A squatter comes face to face with crippling anxiety in order to eke out a meager living by hacking rich people. Included in the disability-themed sci-fi anthology Accessing the Future. This story was my first professional short fiction sale.
The last light of the sun came down through the broken windows, all pretty and shit, catching on that big jagged shard of glass and then pouring out into the room over my bed. Over Marcellus. He snored in that way he always did, endearing and soft.
I hurried to dress in the last of the daylight, but once I was done, I lingered. I paced, I ran my fingers through my beard, I watched the twilit horizon and counted the silhouette bones of the buildings Portland calls its skyline.
Anything but go to work.