It’s 8:59 when he wakes up. Robert knows his shift is at 9, but he gets up like any other day and gets ready at his own time, even taking time to enjoy some Lucky Charms. He strolls through the Shop and Save a Lot entrance and punches his card in 30 minutes after the start of his shift. He knows he’s late, yet it hasn’t brought an inch of concern to Robert. He’s been working at this run down grocery store ever since he dropped out of highschool. He was a senior and contrary to what you might think, he was eligible to graduate, just barely, yet he still was. It was simply just a choice that he made. That was four years ago. And all this time nothing has changed except for the fact that most of his friends had left for college, and he never made new ones to replace them.

His manager calls him over to the musty storage room. He knew the drill. He had been late 3 times in the past week, yet this time was different, and he knew it. His recent warnings held more weight in his mind than they had previously and he knew he was running  out of chances. He walked over to his perceptively irritable manager, and for the first time in all the time he’s worked there, he saw his painfully passive manager furious, and it was because of him. For the first time in a while he heard his heart beating uncontrollably, he felt true stress for the first time since highschool, even if it was just a little. Before that he hadn’t cared about anything, and he almost took pride in it. He’d let everyone around him know it. “I couldn’t care less” became almost a sort of catch-phrase for him. His co-workers knew when he would say it too. They’d jokingly finish his sentences he'd say it so much. But, per usual he didn’t care, not even enough to tease back. He simply just ignored them as he did most things. But now, in this moment of shame he almost truly did care, and he realized it, but he made himself forget it. He pushed away his sense of shame out of his mind, cursing the store as he walked out of the room. He went back to his repetitious and seemingly pointless job. He was a stock boy, so he stocked. It was the entry level job at the store, and through all those four years he never made an effort to move up. 

Behind schedule he continues to stock the shelves at his own pace of course. With his headphones in, he eventually finds his rhythm once again, escaping the distress his last meeting brought him. This peace of mind is quickly broken. He hears yelling faintly through his off brand airpod look-alikes. It’s Randy, and he knows something’s definitely off. He is screaming at the cashier, panicked, shaking, and just plain furious. Robert knows the guy. The screaming classmate had dropped out of school a year earlier than he had. He knew Randy grew up with nothing, and the guy’s life in the trailer park with vacant addict parents hadn’t done him justice emotionally either. Randy himself had become an addict, and it was obvious to Robert that he was onto something, even many things at once he wondered. Randy’s brain was completely fried by the looks of it, he was scared too, trembling as he held what looked like a gun under his shirt. It was pointed at the cashier and she was shrieking to God and to whoever else was around for help. 

Again Robert had known the guy in a past life, and a flood of courage hit him. He had no plan but he rushed to the scene. 

“RANDY! Randy! Randy, it-s h me Robert. Class of 2019. Let’s jus-”

Randy immediately turned his gun toward him with an intimidating burst of speed. Randy looks him in the eyes. He knew he wasn’t in his right mind before, but it is now that he realizes this isn’t a matter of negotiation. He is so drugged up he doesn’t even recognize Robert and he knows now that Randy would do anything for his money. Rob looks down at the gun, but in fact, there is no gun at all. It is merely his hand under his shirt and immediately a flood of sadness hits him, seeing the reality of Randy’s desperation. Randy notices the observation and panics, he takes a swing at Rob. Rob ducks on it and hits him with a left hook. Astounded by his own reflexes he knocks him with a second weighted right cross. He had knocked Randy down and it is obvious that he had lost the drive to get back up. Randy knows that he’s done for, and he accepts it with open arms, just lying in the numbness that was brought.

He had ended the robbery and a sudden rush of relief and pride hit him, greatly savoring the unfamiliar feeling of success. Following the aftermath of the event he finds himself deep in thought walking home, taking in the ominous night sky in peace, meditating the light crunch of a gravel road as he walks about it in complete silence. He feels a sudden new feeling, it is one of ambition and it is one he hadn’t felt in a while. However, the saddening fate of his old classmate snaps him into a depressing train of thought. The way Robert has been living isn’t unlike that of Randy’s, and based on the way it has been progressing, Robert sees a future not so different from Randy’s. It is now that he finds he needs to do something in his life, the gratification of winning that fight fills him with the confidence to actually aspire and the fear of no direction pushes him to make a change. 

He had always told himself he had no aspirations, but there was a time, like any young boy, when he had wild dreams of heroic careers. He remembers back to when he was a young boy playing war in the yard with his childhood friends, pretending as if he were a navy seal. He didn’t understand that career then, but he certainly understands now. He knows that it's about the hardest spot to get into in the U.S military, and that is exactly why it was so attractive to him. If he were to accomplish it, he would be truly proud of himself and would finally shed off those years of shame and failure. He spent his whole life thinking he was good for nothing, but today he found something he could do, fight, even if it isn’t anything special, he is at least ‘good’ at it. He knows becoming a Navy Seal is a long shot, but it’s about time he tries something and faces the possibility of failure head on. It is decided, he’s gonna try and become a Navy seal. He will willingly put himself into the living hell that is their training worrying not of the result. For once in his life he’s just going to actually put all his heart into something.