Frustration churned inside Adam. It was a hot sick feeling in his stomach.
He walked away from the hotel without a destination. The grand building with its polished doors was behind him now. It was a place he could never enter again.
The job was gone. The best job was gone.
He was left with his other two positions. One was stocking shelves at a grocery store late at night. That paid $400 a month. The other was cleaning an office building on the weekends.
That paid $500. It was a combined income of $900. It was not enough. The thought was a simple cold fact.
The numbers did not add up. His rent for the small apartment was $750. That left $150 for everything else. Food. Electricity. The bus.
It was impossible. He walked down the street. The anger and the panic felt like a physical weight on his shoulders.
On top of his monthly shortfall there was the debt. A weight of $22,000 pressed down on him.
The number was so large it felt unreal. It was a sum he had to repay. It was from the hospital. The bills had started coming after his mother died.
His life had not always been like this. He had once lived with his parents in a small house with a yard.
It was a normal life.
Then his mother got sick. A serious illness took her quickly.
After her death he lived alone with his father. The house grew quiet and dark. His father was an alcoholic. He showed no interest in his responsibilities.
He drank cheap whiskey and watched television. He did not talk to Adam. He did not pay the bills.
A short time after his mother passed away his father married another woman. She was a stranger with two children of her own.
Adam had believed her arrival might fix things. He hoped it might bring life back to the empty house. He thought a new family could make things normal again.
He was wrong.
The day his new stepmother and her children moved in his father kicked him out. Adam remembered the moment perfectly.
His father stood in the doorway of his own room. His face was slack and his eyes were unfocused.
"You're a man now," his father had said.
"Time for you to stand on your own two feet." His new stepmother stood behind his father.
She did not say a word. She just watched with a blank expression. The door closed. Adam was left standing on the porch with a single bag of his clothes.
At the time Adam had just graduated from high school. He had only been attending a local college for a few months. He had a part-time job but it was not enough to live on.
Faced with this new reality he had no choice. He dropped out of his classes. He found another job. Then another. A full year had now passed since he left college.
He did not go back. He could not go back. He did not have the money to pay the tuition fees. He had lived through these past months with great difficulty.
The struggle had led him here. It had led him to this street corner with no job and no future.
Adam continued walking until he reached the side of a busy road. He saw an empty bench next to a bus stop and sat down. The wood was cold and hard beneath him.
Cars streamed past in a blur of color and sound.
The sidewalks were filled with people. They walked with purpose. They all had somewhere to go. Men in suits carried briefcases. Women in dresses talked on their phones.
They were busy and part of the world. Adam just sat there. He was a stark contrast to the motion around him. He was a stone in the middle of a river.
He felt utterly frustrated. The feeling was a tight knot in his chest. He was working himself to the bone. He barely slept. He ate cheap noodles and bread. And still he was not earning enough to even sustain himself.
The thought of paying back the $22,000 debt seemed impossible. It was a mountain he could never climb.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. It was a smartphone but it was old and damaged. He did not have the money for a newer model. He had found this one in a pawn shop. He pressed the power button on the side to wake the screen. The device was slow. Its operating system lagged badly.
The screen took a few seconds to light up. A spiderweb of cracks covered the glass. He swiped to unlock it. The motion stuttered across the display.
Every input was delayed. The phone was a constant reminder of his financial state. It was broken and barely functional just like his life.
He stared at the cracked screen for a moment longer. He looked at the simple icons on the home screen. There was nothing he wanted to do. There was no one he wanted to call. He pushed himself to his feet.
He could not sit here all day. He had to keep moving. He had to figure out what to do next. He took a single step forward from the bench.
His old phone was still held loosely in his right hand. He was tired. His mind was a fog of worry and exhaustion.
He tried to step onto the sidewalk to continue his walk. A figure appeared directly in his path. The person was a black shape against the morning light. Adam did not see him until it was too late.
He was not looking where he was going. He was looking at his own feet.
He collided with a tall broad man. The man was dressed in a tailored black suit that looked expensive. He wore black sunglasses that completely obscured his eyes.
The impact was solid and unexpected. It felt like walking into a brick wall. Adam stumbled backward. His tired body had no balance. The phone was knocked from his grasp.
It flew through theair for a brief moment. It tumbled end over end. Then it hit the hard pavement with a sharp crack. The screen went dark.