VOLUME l: Fall of the Mazzanti

It was about 6 pm, and my last shift of the day was about to end in an hour or so.

It would have been a typical day at work until I broke the restaurant's only functional ice cream machine by spilling the hot coffee on the coolant's motherboard, completely frying the circuit hanging loose.

The Karen of my workplace, aka. Catelynn Bator, Manager, a Hungarian with generic brown hair and eyes who was 35 years old, gave me a sermon of bad-mouthing.

This happened exactly a fortnight after I snapped one of the coffee tables in half along with the coffee brewing machine on it. It's such a pity I even used to take quick afternoon naps on the table.

Even though I paid for the damages the guys at work still didn't let me off.

Sometimes I fucking forget how unlucky I am, naming me the 'Son of Misfortune' would be an understatement.

"The mad bitch started her second round of cursing of that day and even went as far as to say things like 'Even a fucking dog would do a better job than you, heck even the dog would feel ashamed for being compared to you.'

And 'No wonder your sister is a dumbass with not even knowing who to get eloped with; a pretty-faced idiot and you being her brother are even worse than clumsy monkey that keeps irritating everyone with your way of work. You guys are just a perfect pair of stupidity.'

I didn't care about myself getting insulted, but when she spouted slanders at my sister, something in me snapped and. Ha! Ha! Ha!" Ethan huffed feeling breathless before he could continue to speak further.

"I trotted up to her glaring her in the eye then proceeded to shove the greasy apron I had on me with residues of sauces on her face and continued to do so until the puffy cosmetics she regularly puts on herself was smeared with it," Ethan then stops for a moment to take a sip of his drink.

SLURP! Haaaa!

"She struggled by waddling her fat-filled arms but couldn't do much to stop me as the apron muffled cries. But that wasn't enough to quell me, a carton of milk caught my eye and dumped it all over her head," said Ethan to the only person he could speak to freely about his worries and miseries, his drinking bud.

.....

Catelynn was dumbfounded at the fact that the clumsy and dull bastard took the offensive this time around.

She would almost regularly throw curses at him, but the sloth wouldn't budge an eye and would only tilt his head downwards to stare at the ground.

To think just one round of bad-mouthing of his sister made him explode like a rabid dog.

.....

"I guarantee she wouldn't dare to bad mouth anyone's sister after the violent episode of sauce smearing, feeling kinda satisfied by my art I left through the backdoor and also remembered to leave a pleasant design on her Toyota car with my keychains," said Ethan pouring out his thoughts in his head to the elder bartender.

The bartender didn't know whether to feel good for Ethan getting his back on his boss or to feel sad for him that he lost his job again.

Ethan murmured in regret, "I should have endured that bitch for another three days for the salary day, fuck did I have to be so rash?"

Marcus, the bartender, a 30-year-old ex-soldier, was an American who served in Iraq for 2 years but had to leave service early due to an injury that burnt his retina losing vision within one of his eyes.

Marcus said, "That's the fifth job you quit this year, how long do you plan to keep this up for, you brat? Oh, and this is on the house."

Marcus Brightborn sighed as he looked at the young teenager and offered him another two drinks to soothe his sorrows.

Ethan Rosewood was quite good with his studies that is until he turned 17, just around the time when his sister, Julia got dragged into bad social circles around the neighborhood and got involved as a victim even though she was innocent.

They had escaped the incident due to their connections with people in high positions but trapped my innocent little sister.

Julia and her friends had accidentally witnessed illegal dealings take place at the harbor but were caught by the ruffians.

Her friends somehow convinced the rogues that they would be in a worse situation if they harmed them due to their connections.

Julia, however, was just a poor young girl from a family on the lower end of society with no influence.

Julia got hit in the head as she was trying to escape the scene where the infamous Mafia family was secretly distributing drugs and was caught by them and then beaten black and blue until she gave in to unconsciousness.

She was left dilapidated on the footpath like a used rag doll.

Ethan had felt angry not at the Mafia but at himself as he couldn't even help save or do something for his only sister because he just wasn't strong enough.

Since then, Ethan and his parents have been trying to gather money for his sister's treatment while she is in a coma.

As for Ethan's father, Denver had a modest occupation as a clerk in a small fish firm. He only earned enough to run the family and fill their bellies.

Since then, Ethan has been taking on odd jobs for his sister's sake.

Regretfully, it was the 2020s almost every high-paying job required a degree of education which he didn't have beyond the 11th grade.

So, he had to watch as his classmates and buddies pursued higher studies while he was still stuck doing low-paying jobs.

What did my family do to deserve this?

Ethan sighed at his misfortune.

.....

Ethan's been a very bright and positive personality who considered the entire world his family that is until the incident with his sister, it had broken something deep within him.

Since then, he and his poor family have been asking for help from their relatives.

But they simply turned their heads the other way and crudely said," It is simply her misfortune to have entangled with those people, not our fault, is it? So, why should we give away our hard-earned money?"

Tch! Fucking greedy bastards might as well tell us in the face you won't lend us the freaking money.

Since then, Ethan lost his trust in almost every human except for his family and some of his friends like Marcus who supported him during his hardships.

.....

Marcus peered through his only light brown eye at the lean, jet-black-haired young man in front of him leaning forward to reach out for his drink from the counter.

He felt it was a shame that such a young lad with a promising future had to waste away his youth due to the machinations of human society.

Ethan took the two glasses of Mojito downed them in his mouth then left the pub for his run-down family's rented apartment half drunk yet half sober.

After wobbling on his legs for about 15 minutes, Ethan came across a villa with a kennel at the leftmost side.

He peered into the shroud of darkness within the kennel only to spot a white & grey colored canine with a golden collar sauntering out of its little wooden house.

Looks like a Siberian Husky or some mountain wolf breed of it, you don't bite, right?

Ethan murmured in his drunkenness,

It doesn't have rabies, does it?

He continued with a sigh tinged with regret as the dog came closer,

Even a dog has a better life than me, at least you don't have to wake up every day with the worry of earning money. So, you can survive another day.

The dog's shiny azure eyes looked at him quietly.

Ethan rummaged through his long overcoat and took out a small packet of cookies.

Opening the packet, he bent on his knees while the dog's eyes were bright with excitement, leaning closer smelling a treat.

He patted the dog and fed it some of the cookies then he went out to take some himself so that his emptied stomach would be filled.

Since he had neither lunch nor dinner.

Finally, continued to take his drunk lonesome self home.

Ethan passed by a snow-laden playground, as the new year is tomorrow.

That empty field of snow was the place he used to enjoy playing in during his childhood days and he remembers glimpses of his past.

He used to go down the slide with his best friend Luna, a chubby and energetic tomboy who used to push him from behind to urge him to go faster.

She had the children of the entire neighborhood wrapped around her finger and was basically the boss of the juvenile clique.

Sigh, how I still miss those good old days when I didn't have a care in the world and only enjoyed what little satisfaction life gave for it was with a happy smile.

Now they are in the past only left with memories of those moments that bring sadness every day.

Ethan reminiscences his past.

SWOOOOSH!!! ACHOO!!

A gust of cold wind seemed to blow by, and Ethan felt chills run down his spine which gave him an urge to sneeze.

He once again continued to wobble on his feet with shoes that made slogging noises as they rubbed against the concrete footpath under the crystal-clear moonlight in the azure night sky.