"The store manager has a lot of complains against you, Dalton, he says you tend to freeze at the worst possible times, which makes you useless as a security guard, and we can't have that, what I'm saying is that you're fired," said Aaron Stanwood, the manager of the security company where Dalton Dorvil had been working for the past four years. The man's tone of voice was rather icy, to the least.
Dalton looked at the manager thoughtfully, analytical rather than emotional in the face of an ambush. He'd been summoned to the security company office for a talk without being told what it was about. Of course, Dalton had his suspicions. One seldom gets summoned to the office for anything good. The look in Aaron's green eyes was absolutely pitiless, and Dalton almost shuddered, as he recalled the eyes of a serpent he'd seen in a video on the Discovery Channel.
The merciless look in the security company manager's eyes were exactly like the serpent's, before the reptile pounced on a mouse in that Discovery Channel video Dalton watched ages ago. No use arguing my case with this one, Dalton thought. The big and tall young black man nodded, and said nothing, then grabbed his backpack and walked out of the security office. Once outside, the frosty winds buffeted his face, reminding him that winter still had Ontario in its icy grip.
"Me and my internal luck," Dalton said to himself as he waited for the bus that would take him from Belle Fast Avenue, to Hurdman Station. From there, he'd catch whatever OC Transpo bus would take him to downtown Ottawa, and then begin his long trek back to Barrhaven, Ontario. As he waited for the buses at Hurdman Station, Dalton mused on his immediate future.
Try as Dalton might, he couldn't stop thinking about the store where he'd worked for the past eleven months. He'd made a lot of friends there, and would miss it. Oh, and he also seethed with anger whenever he thought of the manager who snitched on him. Unfortunately, that's the way it went at those big-box stores. The managers were usually abusive, the co-workers treacherous and deceitful, and the workplace culture one of backstabbing and pettiness. Not much Dalton could do about it, and now, it wasn't his problem any longer...
Dalton Dorvil wasn't the type of fellow who usually let people get close to him. Having lost his parents, Erica and Floyd Dorvil, at a young age, Dalton was traumatized by the experience and suffered from anxiety issues. Later in life, he would develop antisocial tendencies, most of which he kept under control. Dalton worked hard, and showed up on time, and he was polite, if somewhat distant, with most of his co-workers. The one time he actually let people get close to him...he ended up regretting it.
The life of a perpetual recluse definitely wasn't easy. Dalton could count his friends, well, friendly acquaintances on one hand. There were a few people he would miss, now that his graduation from Algonquin College was only a few months away. Dalton intended on getting his police foundations degree, buckle down and study for the LSAT, and then hopefully getting into the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law. This was his endgame...
"Hey big guy," came a voice, startling the hell out of Dalton, who'd been so lost in his thoughts that he temporarily forgot where he was. Dalton blinked and glanced at his surroundings, and silently chastised himself for zoning out once again. Slowly, Dalton took note of the person standing less than a meter from him. A short, slender and kind of tomboyish redhead with freckles, and a beaming smile.
"Hello Ashlyn," Dalton replied, and Ashlyn nodded excitedly, then drew closer to him. Dalton looked at her curiously, this short, slim young Caucasian woman whom he met at Algonquin College, three and a half years ago. At the time, Ashlyn was dating Dalton's old roommate, a young Ethiopian guy named Jericho Berhanu. Ashlyn's relationship with Jericho didn't pan out, but for some reason, odd as it may seem, Ashlyn and Dalton remained friends.
