would start in two hours anyway. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the low light of the apartment. She had become rather good at navigating the apartment in the dark anyway, so the dim light didn’t really help much. Her uniform was still on the floor where she had thrown it the day before. She liked to call it that, but it wasn’t really a uniform. Jill just didn’t want to accept the job she had ended up getting. It really needed to be washed but what was the point when the suit was going to get just as dirty the next day.
Jill turned on the light in the bathroom and it flickered for a good five seconds before deciding to stay on. The face that stared back at her in the mirror was exhausted and sleep deprived. Their hair was a mess and their skin were pale. Jill almost couldn’t recognize herself. Working underground in the maintenance tunnels had been a rough gig. Granted, she had worked there a whole year. A whole year too much. She splashed some ice-cold water in her face, and she snapped out of it. Regarding water, ice-cold was all this tiny apartment offered. After drying her face, she tried fixing her hair for once. She put it up in a ponytail as soon as the worst clumps of hair were dealt with.
After brushing her teeth, she closed the squeaky bathroom door behind her and made her way to the balcony. It was a small balcony, but Jill was grateful to even have one at all. She pulled out a cigarette for her pocked.
“Want one?” She asked and looked down at the cat next to her.
“You gotta stop asking people who you know don’t smoke, Jill.” ‘Fore’ replied sternly.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jill sighed. “Old habit...”
“You do it almost everyday.” The cat persisted.
Jill ignored him and lit her cigarette. She closed her eyes and exhaled, trying not to focus on the burning wreckage down at the street level. Her apartment was quite high up but that didn’t seem to stop the sound of the commonly occurring traffic accidents near the complex.
“What I wouldn’t do for some peace and quiet...” Jill grumbled and threw the sad remains of her cigarette in the ashtray on her table.
“You’re the one who keeps talking.” ‘Fore’ said.
Jill shook her head at the cat’s remark and grabbed some cereal from the cabinet in the kitchen. She wasn’t hungry but she knew she was going to be later if she didn’t eat anything now. The cigarette had calmed her nerves a bit and as she ate, she realized the food helped as well. Even in this filthy apartment, she could still feel okay sometimes. She threw the bowl in the sink with the other dirty dishes and went to get her keys.
“Don’t burn the entire complex down while I’m gone, okay?” Jill said as she opened the door.
“Can’t promise anything, human.” ‘Fore’ replied.
She closed the door behind her and made sure to lock it properly. The locks were old and analogue. The keys were rusty, and she was always scared to leave Fore alone, even though she didn’t want to admit it. If she lost Fore, then she would truly be alone. She had plans to buy a better lock but that was apparently not allowed in this complex.
“Makes sense...” She muttered. “This place sucks.”
When she made it to street level, the wreckage had stopped burning. Not because anyone had bothered to put it out. It had simply started raining. A lot.
“What a perfect Wednesday...” She sighed and headed out into the pouring rain.
* * * * * * * * *
It was just a ten-minute walk, but the rain still managed to soak her from head to toe. She pushed open the door to the maintenance tunnels and started the descent down the slippery, concrete stairs. Jill kept a tight grip on the railing. There had been quite a lot of injuries here due to the slippery stairs and this amount of rain certainly did not help. The dirty water from the streets was following her down the stairs. Finally, she reached the bottom of the stairwell and pushed the heavy metal door open. She looked from side to side. Not a single human in sight. Just endless, dimly lit tunnel at both sides. Jill let out a big sigh and started looking for any leaks.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
After just an hour, she had found three different leaks. It was a miracle that this system even stayed online. At this point, Jill was almost convinced it was entirely because of her that this part of the city was still functioning.
“Just nine more hours...” Jill mumbled to herself and grimaced.
If someone told Jill that time in the tunnels moved half as fast as the rest of the world, she would not be surprised. This job never got more exciting than a small leak in the tubes that ran through the tunnels. It was easy to spot and easy to fix.
Jill wiped her forehead. These tunnels were both humid and uncomfortably warm. She looked at her phone and realized she was nearing the five-hour mark. That meant she could take a small break, but only a small one. Jill once tried getting away with staying away for longer, but they apparently have people who monitor all the maintenance workers. That somehow sounds more boring than this job.
After the long ascent up the slippery stairwell, Jill was met with the noise of the city. The sun was hidden behind a grey blanket but at least the pouring rain had stopped. She made her way onto the street and put on her headphones. Choosing today’s music always reminded her of her days working as a bartender at Va-11 Hall-a.
“I would do anything to back to those days...” She mutters and let out a sigh.
She had tried getting a job at other bars. Boss had even helped her with that, but she was never employed. Jill chuckled to herself. After all this time she still called her Boss. Even thought it was years ago she was her actual boss.
Jill snapped out of her thoughts when she realized she had reached her destination. A tiny, somewhat quiet park. She had found it by sheer luck when she first moved here. It was easy to miss, which was why barely anyone came here. She sat down on a bench and closed her eyes, trying to relax. Jill fished out a cigarette from her pocket. If anything would get her to relax it was that. She tried her best not think about the days at Va-11 Hall-a, but it all came flooding back. Jill had done her best to forget about those memories. All they did was remind her of how nice things could be. Deep down she knew things weren’t perfect back then but they sure as hell were at lot better than this.
Jill let out a sigh and threw away the burned-out cigarette. Nothing was going to calm her down if that wasn’t even helping. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the heavy city air. It was time to get back into the tunnels.
The rest of the work hours went as they always did. Boring. Nothing spectacular happened. She just wandered the humid tunnels all by herself.
Finally, after five heated hours, Jill’s shift had ended. She had never met whoever did the night shifts, which she found a bit strange, but she never dwelled on it. The heavy door locked behind her with a click and Jill ascended the stairs for the second time today. When she reached the surface, the weather was still cold and dreary but she didn’t let that get her down too much. Jill smiled a little as she put on her headphones and played today’s carefully crafted playlist. The music was some of the things that kept her mood up through these tough times. It was too bad headphones were banned on the job. That would make it a lot more bearable.
The walk home was quick, and she reached the apartment in no time. The door opened after the third try on turning the rusty key and Jill made it inside her small apartment. She closed the door behind her and sighed. Today was over.
“What are you sighing for?” The cat asked and walked towards Jill. “You’re not the one who has been here, without food, for hours.” ‘Fore’ complained.
“You’re spoiled, cat.” Jill replied and smirked. “I’ll get you some food in a minute.”
She went over to the sink and splashed water on her face. The cold water was refreshing after the hours in the hot tunnels. She dried her face in a towel and gave Fore some food. He immediately went over to eat it.
“Guess you really were hungry, huh?” Jill said.
Fore didn’t respond.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jill took of her work suit and threw it into her closet. She looked around and found some old pink t-shirt on the floor. She smelled it and it passed the test. After putting it on, she realized it said ‘SLUT’ in big, bold letter on the front.
“Yeah, whatever...” Jill mumbled and threw herself on the bed.
She found her old laptop and started to carefully craft tomorrow’s playlist. None of her favourite artists had put out any new music lately, so she had to resort to music she already knew. Sometimes it took her an hour to put a little playlist together but today she knew exactly what she wanted. She picked out her a couple of her favourite synthwave tunes and a long, ambient piece to finish it off with. Jill was just about to find a good song to start off the playlist with when her phone rang.
“Well that’s rare...” She said and picked it up.
That’s when she saw who was calling.
“Boss!?” Jill exclaimed in disbelief.
It had been so long she wasn’t sure what to do. A part of her wanted to ignore the call so she could be free of how awkward it had gotten between them. She quickly dismissed that voice and accepted the call.
“Hi!” Jill said a little loudly. “It’s Jill.”
“Jill!” Boss’s voice sounded tiny and feint through the old phone speaker. “It’s been so long!”
“Sorry I haven’t called...” Jill apologized.
“No need to worry, Jill.” Boss said with a reassuring tone. “I can imagine life has been rough on you.”
“Yup.” Jill said, her voice deadpan. “Things aren’t exactly great here.”
“I haven’t had it easy either but...” Boss started but cut herself off. “I have something to tell you, Jill.”
“Oh, yeah?” Jill lifted an eyebrow.
“It might make you feel a little better.” Boss said in a hopeful tone.
“Just spit it out, Boss!” Jill had grown impatient.
“I’m opening a new bar!” Boss announced happily.
“You WHAT?” Jill yelled in disbelief.
“Yup!”
“T-that’s amazing!” Jill stuttered, feeling a smidge of jealousy of Boss’s success.
“I...” Boss tried but grew silent for a few seconds.
“Boss?” Jill asked. “You still there?”
“Yeah, I called to ask you...” She trailed off again. “Do you wanna work as a bartender again, maybe?”
It was unlike Boss to sound so uncertain. She probably felt like she was asking a lot of Jill but in reality, Boss was saving her life. She would do anything, literally anything, to work somewhere else. Especially if it was being a bartender for Boss again. Nothing sounded better to her.
“Of course!” Jill replied and a smile tugged at her lips.
“Great!” Boss replied, relieved. “I was afraid you were gonna say no...”
“Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know...” Boss sounded thoughtful. “I think I just really wanted you to say yes.”
A full-on smile broke through on Jill’s face. She hadn’t smiled like this in what felt like forever. She closed her eyes and savoured the moment. Things were going to change for the better bow.
“A-anyways...” Boss continued, sounding a little thrown off from how emotional she had just gotten. “Work starts next Monday.”
“Sounds great, Boss!” Jill replied, her smile still beaming. “Just one more question, Boss.”
“Yeah?”
“Does this bar have a silly name just like last time?” Jill asked, hoping she would say yes.
“Oh, yeah!” Boss said, as if she had just remembered it. “It’s called FO-11K Vang-R.”