The morning wasn't kind.
It never was.
A single ray of sun peeked through the torn curtain as Nolan rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"What… time is it?" he muttered.
He was still sleepy. It was hard to get a good night's sleep when there was too much on his mind.
The clock showed seven in the morning. It was still early but he needed to start working anyway. There were too many things he needed to settle.
As he thought about that, he stared at the envelope on the floor like it was a venomous thing.
"The rent…"
He didn't need to open it. He already knew what it said.
But pretending it didn't exist wouldn't stop reality from knocking again.
He sat up slowly, bones stiff from the cold mattress, and picked it up. Opened it. Read the number again.
$450.00
Everything was due today.
It marked three months of missed rent. No more extensions. Mrs. Halvorsen had been kind, maybe too kind. But kindness had its own expiry date, too.
"Happy three-month anniversary," he muttered to himself, tossing the paper back onto the mattress.
"I'd say let's celebrate, but all I've got is nothing and depression."
He leaned forward, elbows on knees, and rubbed his face. The problem wasn't that he didn't try. God knew how hard had he tried.
It was that every time he got close to breathing room, some invisible hand reached into his wallet or account and tore everything away.
He reached for his phone. Opened his banking app. He believed that Panda Dash had paid for his work a few days ago, today.
[Balance: $1.00]
Nolan stared at the number, jaw tightening. Just the minimum amount left.
"No way," he whispered. "Not again. I just received the money."
A new transaction blinked at the top of the list.
[Auto-Debit: Loan Payment Successful]
[-$43.25]
[Recipient: TBA Debt Holdings Inc.]
He swore under his breath. Clicked the transaction. Looked for answers.
None. Just the same old garbage.
"TBA Debt Holdings… Who even are you people?"
His fingers hovered over the 'Report Issue' button, then dropped. It never worked. It never even got a reply.
He had asked the bank before.
Sat in a freezing chair for hours just to be told, "It's a legacy account, Mr. Grey. We can't disable the auto-debit unless the originating loan is cleared."
He had questioned too many times about that 'legacy account'. He even wondered if that was really a thing.
"But it's not my loan."
"It was in your father's name, and your mother's co-signature connects it to your legacy account."
"I got that. But, my father's gone. My mother's dead."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Grey. Under the contract and agreement, you're now the responsible party."
He remembered sitting there, stunned, staring at the screen as the man said with a straight face.
"I know this is hard for you but everything is automated. The system links to you. If you're not the payer, you're the fallback."
Nolan was speechless. What the hell did fallback even mean? He was twenty-one. Not some corporate heir with assets.
And yet, every dollar he saved, every cent he hoped might go toward food or rent, disappeared like magic.
He checked his app balances again. Nothing.
"Damn. What can I eat today?"
His thought wandered to the cash if he had any left. He opened the drawer and smiled. He was lucky.
There were some left. He took everything out and counted the bills and coins.
$21.60
And that was assuming no one else showed up today, especially not the loan sharks. He had lost count of how many loan sharks he needed to deal with.
It was all his father's fault. Nolan had moved to different places a few times already but those people still managed to find him.
If they came by like last time… his eyes darkened. He didn't want to recall all the kicks and punches he received. It made him sick.
"I need to get to work quickly."
He stood, pulled on his green Panda Dash jacket, and zipped it up to the neck. Then, he looked through the window, toward the sky.
"God, if you're there, please, give me a miracle," he said with a sigh before adding, "I'm losing hope, even to you. You said you're there but… where are you?"
He let out another sigh. This one was heavier. He got out and walked downstairs.
Another day. Another ride to nowhere.
As he unchained his bike and wheeled it onto the street, he muttered.
"Four hundred and fifty dollars. Today."
A bitter smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Sure. Why not ask for the moon while I'm at it?"
The morning traffic was thick and angry. Horns blared. Cyclists weaved. Nolan kept his head low and his eyes forward, zigzagging through familiar neighborhoods.
It was the same today. He made deliveries. Food. Groceries. One guy even ordered batteries and a car jumper.
The jobs didn't pay much, but they stacked. Just enough to keep false hope alive.
At 5:17 p.m., he sat outside a gas station, chewing a stale protein bar that tasted like sandpaper. That was all he could think of for food today.
He took out the phone and opened the Panda Dash app.
His earnings so far?
$47.30, before taxes and deductions.
"Good. Slightly above 10% of what I needed," he muttered as he tried to sound optimistic.
While he was enjoying his protein bar, his phone buzzed.
It was a promo notification. Same. As always.
[BOOST YOUR EARNINGS TODAY! Deliver 6 more orders to earn a $5 bonus!]
"Great," he muttered, "I just need to deliver six souls to hell and maybe I can afford noodles tonight."
He stood, stretched his back, and glanced toward his bike parked just around the corner.
Except, something was wrong. Really wrong. He could see them.
Two strangers were crouching near it—his bike.
He could see them despite being covered in hoodies. They were young. One fiddled with the lock. The other kept a lookout.
Nolan froze. His mind went blank. It took him a few seconds to process what he was seeing.
"Are they trying to steal my bike?" he paused. "No!"
Not today. Not that. That was all he had to help him with work.
He stepped forward, not a small step, but a big stride toward the two.
"Hey!" he shouted, voice hoarse. "That's my bike!"
The guy at the lock looked up, smug and slow.
"Yours?" he repeated. "Not anymore."
Nolan didn't think. He ran faster. He needed to keep and protect whatever he had left.
But, he knew it was a mistake the moment his foot hit the curb.
"Fool," the first guy said.
He rotated his shoulders and met him halfway.
"Take this!"
A punch to the gut knocked the breath clean out of Nolan. He wasn't prepared for that. He forgot that people like them wouldn't mind to use violence.
He doubled over, and a second blow caught his jaw. The world spun.
"Please... no..."
The two hooded guys laughed.
"How do you like it?'" One of them asked before delivering a kick straight to his cheek.
Nolan dropped to the pavement with a grunt, stars dancing in his vision.
Pain bloomed across his side as another foot met his ribs.
Then, another round of laughter.
"You should've let it go, man."
Another kick. Something cracked.
"Should've just walked away."
He didn't reply. He couldn't.
Blood trickled from his lip as he curled into himself. He could still hear their footsteps and the sound of his bike being rolled away.
"No... No..."
Nolan felt frustrated. The only thing he owned, was gone. There were people nearby, but they seemed not interested in helping.
He stayed down for minutes after the pain stopped.
The world was quiet again like it had watched and approved.
"Yeah. Thank you, God… Thank you…"
He forced himself to sit up, back pressed against the station wall, breath shaky.
"Damn. I really… have nothing left," he whispered.
Not even the energy to be angry anymore.
He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. There was a prayer that kept on being repeated in his heart right now.
He wanted to die. He wanted to join his mother.
"Mom… I'm sorry. I tried."
Without him noticing, tears started to flow down.
That was when his phone buzzed at his side.
Once.
Twice.
He ignored it at first, but then it lit up.
A soft blue glow shone through the cracked screen.
"Infinite Climb?" He frowned before muttering, "What is this?"
Nolan picked it up and saw a message that shouldn't have been there.