The Westbrook Games

" The usual " .

Clay blinked , she was pretty good with faces and she was sure she had never seen this man before .

Yet he was asking for his usual .

Clay was not in the mood to humour some drunk ass .

" What would that be sir ? "

The man frowned , obviously displeased with Clay .

He must have seen the dead ass expression on Clay's face .

" A bloody Mary " .

Clay grabbed a glass to fill the man's order .

'' On the rocks ", the man called out .

Clay nodded , grabbed the ice box and filled the man's glass .

She slid the glass over the wide tabletop to the man .

The man nodded at her , the kind of nod you would save for your pals .

Clay did not return his nod , instead she went back to work .

She filled drinks , added ice when it was asked for and wiped the table down every couple of minutes , not because it was dirty but because she could not stand doing nothing .

She looked down at the wrist watch she had placed beneath the counter .

The owner of the bar had forbade having wristwatches while they worked so the customers would not ask for the time .

9 : 45 pm

She still had an hour and fifteen minutes till her shift was over .

She took a deep breath , she would get through this night too .

" Clay !"

She turned to see who had called .

Timmy stood behind her , a frown on his face .

Clay frowned back at him waiting to hear why he had called her .

Timmy did not like her enough to just call out her name for no apparently good enough reason .

" Someone's on the phone for you ".

Clay looked around , it was a Tuesday so there was not a lot of people that the other bartender , Kim could not handle .

She took off her apron as she walked towards Timmy .

Timmy's frown intensified as she drew closer .

The thing was Timmy was an highschool student that was called in only whenever there was a lot to handle .

Their asshole manager had mentioned in front of them all that if any of them lost their jobs , Timmy would be replacing them .

Timmy had decided however that it was Clay's job he wanted .

She entered the back store room , the telephone hung unplugged .

She picked it up .

" Hello ".

There was no reply , only a distant rustling .

" Hello ".

Phone calls made her nervous , they were usually about her sister .

" Jade ? "

" No gorgeous , it's not your sister ".

It was Tommy , he lived in the crumbling apartment complex that she and hersister lived at .

He usually kept her sister company .

" Tommy , Is Jade okay ? "

" Sure are intuitive for a pretty one . Yah I called about your sister , she's been all curled up like she is trying out to be a ball and it's been hours ".

Clay's heart stopped for a second .

" Thank you Tommy , I'll be there in a few ".

She ended the call and was about to walk out of the room when she heard the manager talking .

He was talking to Timmy .

" How long has she been in there ? "

" It's been hours sir. She told me that she was going to be resting for a few minutes so I let her go in but she's been there so long and I even heard hee making a call to a man , probably her boyfriend sir ".

" That crazy lunatic ", the manager spat .

Timmy's voice was coated with honey .

Clay could just imagine the managers 

face , he had always hated Clay maybe because Clay would not call him ' sir ' but she had been here even before he was made manager , so he had not been able to find a good reason to fire him .

She opened the door and stepped out .

The managers face twisted into a very ugly look when he sighted Clay while Timmy's smile stretched impossibly wider .

" You are getting it now . You are ..."

Clay did not let him finish , she interrupted what the manager had been about to say .

" I quit ".

The manager looked quite surprised even though Clay was sure that he had just been about to fire her .

" You ..."

Clay did not have to wait to listen to his shit .

Luckily , she had received a paycheck just last week .

She walked past them and towards the bar , she grabbed her stuff from beneath the counter .

She turned to survey the bar and grabbed two bottles of Monet .

" My pay for the past three days ".

There was no point asking for cash , the manager was not going to give her .

She packed all of her stuff into her backpack and scaled over the bar top .

When she landed on the other side , she realized that everyone was staring .

She brushed them off and adjusted her clothes , she was going to really just leave but she could not .

She grabbed her apron , balled it up and threw it in Timmy's face .

It had the desired effect , Timmy stumbled into the manager and they both fell back .

Clay turned around and exited the building .

She ran all the way home , taking the bus was a luxury she could not afford especially now that she had just lost one of her jobs .

She arrived at their run down building in fifteen minutes , a new record .

The elevator had long since been written off .

They lived on the fifth floor , it took another two minutes for her to reach there .

They lived in unit Fifty - two but Tommy stayed at Fifty - three .

She knocked once and walked in , running towards the only chair that Tommy had that was not completely stained with alcohol and other undecipherable stains .

Jade lay there .

She was curled like a ball .

Her long blonde hair was in a messy ponytail and she had eyeshadow on her eyes .

" Jade ? Baby wake up , I'm here ".

She turned slightly to face her before opening her eyes , her extremely blue eyes .

She was an exact replica of their mum .

" You are here early "

She was also very observant , her blue eyes travelled about her body .

" Yeah , Tommy called me . What's wrong ?"

She rolled her eyes , puckering her little mouth .

" Tommy is a drunk and he's fucking suffering from Paranoia ".

Clay narrowed his eyes , she smiled sweetly .

" Tommy is not a very responsible adult ", she said .

" You like him ", Clay reminded his sister .

She scoffed .

" Liking someone does not mean you have to lie about what the person really is ".

Clay finally saw it , her hands were clasped .

Her sister was very touchy but she had not touched her once since she walked in .

She could not bring herself to touch her , scared of what she would discover .

" The pretty young thing is back , eureka ".

Clay turned to face Tommy , he walked out of his room wearing a see through gown with nothing underneath .

" I'm pretty sure that's not how you use Eureka ", Jade said to him .

He ignored Jade .

" You lost your job , didn't you ?" 

She turned back to Jade and grinned , she had always been perceptive like that .

" Oh honey , you got the quits? I could get you a nice job, Ya know ? "

Clay was about to politely refuse for what was probably the seven hundredth time when her sister beat him to the chase .

" Clay won't be working anywhere around you , go back to bed " .

Tommy looked around like she had lost something .

" The rude brat is right , I best be going to bed ".

Clay quickly pulled out one of the Monet she had taken and placed it on the table .

" For you Tommy, thank you for watching Jade ".

Tommy clapped his hands and ran to her , he picked up the bottle to examine it .

" A Monet ? Just for me ? Tell me rude brat , why wouldn't I love your sister ? "

" Go to bed !" , Jade yelled .

Tommy stood up with the Monet under his armpit and stumbled into hus room .

Clay finally touched her sister , she was so cold , she exhaled .

She was smiling but It did not reach her eyes .

" It doesn't hurt all that much ".

Clay bowed her head , she was angry .

She was always angry .

Why did her seven year old sister have to go through so much pain ?

When she raised her head though , a smile was on her face .

" Let's go to Will " , she announced .

Jade rolled her eyes yet again .

" I don't want to go there , Will's a murderer ".

Clay sighed and bent to lift her into her arms .

" I can walk ".

She ignored her .

" You shouldn't call Will a murderer , he's been nothing but nice to us ".

Will was a doctor whose medical license had been revoked when a patient of his had died during surgery .

He looked at Jade once in a while and told Clay what drugs to buy .

Jade had a heart condition .

She had a hole in her heart and was constantly exhausted and in pain .

She had turned all her free time into time for making creative insults .

" Might as well get a piggyback ride if you're going to carry me ".

She did as she wanted , transferring her to her back and her backpack to hee front .

" I got a calculus textbook today ".

" Should seven year olds be using calculus textbooks ?"

" Who cares ? "

Clay chuckled .

She did not go to school because of her heart condition but Clay was sure she was still better than the kids that attended the best schools .

Dean attended a part time college , she would have long since quit but that seemed to be the only hope she had to take care of her sister .

" If you were fired , does that mean Timmy the goat got your job ? "

" I quit ", She told her .

She laughed quietly .

" Tell me you at least made a dramatic exit ".

" I did ".

She laughed again .

They had arrived at Will's equally run down house .

She entered without knocking , Will never did come to open the door when you knocked .

She went in and found Will asleep on the couch .

The house was a mess .

She kicked the Couch, startling Will into a sudden awakening .

Jade laughed behind her .

Will opened his eyes .

" What are you two asses doing here ? "

Clay could already picture her sister rolling her eyes .

" I need you to have a look at her ".

Will sat up and observed both of them. 

" Take her to a real hospital ".

Will did this every time they came over .

Clay nudged her sister .

She coughed once and then twice .

" Please Uncle Will , help , I think I'm dying ".

Clay frowned , that had not been part of the original speech .

Will rolled his eyes .

" How can you look like an angel and be as foul as the devil ? Take her to the observation room".

Jade yawned , bored .

Clay waited outside the observation room for them .

She had left the Monet inside Will's fridge , he would find it later .

She could hear Will ask her some questions and then see the light from one of the machines .

Will finally opened the door , her sister was sitting on the observation chair .

She was smiling but Clay could see just how exhausted she was .

" Take her to a hospital first thing tomorrow ".

" What ? ", Clay asked .

Will turned to her , his old face tired and full of worry lines .

" Clay , if you don't want to lose that foul mouthed child , take her to a hospital tomorrow morning ".

Clay's heartbeat slowed , everything around her slowed too .

And in this slowed down version of the world , all she could see was her sister's face as she smiled .

A smile that did very little to hide her pain .