Strings That Bind Us

*This story is currently undergoing an extensive rewrite to improve quality. Thanks for the patience.*

The sun shines down on his lawn. Alex is sitting on the swinging bench of his front porch. Several children run around smiling and playing. Some are playing roughly with a ball. The woman to his right shouts at them to be careful. The woman to his left tells her to let them be kids. He smiles as these children, his children, are living up their summer.

School will be starting again soon. An adorable little girl, his daughter, walks up to him carrying a book. She asks if he would read it to her tonight. She will be starting kindergarten this year and she is really excited. He smiles and tell her he would love to.

The woman to his left presses his arm between her breasts. She tells him that he should be heading to work soon. He nods and gives each woman a loving kiss and a hug to each of his children. They mean so much to him. With a wave to their silhouettes, he begins to walk to work. His clothes having already changed.

As he drives to work, the radio turns on by itself. "Hey! Wake the fuck up! What do you think you're doing, sleeping on the job?!" This catches him off guard as his car begins to shake violently before flipping over.

Alex opens his eyes to a slightly stained white ceiling. A gruff looking man with green skin, dreadlocks, and tribal tatoos stands over him with a scowl. "Get back to work, Johnson!"

He quickly climbs back onto his feet off the floor and fixes his uniform. "Sorry, Braka. I didn't get much sleep last night. It won't happen again."

The area around him is familiar. The rows of assorted, overpriced snacks and other almost random nonsense has been burned into his memory. The charging stations outside seem to have a couple cars parked next to them. Currently only his boss and him are inside the store proper.

Braka gives Alex a stern look. "I'll let it slide this time. Just make sure you actually do your job. Go take care of yourself, you look like the bottom of a dumpster."

He nods groggily. Sleeping has been difficult the last couple weeks. Between the orphanage he grew up in shutting down and everyone he knew moving away, he has been a little on edge. Not to mention being stuck at a deadend job he hates, even if his coworkers make it a bit more tolerable.

The rest of his shift is uneventful. The trek to his home is uneventful. The television has nothing that catches his interest. Alex lays down in bed, putting his phone on charge and setting it on a small bookshelf next to him. Each shelf is empty and a little dusty. 'Should get some sleep while I can. I have another double shift tomorrow, after all.'

In the midst of the night, while he lays staring off into nothing, his phone rings out. He is a little frustrated as he lies to himself about almost falling asleep. Looking at his screen, he sees a message from an unknown number. Judging by the openning message he are certain it is a scammer or Brian lost his phone again. He decides to go ahead and reply. It isn't like he had anything else he could do for now.