Two Sides of The Same Coin

A loud thump jolts Anon from his slumber. Slowly, he blinks his vision clear and looks up.

A round face glares back down at him. Thick hair covers a pair of reddish-pink lips, and a steady line of gray had begun to stain an otherwise copper head of hair. The man looks down at Anon with a hard expression, a hand planted firmly in front of where Anon had been resting his head on the desk.

“Anonymous,” the mustachioed man huffs. He shakes his head at the floor, revealing the light pink of his scalp where his hair had begun thinning.

“Yes, Mr. Barnes?” Anon mumbles, his head still in contact with the particle board table.

“Come see me in my office, please. We have some matters we need to discuss.”

The man turns and leaves, his portly body making it look more like bouncing than walking. Rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, Anon struggles to push himself from his seat.

“Oooh, someone’s in trouble~,” a voice to Anon’s left coos. Anon turns as a tall, middle-aged man slinks into his cubicle's entrance. A white dress shirt and khaki pants hide a lanky frame, and he sports a pair of round spectacles, covering hazel brown eyes. His black hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and he flicks it over his shoulder as he speaks. “So, Green-Bean, think he’ll finally fire your dumbass? I could really use your chair for a footstool.”

Anon flips him the bird. “Stick it where it fits, Earl. Don’t you have someone’s ass you need to sniff?”

“Please,” he scoffs, “it’s not my fault you somehow have both the personality and work-ethic of rotten garbage. Can't wait to see your horrid ass walk outta' here.”

A retort rises in Anon’s chest, but he clenches his fists, turning and walking away.

“Try not to doze off in there, too!” Earl guffaws from behind him.

Fucking prick, it takes notable effort to keep the words from leaving Anon’s lips.

As he passes by rows of empty cubicles, the beating in Anon’s chest starts to quicken. They had been getting a tough season, too few sales and too many expenses. It’s only been luck that’s kept him from getting the sack so far.

Anon swallows hard as he approaches the door at the end of the hall. The window on the top half of the door is translucent, movement visible from the other side. On the right of the door, Anon's eyes dance over the plated inscription: “Mr. Barnes, Manager”. Taking a deep breath, Anon twists the door’s handle and walks inside. As he enters, Anon stops in the doorway. He had never gotten used to how different his boss' office looked from the rest of the building. Large, wooden bookshelves line the walls of the room, with only about half the shelves filled. Unlike the employees’ plastic cubicles and tables, Mr. Barnes sits before a varnished, wooden desk, various decorative paperweights lining the edges of his workspace. Everything from the building’s breakroom, to the bathrooms are lit by pale white, LED ceiling lights. But here, tall lamps stand in the corners of the office, radiating a warm blanket of yellow light across the room. The original carpeted flooring was even removed, replaced with wood planks and topped with a Kashan rug.

“Ah, Anon. Please, come in.” Mr. Barnes says, motioning towards a plastic chair on the opposite side of the desk. His voice is deeper than normal, like someone trying to speak in a lower tone than natural.

Anon pulls the chair back before dropping himself onto it. The chair creaks slightly under his weight. “So, what did you want to talk about, sir?"

“Well, as you know, we’ve been having a rather difficult year. Unfortunately, we’ve already had to let a sizable portion of our staff go. You’re a good man, Anon. I want you to know that I’m not doing this out of spite for you.”

Anon feels a chill run down his spine. “Sir… you’re firing me?”

Mr. Barnes rubs two large hands together. “Oh, goodness no! Think of it more of a ‘vacation from work’. We’ll likely need your help later on in the future, but for now, we just can’t afford to keep you on staff.”

“But sir, why?”

Mr. Barnes leans on his desk and looks hard into Anon’s eyes, his voice returning to its familiar nasal tone. “Anonymous, let’s be honest. Your performance lately has been below our standards. You’ve been having so much trouble staying awake and focusing, it’s become a bigger hassle organizing all of the work you’ve left aside than to just give it to someone else. And besides, you don’t exactly provide your fellow employees with the most productive environment.”

“I-wait. This is about HR? Are you serious!?" Anon jumps to his feet, leaning forward. "Mr. Barnes, please, I need this job. There must be something we can arrange. Half pay, double the hours, sir I’m beg-”

“Come now, Anon, this is hard for me to do, too.” Mr. Barnes says, leaning back and waving two chubby arms out to his sides, “Think about us, the company, for a second. The way things are going, we’re risking absolute financial ruin here. I’m sorry, Anon, but this is all we can do. Go enjoy the weekend, I’ll pay you for today. Come back Monday to pick up your stuff.”

“I...alright.” Anon sighs, lifting himself up off the chair and turning towards the door. His knuckles turn white as he wrestles with the doorknob “Yeah, I understand. Thanks a lot, I guess.”

“So I got another promotion today!” cheers a voice across the dinner table. Anon looks up from his plate, his dinner untouched since he got home. His brother, Anton, leans back in the dining chair, an arm up and around the back-rest. "I'll be moving to a new office tomorrow."

“Oh that’s wonderful, Anton!” exclaims another, feminine voice to Anon’s right. He turns to his mother, her deep green skin contrasting the white shirt she’s wearing. Brunette hair hangs free past behind her shoulders, a few strands of grey interweaving the sea of brown. Though a couple wrinkles show, Anon thinks she could easily pass for years younger than her age. She claps her hands in excitement, and turns her eyes towards Anon, her black irises shining. From this angle, Anon can almost make out the light shade of red running down her left cheek, deliberately hidden behind a curtain of hair. Even after all this time, he has to force himself not to stare. “Did you hear that, Anon? Your brother just got another promotion at his job! Isn’t that exciting?”

Anon grimaces at his plate, “Mhm. Yeah, that’s great.”

“So Anon,” Anton says, “Anything interesting happen at work today for you?”

“Nope,” Anon replies, “It was just a normal day as always. Go in, do work, and get out, y’know?”

The knot in Anon’s stomach grows larger, and even though he hasn’t eaten a bite, he feels slightly sick.

“Hey, tell me about it. You’d think sysadmins would get it off easy, but lemme tell ya, it’s all day with these people. You’d think bigwigs would actually take the time out of their day to figure out how to work a touchscreen. I mean, come on, do I look like a tech wizard? Heh y’know, now that I think about it, sitting at a computer all day does kinda-”

Anon pushes himself up, his chair groaning in protest as it slides across the tile floor. Turning away from the table, he walks toward the living room staircase.

“Anon!” calls his mother, now standing too. “Aren’t you going to-?”

“I’m not hungry!,” Anon growls over his shoulder, stomping up the stairs. As he reaches the top, he reaches for a doorknob and twists, jerking the door forward as he enters his room. Passing by his computer, Anon aims for his bed as he falls forward. The mattress gives into his weight, and he lays still above the covers.

Please, Anon thinks to himself, let this all just be a bad dream.

Letting his eyelids fall, time slows as he nods off to sleep.

A light knocking rouses Anon awake, and he groggily pushes himself up as the door opens.

“Hey Anon,” says his mother, leaning on the door-frame. She crosses her arms with a light smile. “You busy?”

“Does it look like it?” Anon grunts, wiping his eyes, “What’s up?”

“Well, I was just wondering if you’d like to watch a movie with me. I’ve got popcorn in the microwave, and I found this great g-oldie.”

“Can’t you ask Anton to? I’ve had a pretty long day.”

“Oh, he’s gone out with his friends again, and I just want to spend some time with you. Pretty please, Anon?”

“Fine, fine.” Anon yawns, stretching his arms out. He shakes his head, trying to shake off his bed’s tempting allure, and follows his mother downstairs. Dropping himself onto the living room couch, he stares at the still image on the tv screen as his mother walks over to the kitchen and pours out two bowls of popcorn. As she returns, she pulls a blanket out and drapes it over the both of them. Anon sighs again, as he stuffs his hand into his bowl.

It's not long before Anon can't hold his chuckles as a man in the television dances around the protagonist in an ape costume, masquerading as some sort of mutant monkey. To his right, his mother hugs herself in a fit of laughter, nearly toppling their empty bowls onto the ground.

“Oh my goodness, Anon.” She howls. “Doesn't this remind you of Anton? Oh, remember when he dressed up as King Kong on Halloween? Oh my lord that was the absolute cutest thing!”

“Heh… Yeah mom.” Anon tries to swallow the lump in his throat but it won’t go down. “Yeah, that was super cute of him.”

“Oh and remember when the two of you went trick-or-treating together? You got the both of you so lost in the neighborhood I had to drive all the way down to Summersill Lane to pick you up! Oh, the memories.”

“...mom?” Anon whispers.

“How time flies, look at how old you’ve both gotten.”

“Mom.”

“And I’m just a melancholic, old hag, Anon. Promise to not forget me when I-”

“Mom!” Anon notices he'd balled the blanket into his fists, and lets go of them, the wrinkled fabric dropping onto his lap.

“Oh, I’m sorry Anon. What was that?”

“I… can I ask you a question, mom?”

“Why of course you can, sweetie.” laughs his mother. She grabs the popcorn bowls, stacks them, and places them on the ground. Then, she sits cross legged facing Anon, her hands in her lap. “What seems to be the matter?”

Anon digs his fingers into the fabric covering his knee, keeping his head low.

“Well, I just wanted to know how you...feel about Anton and I.”

“I’m sorry sweetie? I didn’t quite catch that.”

“I mean I totally get it. I mean, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you did...”

“Please, honey, you know my hearing-”

“I want to know who you like more, okay!?”

After a few seconds of silence, he continues, “I jus-I just want to know. I mean, won’t be mad if you like Anton more than me. He’s funny, and smart, and doesn’t fuck everything up like I do.” Anon chokes a bit near the end of the sentence.

Anon's mother leans forward from her seat. “Anon, that’s such a silly question. Where did this come from?”

“‘Cuz it’s true!” Anon snaps, twisting toward his mother. “Because all you do is sing praise about him, especially when I’m in the room. Is it because you’re trying to tell me a message? Cuz I get it, okay? Yeah, I’m not as smart, or hardworking, or good looking, or even that good with other people. But before, when dad was still here-”

Anon’s mother reels back as though she had been slapped. She raises up a hand to her cheek, the bright scar now clearly visible under her fingers. Anon pauses, and quickly turns away from her, furiously blinking away whatever was in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he says between shaky breaths, “I told you, you should’ve just asked Anton. Jesus, I told you I just fuck everything up.”

“Anon...”

He hears his mother speak, but he keeps his gaze towards the floor.

“Anon, look at me.”

Something brushes against Anon’s cheek, gently turning his head. As he faces his mother, his eyes widen. His mother’s hair, which she normally lets down over her face, was pulled back and over her ears, fully exposing her features. A large red scar runs from her left eye to her ear, a cascade of crimson dragging down her green cheek and neck. The skin near her mouth, eye, and ear had been pulled taut, stretched from where the wound tried to heal itself. The scar itself forms bumps and ridges across her face, deforming her otherwise gentle traits.

“Anon,” she continues, her dark eyes gazing into his. “I want you to listen to me. The decisions I’ve made in the past, I made because I wanted to rely on someone else to take care of me. My weakness, my hesitation, and my failures have led to so much pain in my life. It led to a broken family, two fatherless children, and a hole in my heart."

Anon lowers his eyes, only for a hand to reach to his chin.

"But I wouldn’t change that for the world," his mother says. "And do you know why? It's because you two are my world. Anon, you and your brother are the greatest gifts life has given me, and I will always love you both equally and with all of my heart. Nothing could ever happen to make me change my mind.”

She releases Anon, drawing her hand back into her lap.

“Now you’re right,” she says with a smile. “I may have mistreated you, and I apologize. It was wrong for me to do so. Tell you what: Tomorrow's a Saturday, right? How about we go on a movie marathon, just the two of us? Anton’s got plans, I’m sure. It’ll just be you and me.”

Anon sniffs hard, wiping away a wet feeling on his cheek. He looks down and smiles. “Yeah, I think I’d like that a lot.”

“Great,” Anon’s mother says, clapping her hands. “Then you better get some rest. We’ve got a big day ahead of us.” She peels the blanket from her lap and stands up. Kneeling down to grab the empty bowls, she walks towards the kitchen sink. “You can go ahead upstairs, I’ll clean up down here.”

“Sure thing mom,” Anon says, as he climbs off the sofa and walks to the stairs.

As Anon reaches the base, he hears his mom call from the kitchen, “And Anon?”

“Yeah mom?”

“I love you. Don’t you ever forget that.”

“Sure, mom.” Anon laughs, “Love you, too.”

Smiling to himself, Anon walks up the stairs and back into his room. As he jumps under his blanket, Anton’s starts to feel his mind drift. He'll need to tell his mom and brother work, but that can wait until tomorrow. He smiles again and yawns, the darkness in his room reaching closer to him, swirling across his vision.