ABC Chapter 2-The Clean Karma

[ILiveOnTheChatBox123 936]

The ABC-Arid Burial Crew

 

 

 

.

 

The Clean Karma

Chapter 2

 

By ILiveOnTheChatBox123

Disclaimer: All plagiarism is purely coincidental, and it just means that the author has a great imagination. All similarities to real events or occurrences or any resemblance to real life may have actually inspired these daydreams that this writing is based on. In a more likely event, it is absolutely coincidental in all forms. So consider yourself disclaimed.

 

This series so far: ABC Chapter 1-The Mysterious Graveyard

 

Cast so far: Scarlet and Ellen are coworkers in an office somewhere in Tankisville.

 

 

Recap from The Mysterious Graveyard: Scarlet and Ellen spend the night camping in ‘A Grave Affair’, a hut formerly used for a security guard in the cemetery. Scarlet had told co-workers to come by at night and try to scare Ellen. They heard terrifying noises, but their co-workers forgot to come and make them.

 

In the last Chapter we ended off:

 

“Now where did those noises come from? Stay tuned to find out.”

 

---

He dug his suit out of his closet, although Josh didn’t wear it often. He was more of an outdoorsman, and he despised such garments that are hard to work in. However, today Josh wanted to dress somewhat more formal, as is the practice with corporate interviews, such as the one Josh was attending.

 

 

Josh rarely took the Tankisville bus. It was simply that the county bus took more of a direct route to his former office. Additionally, he enjoyed biking on the popular bike route that went into town. Nonetheless, today he took the Tankisville bus, since it led directly to the location of his potential boss. Also, he wouldn’t exactly bike, as hefty gray rain clouds loomed overhead.

 

 

Josh found himself a seat on the bus, folded umbrella in hand. It wasn’t too long of a ride, not more than 5 miles. The bus route even ran parallel to part of the cycling route he enjoyed. But it did afford him the opportunity to analyze his previous interviews. He knew they can take quite some time to be processed, and he hadn’t received too many rejections. He had not gotten the job at the local Tanki office. He met the minimum age requirement, and had the experience necessary of a Major. But that was more of an outlier, as it was likely due to his lack of proficiency in Russian.

 

 

Josh did not really have a problem with his working record. He hadn’t been fired by his previous boss at Barnwood Inc., it just simply closed down. He had worked long hours, yet he rarely missed a day. He never got the promotion he wanted. It likely was that office jobs didn’t quite desire an outdoor lumber laborer. If only he could get something outdoors that had a decent pay he would be more than happy to accept it. At this point he was willing to take any job that had a decent pay. However, unlike in Tanki, he didn’t have a clean karma.Yes, he likely had difficulty getting a job due to his criminal record. Josh was reminiscing about those past days. It hadn’t really affected him right away, as he had gotten off on community service, but now it really was affecting him.

 

It had been back in high-school, quite a while back. He started hanging out with the wrong crowd. Billy and Willie were not so bad, except they met to smoke once a week at the local park. Josh also liked to smoke from time to time so he went along. When his grades started dipping, he simply sat behind Willie and cheated off his test. Then, when this nightly club started drinking alcohol, Josh had wanted out. But since his ‘membership’ in the club came with free hundreds, he just stuck around, although he didn’t partake. When they started on drugs, he no longer knew what they were doing. He merely hung around to chat, while they were busy with unknown substances.

 

 

So one Tuesday after school, Willie told him he wasn’t feeling well, and he wasn’t sure he could make it that night. So he gave him a bag to bring to the club in case Willie couldn’t show up.     Josh never opened the bag to check its contents, but he thought something suspicious was in there. That night when he got to the hangout, he lifted the bag and called for Billy. Then, several plainclothes officers surrounded them, and demanded Billy open the bag. They even brought a search warrant from Judge Lester, as it seems some adults had brought up this matter to the police. When they found illegal substances in there, they arrested Billy and Josh, and later they faced charges. Since they were only minors, Judge Lester had sentenced them to 50 hours of community service, in up keeping the local Tankisville cemetery. They worked after school, mostly taking care of overgrowth from this old cemetery. He had not minded mowing grass, trimming branches, and uprooting weeds. However, it all came back to haunt him when he left school to start working. The police had left a file stating that he was a criminal, and that had he been an adult, he would have gotten 2 years of prison time.

 

 

Josh had appealed this file, but Judge Lester was not interested. Josh had withdrawn his appeal after he saw it was not going anywhere, and it was too expensive to fight for an unemployed person. Therefore, he had a lengthy application period until he got a job. The old man who owned and ran Barnwood Inc. did not believe in doing any research. It wasn’t such a great job, as it was poorly run, and it didn’t offer him any way in working his way up the ‘ladder’ from a standard laborer. Nevertheless, he stayed to keep some employment. Yet when this old boss had retired and had taken the company with him, then Josh was back to square one.

 

 

As the Tankisville bus sped down the road, Josh saw the old Tankisville Cemetery. Yet this time he noticed some ugly black gates had been added. Additionally, a big billboard hung, advertising for the new Arid Burial Crew that had taken over the cemetery since some 10 years ago when he had done his community service there. He noticed they were offering positions in the company, so Josh quickly jotted the number down, and he planned to apply later.

 

 

Josh got off the bus at his stop in town, and he went to his interview. He had most of the questions mostly prepared, and he was able to explain why he wanted to work here, his goals, and he went through most of the interview well. Then his potential boss asked him if he thought he would get the job despite his criminal file. Josh stumbled a bit, but remained cool. He answered “I could have done more to prevent it, although it was not entirely my fault. I have put the past behind me in the last 10 years, and I would love to continue to do so by excelling in this company”. He seemed impressed by the response, and jotted some notes down, as he wrapped things up. Then he proceeded on with a tour of the office, and he explained to Josh how some of the things run. Then, as per the old Tankisville tradition, Josh ate lunch in the office’s kitchen with the other employees. He had brought a sandwich from home.

 

 

Josh started to strike up conversation with some of the employees. “Hi Josh, I am Scarlet,” one of the employees said, obviously reading his nametag. “Where have you worked previously,” she asked. “Hi Scarlet, I worked in Barnwood Inc. but they closed down recently. I also did some community service a while back at that old Tankisville Cemetery.” “Did you really?” Scarlet exclaimed. “Ellen you hear that?” she motioned to a co-worker down the table. “Were there these strange things there then also?” Josh felt intrigued. “When I had been there it had been the most boring place on the planet. If only something interesting had happened while I was still there, I was bored stiff!” “I don’t think you would have been so happy if such scary things had happened, unless you are the kind of guy who plays the Tanki Halloween map nonstop,” Scarlet responded. Scarlett and Ellen proceeded to tell over the story of all those strange signs, and the scary madness that took place at 2 o’clock. Josh replied that he knew nothing about it, and he said goodbye and went back home.

 

 

On the bus back, it was really starting to pour, and some lighting and thunder went through this rainstorm. It was an extremely empty bus, and he figured no one there would mind if he made a phone call to check out this ABC Company. It did not hurt to apply for a job there too, he thought.

 

Josh dialed the number, and reached the receptionist. He was expecting something tune of “ABC offices, how can I help you?” as is the conventional method. Instead, he heard the voice at the other end of the line say “Hi pal, what’s up?”

 

 

Josh quickly regained his wits, then he thought it likely was an old friend of his that now worked there, and he recognized Josh’s number. Hence, he gave him an atypical reply. “The sky is up, and it sure isn’t blue,” Josh said, as he glanced towards the overhead rainstorm.

 

 

“Sure Bill, I’ll transfer you to Willie,” the receptionist replied. Josh was entirely confused, but soon enough he was speaking to this Willie.

 

 

“Hi Bill, it all happens tonight at ‘A Grave Affair’.” Josh quickly heard a click, and his call was no longer connected. Now he was entirely unsure of how to make sense out of what had transpired. To be continued.

 

 

Author's note; if you think this story is not good enough, and you can easily do better, so then please do so! The first story in this series won me loads of crystals in 'Finish The Story' contest, so if you really can do better, you could have cashed in big-time. So start writing your stupendous pieces and fill the AWS. Maybe with all your participation we can revive some of these contests!

 

Happy Writing!

 

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Edits:

Nope. As usual, top-tier work doesn't need any changes.

Approved.

 

Well done! The first installment had me hooked, and this chapter is just as good as I had hoped for! Keep it up - you could just win AWS author of the year!

 

Tidebreaker

[Person_Random 4,991]

Excellent story!  It's kind of sad that a stain on your career really leaves you mostly unable to move up, which really, really sucks. though there have been a few cases where that isn't true.  I love the plot of the story, though I was a little confused when it switched to a different set of characters, but I'm sure you'll find a way to weave in these two stories.  Can't wait for the third installment of this series.

 

Btw, you may have noticed, this textwall is a tad shorter than my previous ones.  Yes, schoolwork is starting to take over...and so is the strikethrough and Trebuchet MS

 

Also @Tidebreaker, there are AWS authors of the year?  If so, can I try my hand at it jk lol