Jin walked back to the maintenance ‘hub’ with a sense of purpose. On the way back, they had noticed several more of those little plaster cracks, in very strange places. Texas didn’t get earthquakes, right? So what was the deal? They hated to be the one to report more work, and have the boss bitch them out for it.

Heading back in the door, they couldn’t even open their mouth before the boss approached. That was odd. 

“Hey boss, I’ve got some stuff to call in. Some weird cracks I’ve been seeing-” They went for the notebook, pulling it out and expecting the diatribe to begin.

It didn’t. Instead, the boss jerked his thumb at one of the folding chairs. “Sit down, Ifriti.” 

Jin did so gratefully; walking around this massive school with heavy tools did tend to wear them down. “Sure. What’s up, boss?” 

The boss sat down too, and had an oddly serious look in his eyes. “Ifriti. There’s the annual personnel review coming up. Some administrative bullshit the school makes us do every year, as if we don’t have work to do. That means I gotta go through all the employee records and verify your shit. Names, addresses, employment history and shit.” 

“Okay…” Jin said slowly, feeling an unknown sense of dread creeping around their stomach.

“Your address is fake.” His voice was flat, but his eyes were pinning Jin down.

Jin swallowed, and did not say a word. They could only squirm in their seat.

“I looked it up – I gotta look them all up – and it’s a church, of all places. Why?”

“I-” Jin couldn’t speak, for the bile that was rising up in their throat. “I-” To tell this man the truth would be giving the man far too much credit. He wouldn’t care and Jin knew that. Besides, they had already lied and been busted, which just looked bad for any job.

“Look, I don’t care why you lied. You either fix the form and we all go on with our fucking lives, or you don’t fix the form, and I send it up the ladder. They’ll probably have to look into it more. Probably fire you if they don’t like what they see. So?” 

Jin’s heart was about ready to bounce from their chest. There was no fixing that form without a second lie, which would easily be caught. The truth was worse somehow – no one would give a single shit that Jin was living out of their old car. So this was it? Back to the street? Back to having nothing?

“I can’t fix the form.” Jin managed to get out before rising from the chair and fleeing, feeling this morning’s breakfast rising up quick. They managed to stagger to the nearest bathroom, shoving aside students, to barely make it to an unoccupied toilet. Everything came up, and up, until they were left dry heaving on the side. Something broke inside, and they started to simply cry, like a child.

After that, they staggered from the bathroom after rinsing their mouth, and started to walk the campus quite aimlessly. Should they just pack their shit and leave now? Or wait for the axe to come down on their neck?