The Forgotten Son’s System

Williams Miller stood outside the tall glass doors of the company and stared at his cheap watch. He was already thirty minutes late. His heart beat hard against his chest. He knew what would happen if the supervisor caught him.

He pushed the door open and walked into the changing room with a blank face. One of the other guards looked up and almost dropped his bag.

“Brother Williams! Why are you so late today?”

Williams lifted his head slowly. He checked the time again. His face went pale.

“Has the supervisor seen that I’m not here yet?” he asked in a low voice.

A cold, angry voice answered from behind him.

“No. I haven’t seen it yet.”

Williams froze. He turned around. The supervisor stood there with her arms crossed. She was not pretty, and her eyes looked full of hate. Several other guards stood around her. They all watched him like they were waiting for a show.

Williams forced himself to speak. “Madam Supervisor, I’m truly sorry. My house is far. I had to walk the whole way.”

She laughed once. It was a sharp, mean sound. “Walk from the moon for all I care. You are thirty minutes late. That is enough.”

Williams felt the cold feeling crawl up his back. He had felt this same feeling three times before in his life. The first time was when the police came to say his parents died in a plane crash five years ago. The second time was when his uncle threw him out of the family house with only one bag of clothes. The third time was just four days ago.

That night he had come home early. He opened the door of his small room and heard strange sounds. At first he thought his girlfriend was watching a video on her phone. Then he saw them.

His cousin was on the dirty mattress with her. They both looked at Williams and did not stop. After it was over, his cousin stood up, wiped himself, and laughed.

“It took you long enough to catch us,” he said. “We’ve been doing this since you moved here.”

Williams’s girlfriend sat up and looked at him with no shame. Her voice was soft, almost kind, and that made it worse.

“I stayed with you for five years because of a bet,” she said. “Your cousin said you would become nothing after your parents died. I wanted to see if he was right. He was. You will never amount to anything in your miserable life again.”

Williams had lost control that night. He jumped on his cousin and beat him until the neighbors called the police. He spent three days in jail. When he came out, nothing was left.

Now even this last job was about to disappear.

The supervisor stepped closer. She looked at his ordinary clothes and wrinkled her nose. “I’ve been looking for a reason to fire you for a long time. Your cousin paid me well for this moment. You’re done here. Get out.”

Williams’s legs felt weak. For a second he wanted to drop to his knees and beg. Then something inside him pushed back. He straightened his back and looked her in the eye.

“I worked hard every day,” he said. His voice shook, but he did not look away. “I never came late before. If you fire me because of money from my cousin, then say it clearly in front of everyone.”

The changing room went quiet. Some of the guards looked at the supervisor. She stared at Williams for a long moment, then smiled wider.

“Fine. Your cousin paid me to fire you. Now get out.”

She stepped forward, spat straight into his face, and walked away laughing.

Williams stayed still. The spit ran down his cheek. One kind guard helped him stand up and spoke soft words, but Williams barely heard them. He picked up his bag and walked out of the company for the last time.

Outside, the sun was bright, but he felt cold. He walked all the way back to the small room he rented. When he reached the door, his bag was already sitting on the ground outside. The lock would not turn. The landlady opened her own door and looked at him with tired eyes.

“Your cousin paid the rest of the rent and told me to throw you out. I’m sorry, boy. I need the money.”

Williams sat on the cold concrete with his back against the locked door. He cried until his eyes hurt. When he finally stood up, he put the bag on his shoulder and started walking with no place to go.

“Isn’t death better than all this suffering?” he whispered to himself.

He looked at the busy road. A big truck was coming fast. For a moment he thought about stepping in front of it. His feet moved closer to the edge.

Then a cold, mechanical voice spoke inside his head for the first time.

[How unfortunate could this poor system be to be assigned to such a weak and useless host?]

Williams stopped. His eyes went wide. He looked around, but no one was near him.

“Who… who’s there?” he asked out loud.

The truck passed by with a loud horn. Williams stood frozen on the sidewalk, heart pounding, as the strange voice waited for him to answer.