FIRED AND HELPLESS

***Xander***

I found myself sitting on a table opposite my boss in the quiet area of the club. He was staring directly at my face, making me nervous, but he wasn’t saying anything. I wondered if he called me here just to look at me or if he had something to give me. I rested my hand on the table, glancing at him. He cleared his throat and finally spoke up.

"…Xander, I said I wanted to talk to you." He said.

"Yes, what do you want to say? Say it; don’t hesitate." I replied. He pursed his lips and looked at me with pitiful eyes, as if the word he had to say would shatter me. "I am sorry to tell you... uh, I promise you this is out of my power; I am helpless; I can’t do anything about it; even if I like you, I can’t do anything to stop this from happening; I’m on the verge of losing my job; please understand…" I cut in.

"I don’t quite get you; could you stop speaking in riddles and cut to the chase?" I questioned. He stroked his beard firmly before answering. "You are fired, Mr. Carter." He said. It felt like ice cubes had been poured on my body. I was both sad and shocked; my body was frozen in place. I moved my lips to say something, but no words came out. I was lost for words and didn’t know what to do or how to react when his words caught me by surprise.

"I am really sorry to tell you this, but you can’t work for the police force anymore, not in my station or anywhere." He said.

"D-Do you mean my whole police and detective career has been ruined!" I snapped because I couldn’t hide the way I felt about the situation.

"Yes… I don’t know what you did or the people you messed with, but this order came to me from the headquarters, and I can’t reject their demands, or I will lose my job. I care about you, I really do." He said while reaching for my hand on the table.

"No! You don’t care about me!" I snarled, smacking his hand away. "You don’t care about me; you are doing this for yourself; you don’t want to lose your job." I said and stood up from my chair. "How can you fire me after everything I have done for you and the police force. To keep your dignity intact, I lost my own dignity; I pretended to be a woman; I went out of my way to get the job done; and what did you do? You just want to simply fire me. Is that how you repay me?!?" I asked, my voice breaking with pain. I couldn't believe all my sacrifice would be in vain; his words had shattered me.

"You don’t understand, Mr. Carter; this is beyond my power. I wish I could help, but I can’t." He said I could feel the sincerity in his voice and face, but I couldn’t bear the pain of losing my job.

"Wait! Why would they want to fire me all of a sudden?" I asked pissed.

"I don’t know, but when I asked them about the reason, they didn’t tell me... they just say you couldn’t be a cop anymore." He said. My breath seized; all my dreams had been crushed.

"Okay, what about the paycheck I was expecting next week?" I inquired. He looked away for a moment before responding. "You can’t get that either; my superiors want to get rid of you by any means; uh, I don’t know what you did to them, but they don’t care about you or the money they were supposed to pay you." He said. I bit my lower lip, clenching my fist, trying my best to calm myself down and hide the pain I felt inside, but my head was already on fire, and I couldn’t hold it any longer.

"Ahhhh!!!" I screamed out loud, letting out my anger, as my loud screams overpowered the music in the club, making everyone look at me, including my idol, who left the girls he was having fun with and walked over to our table.

"Ahhh! Shit! Shit! Shit! You can’t just throw me away like I was nothing after everything I have done; this is unfair!" I yelled at Mr. Parker’s face, pointing my index finger at him. I didn’t know when I kicked the table away, making all the bottles of beer fall to the floor. Mr. Parker flinched in fear as he stepped away from the broken glass particles.

"Mr. Carter, what’s wrong?" My idol asked me, looking at me with a concerned expression. "I have been fired; that’s what’s wrong!" I snapped at them and attempted to walk out on them when I was stalked by a few security guards.

"Where do you think you are going?" one of them asked.

"You can’t leave without paying for the things you broke." Another one added.

"Why did you fire him, boss?" my idol asked Mr. Parker on my behalf. Mr. Parker scrunched his face like he was going to cry. "I-It’s out of my power, Mr. Kim; it’s the headquarters that fired him." Mr. Parker said in a faint voice, closing his eyes. I stared at him in disgust.

"I am going to sue each and every one of you!" I threatened.

"Don’t be ridiculous; you can’t sue the government." Mr. Kim replied.

"This party was supposed to be for me! Not for me to receive the saddest news of my life, I will exact my vengeance on all of you, mark my words." I threatened, although I knew I had nothing. I attempted to flee again, but the security guards pushed me back, rendering me helpless. I was about to take out my wallet when I heard Mr. Kim’s voice. "Let him go. I will pay for the damage."

I dashed through the security guards, hitting them with my shoulders, as I started walking out of the club in rage. I got outside the club before going for my car, I first kicked the headlights of Mr. Parker’s car to calm my nerves down.

"Asshole!!!" I screamed in frustration and fell to my knees on the floor next to his car, allowing the hot tears that I had been holding back for a long time in order to appear tough to stream down my face.