CYPHER

The dean Vs the manager

" The usual " .

Dean blinked , he was pretty good with faces and he was sure he had never seen this man before .

Yet he was asking for his usual .

Dean was not in the mood to humour some drunk ass .

" What would that be sir ? "

The man frowned , obviously displeased with Dean .

He must have seen the dead ass expression on Dean's face .

" A bloody Mary " .

Dean grabbed a glass to fill the man's order .

'' On the rocks ", the man called out .

Dean nodded , grabbed the ice box and filled the man's glass .

He slid the glass over the wide tabletop to the man .

The man nodded at him , the kind of nod you would save for your pals .

Dean did not return his nod , instead he went back to work .

He filled drinks , added ice when it was asked for and wiped the table down every couple of minutes , not because it was dirty but because he could not stand doing nothing .

He looked down at the wrist watch he had placed beneath the counter .

The owner of the bar had forbade having wristwatches while they worked so the customers would not ask for the time .

9 : 45 pm

He still had an hour and fifteen minutes till his shift was over .

He took a deep breath , he would get through this night too .

" Dean !"

He turned to see who had called .

Jimmy stood behind him , a frown on his face .

Dean frowned back at him waiting to hear why he had called him .

Jimmy did not like him enough to just call out his name for no apparently good enough reason .

" Someone's on the phone for you ".

Dean looked around , it was a Tuesday so there was not a lot of people that the other bartender , Kim could not handle .

He took off his apron as he walked towards Jimmy .

Jimmy's frown intensified as he drew closer .

The thing was Jimmy was an highschool student that was called in only whenever there was a lot to handle .

Their asshole manager had mentioned in front of them all that if any of them lost their jobs , Jimmy would be replacing them .

Jimmy had decided however that it was Dean's job he wanted .

He entered the back store room , the telephone hung unplugged .

He picked it up .

" Hello ".

There was no reply , only a distant rustling .

" Hello ".

Phone calls made him nervous , they were usually about his sister .

" Jaymie ? "

" No pretty boy , it's not your sister ".

It was Laura , she lived in the crumbling apartment complex that he and his sister lived at .

She usually kept his sister company .

" Laura , Is Jaymie okay ? "

" Sure are intuitive for a pretty boy . Yah I called about your sister , she's been all curled up like she trying out to be a ball and it's been hours ".

Dean's heart stopped for a second .

" Thank you Laura , I'll be there in a few ".

He ended the call and was about to walk out of the room when he heard the manager talking .

He was talking to Jimmy .

" How long has he been in there ? "

" It's been hours sir. He told me that he was going to be resting for a few minutes so I let him go in but he's been there so long and I even heard him making a call to a woman , probably his girlfriend sir ".

" That crazy lunatic ", the manager spat .

Jimmy's voice was coated with honey .

Dean could just imagine the managers

face , he had always hated Dean maybe because Dean would not call him ' sir ' but Dean had been here even before he was made manager , so he had not been able to find a good reason to fire him .

He opened the door and stepped out .

The managers face twisted into a very ugly look when he sighted Dean while Jimmy's smile stretched impossibly wider .

" You are getting it now . You are ..."

Dean did not let him finish , he interrupted what the manager had been about to say .

" I quit ".

The manager looked quite surprised even though Dean was sure that he had just been about to fire him .

" You ..."

Dean did not have to wait to listen to his s**t .

Luckily , he had received a paycheck just last week .

He walked past them and towards the bar , he grabbed his stuff from beneath the counter .

He turned to survey the bar and grabbed two bottles of Monet .

" My pay for the past three days ".

There was no point asking for cash , the manager was not going to give him .

He packed all of his stuff into his backpack and scaled over the bar top .

When he landed on the other side , he realized that everyone was staring .

He brushed them off and adjusted his clothes , he was going to really just leave but he could not .

He grabbed his apron , balled it up and threw it in Jimmy's face .

It had the desired effect , Jimmy stumbled into the manager and they both fell back .

Dean turned around and exited the building .

He ran all the way home , taking the bus was a luxury he could not afford especially now that he had just lost one of his jobs .

He arrived at their run down building in fifteen minutes , a new record .

The elevator had long since been written off .

They lived on the fifth floor , it took another two minutes for him to reach there .

They lived in unit Fifty - two but Laura stayed at Fifty - three .

He knocked once and walked in , running towards the only chair that Laura had that was not completely stained with alcohol and other undecipherable stains .

Jaymie lay there .

She was curled like a ball .

Her long blonde hair was in a messy ponytail and she had eyeshadow on her eyes .

" Jaymie ? Baby wake up , I'm here ".

She turned slightly to face him before opening her eyes , her extremely blue eyes .

She was an exact replica of their mum .

" You are here early "

She was also very observant , her blue eyes travelled about his body .

" Yeah , Laura called me . What's wrong ?"

She rolled her eyes , puckering her little mouth .

" Laura is a drunk and she's f*****g suffering from Paranoia ".

Dean narrowed his eyes , she smiled sweetly .

" Laura is not a very responsible adult ", she said .

" You like her ", Dean reminded his sister .

She scoffed .

" Liking someone does not mean you have to lie about what the person really is ".

Dean finally saw it , her hands were clasped .

His sister was very touchy but she had not touched him once since he walked in .

He could not bring himself to touch her , scared of what he would discover .

" The pretty young man is back , eureka ".

Dean turned to face Laura , she walked out of her room wearing a see through gown with nothing underneath .

" I'm pretty sure that's not how you use Eureka ", Jaymie said to her .

She ignored Jaymie .

" You lost your job , didn't you ?"

He turned back to Jaymie and grinned , she had always been perceptive like that .

" Oh honey , you got the quits? I could get you a nice job, Ya know ? "

Dean was about to politely refuse for what was probably the seven hundredth time when his sister beat him to the chase .

" Dean won't be working anywhere around you , go back to bed " .

Laura looked around like she had lost something .

" The rude brat is right , I best be going to bed ".

Dean quickly pulled out one of the Monet he had taken and placed it on the table .

" For you Laura , thank you for watching Jaymie ".

Laura clapped her hands and ran to him , she picked up the bottle to examine it .

" A Monet ? Just for me ? Tell me rude brat , why wouldn't I love your brother ? "

" Go to bed !" , Jaymie yelled .

Laura stood up with the Monet under her armpit and stumbled into her room .

Dean finally touched his sister , she was so cold , he exhaled .

She was smiling but It did not reach her eyes .

" It doesn't hurt all that much ".

Dean bowed his head , he was angry .

He was always angry .

Why did his seven year old sister have to go through so much pain ?

When he raised his head though , a smile was on his face .

" Let's go to Will " , he announced .

Jaymie rolled her eyes yet again .

" I don't want to go there , Will's a murderer ".

Dean sighed and bent to lift her into his arms .

" I can walk ".

He ignored her .

" You shouldn't call Will a murderer , he's been nothing but nice to us ".

Will was a doctor whose medical license had been revoked when a patient of his had died during surgery .

He looked at Jaymie once in a while and told Dean what drugs to buy .

Jaymie had a heart condition .

She had a hole in her heart and was constantly exhausted and in pain .

She had turned all her free time into time for making creative insults .

" Might as well get a piggyback ride if you're going to carry me ".

He did as she wanted , transferring her to his back and his backpack to his front .

" I got a calculus textbook today ".

" Should seven year olds be using calculus textbooks ?"

" Who cares ? "

Dean chuckled .

She did not go to school because of her heart condition but Dean was sure she was still better than the kids that attended the best schools .

Dean attended a part time college , he would have long since quit but that seemed to be the only hope he had to take care of his sister .

" If you were fired , does that mean Jimmy the goat got your job ? "

" I quit ", he told her .

She laughed quietly .

" Tell me you at least made a dramatic exit ".

" I did ".

She laughed again .

They had arrived at Will's equally run down house .

He entered without knocking , Will never did come to open the door when you knocked .

He went in and found Will asleep on the couch .

The house was a mess .

He kicked the Couch startling Will into a sudden awakening .

Jaymie laughed behind him .

Will opened his eyes .

" What are you two asses doing here ? "

Dean could already picture his sister rolling her eyes .

" I need you to have a look at her ".

Will sat up and observed both of them.

" Take her to a real hospital ".

Will did this every time they came over .

Dean nudged his sister .

She coughed once and then twice .

" Please Uncle Will , help , I think I'm dying ".

Dean frowned , that had not been part of the original speech .

Will rolled his eyes .

" How can you look like an angel and be as foul as the devil ? Take her to the observation room".

Jaymie yawned , bored .

Dean waited outside the observation room for them .

He had left the Monet inside Will's fridge , he would find it later .

He could hear Will ask her some questions and then see the light from one of the machines .

Will finally opened the door , his sister was sitting on the observation chair .

She was smiling but Dean could see just how exhausted she was .

" Take her to a hospital first thing tomorrow ".

" What ? ", Dean asked .

Will turned to him , his old face tired and full of worries .

" Dean , if you don't want to lose that foul mouthed child , take her to a hospital tomorrow morning ".

Dean's heartbeat slowed , everything around him slowed too .

And in this slowed down version of the world , all he could see was his sister's face as she smiled .

A smile that did very little to hide her pain .