Basil didn't
Basil grunted. He could feel his head ache, as well as multiple other paths of his body.
The lights in the room pierced his closed eyes and slowly opened them. Hospital. They must have brought him here…after everything.
In front of him stood Sunny. His same silent expression, but Basil could tell it was different, in some way.
The two of them stared at each other.
Sunny was the first to speak.
"...it's over. I told them."
"...it's over?" Basil repeated in question.
"...it's over." Sunny said with a rare smile.
Basil smiled back. He could feel something heavy that had been weighing him down slowly disappear.
Things will be different. Things will be difficult.
But they'd work it out.
They'd figure things out together.
They'll get all the help they need.
…Sunny did.
Basil didn't. He reminded himself of that as he rubbed his tired eyes and shut off his alarm clock.
He sits up on his mattress, blanket still on, and stares off into space for just a few moments. Then he sighs, massages the space between his eyes and turns on the radio haphazardly as he randomly smacks his hand around the tiny table near his bed.
"-and this song goes out to all you early morning risers, and to hope you all have a pleasant day. Sugar Town, by Nancy Sinatra. We'll be right back with you shortly."
"Oh. Yay." Basil sighed to nobody. He really did not want an awfully annoying cheery song this morning. He'd switch to the classical music channel but he couldn't be bothered.
Walking over to his kitchen, he pulls out a reheatable meal of sausages and scrambled eggs. He pressed some buttons half-heartedly on his microwave and the meal started to heat up. At the same time, he pulls out a slice of bread and slots it into his toaster.
He pours himself a cup of coffee as he waits.
…the coffee is cold.
He hears the microwave timer go off and takes out his meal. He takes off the plastic, grabs a fork and bites into the sausage.
…the sausage is also cold on the inside.
The toaster timer goes off as well. Basil takes it and puts some of his scrambled eggs on it.
…the eggs are dry and chewy. The toast isn't even properly warm or crispy.
He needs to start coming up with better breakfasts.
Nevertheless, he gobbles it all up. Unsatisfying, but filling.
Filling is all he needs.
…shower?
…no, he'll just do it when he gets back.
Taking off his thin sleepwear t-shirt and shorts, Basil throws on a green-blue check patterned shirt with a grey hooded jacket, along with a pair of blue jeans and a brown belt.
'Work attire'. Basil looked in the mirror and frowned. He didn't look like he was going for a job, more like hang out in a coffee shop for seven hours.
He sighs and grabs his work bag, taking a quick proper stretch before heading off to his job.
Basil walks down the steps from his apartment and onto the street pavement. He waves a couple of people good morning, but mainly keeping his eyes on the road. He heard someone talk about his dark eyebags, but he ignored them.
"Back straight, soldier." A voice says, followed by a firm slap on the back. "Time for work."
"Hey, Kim." Basil replies, trying his best to sound polite. He didn't even realise he was slouching. "Uhm, morning."
"Hey, I'm kidding. Take your time." Kim says with a chuckle. "We're early. We don't gotta show up for another half hour and we're only like, 3 minutes away."
Kim had, and still has a slightly complicated history with Basil. She used to be his bully. One of the bullies. Then she became his friend, for a temporary period of time.
Then when Basil moved out of Faraway, they found each other when working at the same news outlet together in the city.
She was one of the only few people Basil could call a friendly face in his daily life now.
"...can I have that coffee?" Basil says, pointing at her paper cup, steam coming out of it in the cold air.
"Really?" Kim says, looking at her cup with a half frown, half grin. "I know you take yours black. This one's got milk."
"Yeah, it's just…mine was cold this morning."
Kim gives a small laugh. "Wow. Okay, but you owe me one. That means us going out for coffee together whenever, wherever, okay?"
Basil nodded as he accepted Kim's coffee from her and took a huge gulp. He didn't hate going out with Kim from time to time, but he felt like it was misleading. Almost like they were dating. Which wasn't true.
He felt like even Kim wouldn't set her standards so low to date someone like him.
"So, uhm, any big plans today?" Kim asks. "We both don't have work tomorrow, some of us are going out for drinks tonight. You-"
"Kim, I don't- I don't drink often, you know?" Basil says, slightly exhausted.
"I know, I know!" Kim quickly responds. "But it's not a bar, just a nice place to eat, you can get whatever you want, and there's food! Come on, please?"
Basil looks at Kim, then sighs and nods his head.
"Sure, alright. I'll go."
"Yes! Alright, cool!" Kim replies, slapping him on the back again, and Basil nearly stumbles over. "Hey, this will be good. Trust me."
"If you say so."
"Hey, where would you be without me, aye? Probably like, I dunno, someone who never has any fun in his life and drinks cold coffee in the morning."
"Simon, they're waiting on your photos." Basil says, tapping his cart impatiently as Simon starts to type away rapidly. "They're pretty urgent about this, and they're asking why the website team got their photos first."
"Yes yes, that's what I'm trying to figure out! But the print shop that was supposed to deliver the photos didn't send them! Look-" Simon stands up from his desk. "I-I need to rush down to the shop, 5 minutes, maybe 10. Could you tell them something like…I-I dunno, that I wasn't at my desk, and was running emergency errands, something similar!"
Basil didn't get any time to reply as Simon rushed past him and towards the stairs. He stares, then shrugs and walks on over to another table.
"Dyla, congrats, approval." Basil hands his colleague a large orange envelope.
"Wait, seriously?" Dyla smiles as she opens up the envelope. "Holy shit, okay! Wow, alright! I thought they'd tell me it was a resource waste like every other case I've suggested!"
"And you thought wrong." Basil replies. "Uhm, what was it you wanted to report on again? Something about…a-a restaurant branch?"
"Yeah, 'Moez and Joez', that nice place with the pizza. They've got good food, and opened all across the city, but apparently they're underpaying most of their workers, waiters and chefs and what not." Dyla answers, skimming through the files handed to her.
"Hope it goes well." Basil says, trying his best to sound enthusiastic, knowing he failed at doing so as soon as the words had left his mouth.
He rolls over his cart. "Okay, Garry…uh nothing exciting, just some mail from your grandma. Can't you just tell her to mail it to your home?"
"Nope. Thanks, Basil." Garry replies, opening the letter.
Basil gives a random "mmh" and walks over to the next desk. Or at least, he was supposed to.
"Boss called." Kim says, rolling a cart of her own as she comes up beside him. "Like, called you, into his office."
"W-what?! I'm not about to get fired, right?"
"Did you do anything wrong?"
"...no?"
"Then you'll be fine, I don't think he's going to eat you." Kim says with a laugh and smile before grabbing Basil's cart handle. "Hurry up now, I'll take your stuff."
Basil confusingly nodded and walked up to the head office.
"The Usual Feed", the newspaper and news outlet where he worked at, wasn't as big as it needed to be. It wasn't a bustling busy building, but that didn't mean they weren't good. Basil has seen the numbers of papers sold, they were big. Couple that with a cheap online subscription that gives you the news on the Internet, and you've got a decent business. Not as big as some other newspaper sellers, but still big.
Basil's boss, Hilland Holdt, wasn't someone Basil saw too regularly. It was either passing on important documents, company parties, that sort of thing. But Basil knew he wasn't your typical angry screamer.
Originally, Basil had come here to see if he could become a reporter for the company. Unfortunately, not only did Basil not meet the proper qualifications, they also weren't accepting any new reporters at that time.
But they needed a mail clerk to pass items and information around the office. Someone to walk around and pass others stuff. Basil had accepted, for he had stuff like rent and food to pay for, and at that time was desperately unemployable and unemployed.
And now he needed to come face to face with the head.
He knocked on the door.
"Come in!"
Basil slowly opened the door.
Mister Holdt was sitting at his desk, reading something on his computer on his right, with a laptop on his left playing some sort of podcast.
"-AND THAT RECKLESS BEHAVIOUR IS EXACTLY WHY I BELIEVE NEW YORK IS CONSTANTLY ON THE VERGE OF COLLAPSE, BECAUSE OF THAT SPIDER-MENACE! JARED, CUT TO-"
Holdt taps the space on his laptop and the sound instantly stops.
"Alright! Moretta! New York sounds like a crazy place to stay, aye? Alright, I've got good news and bad news."
"Am I getting fired?" Basil asks with no hesitation.
"What? No! It's more of like a…" He struggles to find the words. "Look, just good news or bad news, choose one."
Basil shrugged. "The…bad news?"
"Bad news, not only will you have to work tomorrow in the afternoon, but I'm throwing you a big responsibility that shouldn't have to be yours in the first place."
"...the good news?"
"The good news is I'm paying you a little over twice your usual salary for it. Winston called in sick for a week, doctor's certificate and what not. I'm not paying him, and there's no one I've found that could take his place for the scheduled Life Foundation interview tomorrow."
"Huh?" Basil puts his hands up in defence. "Sir, I'm not exactly qualified-"
"You'll be fine!" Holdt says, waving him off. "Besides, you first came here cause you wanted to be a reporter, right? I'll get Winston to send you whatever he has, so check your inbox later. Do this for me, and I'll either give you a pay raise, or get you one step closer to that job you want. "
Basil hesitated. He thought about it for a few moments, then slowly nodded his head.
"...alright sir. I'll do it. "
Holdt claps his hands."THAT is what I like to hear! Alright, get back to work, you'll get an email soon."
With that, Basil leaves the room with a stinging nervous sensation in his body.
"You could've said no, you know." Kim says, leaning in and looking at Basil scrolling through the information on his phone. "You could've had the day off like everyone else AND someone else more qualified would have taken this. You're kind of an idiot, you know that?"
"U-um, well, Holdt said if I took this, there's a higher chance he'll promote me, and I'll really be a reporter for the company."
Kim stared at him with a frown. "You traded a whole free day for a POTENTIAL promotion? My gosh you are an idiot, I think you need a drink more than anyone here." She waves her hand around to ask for a waiter.
"I don't want a drink, Kim. I just… I just want to eat and read this, okay?" Basil replies, picking up a fried drumstick from a plate on the table.
"Trust me, a drink will be good for you. You'll work a little better, probably, I dunno. You look frickin awful is what I'm trying to say." Kim turns to the waiter. "Yo, can we get like a uh, like a regular beer bottle for this table. Scratch that, make it a can, because I doubt this moron could even handle a bottle."
"Haha." Basil says in a dead monotone, not looking away from his screen.
"Look at you two lovebirds." Garry says, sitting across the table from them with two other colleagues. "Always so close, just get a room."
"No one asked you Garry. Now shush, the two of us are having a very super important mail clerk slash improvised gofer conversation, not involving you." Kim answers with a laugh, picking up her mug of beer and taking a sip before turning back to Basil.
"Space travel, biological studies, Life Foundation really is amazing, huh?" Basil says, going through the Life Foundation website that Winston had linked to him. Basil needed to make sure he asked all the right questions, and he needed to make sure he knew enough about who he was interviewing.
"Uh, sure, I guess. I don't really know much about stuff like that. Then again, you probably don't either. Hey, remember I used to call you a nerd?" Kim asks with an elbow nudge.
"Yeah…" Basil replies slowly with a nervous laugh. "You called me that when you used to beat me up, called me a…freak and a creep."
"...uh yeah, I called you those things too." Kim says, looking away and drinking from her mug silently in guilt.
She regrets sitting so close now. Maybe she shouldn't have been so buddy buddy.
There's a moment of awkwardness between them as they don't face each other, thinking about the past.
"Uhm…so…wanna tell me more about these uh, Life Foundation dudes?" Kim speaks up, hoping to break the silence between them.
"H-huh? Oh, uh, well tomorrow I'll be interviewing one of their lead scientists, who's all the way from New York apparently, but moved here for the job." Basil pulls up an image and shows it to Kim.
"Oof, yeah, proper nerd. He's even got square glasses and a lab coat."
"You have square glasses."
"Yeah but they're like cool square glasses, you know? Maybe you should get some glasses, it'd probably do you some good to draw attention away from those ugly eye bags."
"How would wearing glasses make people focus less on my eyes?"
"Psh, you don't get it." Kim says with and waves it off. "Oh, here's your drink." She passes the beer can over to Basil.
"Kim, I really don't-"
"Just a drink never did no one any harm, you damn pussy! You need some fun in your life, you constantly look like you're on the edge of despair or whatever whenever I see you." She plucks the phone out of his hands and gives him the drink.
"...I dunno." Basil replies, looking down at the can.
"Look, Basil, buddy, pal, look at me." Kim says, putting both hands on Basil's head and turning it towards her. "I know the work on the science thing is important or whatever, but you gotta relax. Just for the next 30 minutes or hour or whatever, just have some fun. There's food, there's drinks, relax!"
She lets go and slaps him firmly on the back. He winces.
"See what I mean? God, we're only like 20, why do you already have back pains?"
Basil stares at the drink in his hands, then reluctantly lifts it up and gulps it down.
"Alright!" Kim says, lifting her beer mug. "Now we're getting somewhere!" She takes a big gulp of her own before slamming it down.
Basil did his best to mimic her action with his can and smiled. He didn't do that often, for many reasons.
Kim was a good friend. Basil was glad to have her around.
Today was quite a day. He'll tell Sunny all about it over the phone when he gets home.
"What?! Why would I steal your freaky alien goop?!" The man shouts, his hands and legs bound to a chair.
Carlton sighs. Though, he couldn't expect mediocre to understand brilliance. "They're called Symbiotes. And you might be a spy for our competitors who I know would kill for what I have. I'll ask you again, do you have my symbiote?"
"Hey, I flew to a fucking asteroid to get these dangerous aliens for you! And if that wasn't enough, I'm keeping quiet about it and had to lie about it to my family, so if you think-"
An armed thug slaps the man across the face with force. "Answer the damn question. Where is Mister Drake's missing property?"
"I don't know, I really don't know!"
"You're lying." Carlton says. "I know you're lying, so why don't you skip the part where I torture you and just tell me where it is?"
Another thug walks up and holds a knife close to the man's throat.
"I-I swear, I have no damn clue! I-if your aliens really went missing, it might’ve escaped at that crash site you picked me up in, th-that's all that I think could've happened, because I got you all you asked for, all six!"
"Clearly not." Carlton replies. "Well, thank you mister Taaler, but I'm afraid your incompetence has already been determined from this incident. Luckily, I'm giving you the chance to soar to greatness!"
The two armed men walk out of the room, and Carlton follows right after, shutting the glass door behind him.
"H-hey! Wait, what, you're just gonna leave me here?" The man shouts, but Carlton stares at him blankly.
A whirring steam release sound is heard behind the chair. The man can't see it, he wants to turn his body around and see what just happened, but he can't. He hears something wet sliding across the floor, getting louder as it gets closer. But he can't do anything.
He feels a wet slimy sensation brush against his skin as it climbs up from his ankles, then onto his body, then inside.
For a moment, the slimy sounds stop. The man stops panting in fear and sighs in relief.
Then something crushes him from within and he screams.