Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Diggory awoke to his alarm clock announcing the day; annoyed, holding himself back from striking it as much as he wanted to, instead he just reached over to the night stand and pressed the off button. He laid back tossed and turned like he does nearly every morning trying to slow the start of the day. He rolled to the side of the bed facing the window. He sat up, yawned, and then stood up. He peered out the window and the view he was greeted with was that of grey skys and calm streets, void of all cars even the car lot in front of his apartment was completely vacant; he hardly seemed to notice.

 

He headed to the bathroom to begin his routine. As if he was a robot nearly out of batteries he tiredly began to brush his teeth. Then wetting his hands ran them through his light brown hair, picked up his canister of mousse and parted his hair to the right using the mirror in front of him making sure none of it was out of place; as it usually did a small patch in the back remanded upright due to his cow lick. He shrugged it off and headed for the closest in his bedroom. He picked out a pair of black slacks, a plain white button up with a single pocket on the left side, a pair of black Emericas, and finally his daily skinny black tie. 

 

He got dressed and went to the kitchen to a coffee pot which had been set to start brewing the same time his alarm goes off. He grabbed a plain black coffee cup from the cupboard above the microwave, pored the steaming hot coffee from the pot into the cup. He carefully lifted the cup to his lips gave a slow steady blow to cool it off then began to sip carefully. The coffee was incredibly hot but Diggs did not care he needed the energy.  

 

Finishing his coffee and putting the cup into the half empty sink he headed for the front door. Diggs grabbed his keys and wallet from an unused ashtray grabbed the door handle for the front door. Then he stood frozen. "Damn" he turned back to the bedroom to pick up his phone from the night table which also housed his alarm. He picked it up and headed out now with a little peep in his step from the coffee. 

 

He hurried out the front door closing it behind him it locking automatically behind him. He made his way down the stairs finally arriving at the garage in the back of the complex. He opened the door to his tuxedo black Ford Fiesta hopped in and started it up. Put the gear in reverse and speeds off into the empty roads checking his phone's LCD display reading 6:45, Wednesday, 1st of October; No New Messages.  He placed his phone in the center console cup holder sighing as he did, 15 minutes to get to work. He had started to loath it lately. He was a human resource person dealing in customer relations at an energy company. He worked on the first floor and dealt mainly with complaints. This for him meant spending a lot of time browsing the internet for entertainment, and dwelling on his failed relationship with Del. Del was an intern from the fourth floor with beautiful brunette hair and hazelnut eyes that could see straight through you. They only dated for a short while for his feelings for her being greater than hers for him, leading to their break up in the ides of last month. Not looking for anything serious was the stance she took when he asked her why. She never lied; the opposite was true in fact. She was honest and brutally so.

 

Having perfect vision for most was ideal, but for Diggs he certainly preferred blinders, but when it came to Del he always donned his prescription pair of rose tinted glasses. She was his star, ignorance his telescope.

           

The past he often thought cruel. Recalling fond memories he felt could often be as punishing as reliving a painful one. Reexamining the past no matter how happy he felt at the time was grueling; especially when Del was the subject of most if not all of his flashbacks these days.  His work being what it was meant he was often trapped there with no escape. This made day’s feel long, and full of emotions he wished he could discard. He felt like a robot that’d been programed to move forward, but instead could only stumble backwards.   

 

His trip from home to the office was always uninteresting, after three years of doing it had become second nature. But not today without other cars to pay attention to, he found himself looking around for the first time, noticing all the things he has not paid attention to since he was a child. He had lived in Cadi Falls his entire life which up until now was 23 years. As the Falls being only populated with about 25,000 people he often found himself running into the same people, this bored him very much and he often thought about moving away; to a new place with fresh faces. Although he thought about it often he would never act on it for he was not one who was comfortable with uncertainty. 

 

Now seeing a familiar flickering, red and blue neon sign once advertising Frank's Donuts but now reading "Fran 's D nut ." He also saw the restaurant he had taken Del to on their first date. Being stung with the fond yet painful memory of that night he quickly tried to distract himself again with the drive.

 

Pulling into the ordinarily packed parking lot Diggs looked for the space closest to the entrance, which today was the spot right in front of the door. He grabbed the phone out of the cup holder dropped it into his left pocket. He got out of his car and started to walk towards the entrance pressing the lock button on his keys then placing them in his right pocket as he always did. Being the tallest building in Cadi Falls at four stories tall, the McHanon Energy building could be seen from anywhere within the city. Being covered mostly in glass not only was the Mchanon building the tallest, but the brightest as well. On clear days it appeared as an always setting second sun. From a distance even on a day like this one glare turned the building into a two way mirror, allowing people inside to see out. As Diggs got closer it became apparent that not only were the streets, and parking lot empty but the offices as well. 

 

Reviews

[Mind Racer]

Creepy! Need to know where everybody went! Keep writing!