In silent agony Ashburn leaned against the wall in the break-room, the painted brick supporting his lean six foot frame. His long black hair was plastered to his skin from the heat. His joints protested as he pulled out a bottle of aspirin and took four pills without even thinking. 

The pain seemed to be getting worse every day and it was getting harder to hide it from his bosses, especially the head chef. She had eyes that seemed to glare right through him, and he knew she would have no sympathy for a 21 year old with growing pains.

'I thought I was supposed to stop growing years ago' he thought with some humor

He knew he could only hide back there for a few minutes before his tables would start asking for him, so he savored the support the wall offered him. As his watch chimed the hour he knew he could no longer escape, and must again confront the reality of working. With a sigh and a groan he hauled his body, all 135 pounds of it into the kitchen to pick up his table's food. The long bar for pick ups was already full and he could hear the head chef cussing about the hold up.

"Oh goody" he said softly "She noticed"

Hoping to sneak by he quickly grabbed the plates for his table, balancing them precariously on every part of his body that he could. It was an awkward feat and he was sure it looked quite funny, but despite that he managed to get 4 plates of food, 2 appetizer plates and 8 cups into position and walk out of the kitchen. Other than some complaints from his second table it appeared the diners had not noticed his absence to much, a relief for the fatigued student.  

Walking back to the kitchen he opened the door to chaos central. The stainless steel kitchen was an absolute mess, with dishes piling up on all sides and enough dirty pots to bring tears to any dishwasher's eyes. Before he had time to remember why he had come in here his lungs suddenly seemed to seize. A panicked gasp escaped his lips as his breathing became labored and stiff, his lungs burning as if on fire. Ash's panicked hands shook violently as he tried to pull his inhaler out from his pocket, but without warning his hands dropped it sending it sliding to the feet of the dishwasher as stars darted across his eyes. Falling against the door frame he tried to call out to the dishwasher over the noise to give him the inhailer but could only manage a panicked and loud squeak as his lungs stopped taking in air.