ALARM CLOCK DAWN (An Original Novel - Part 10)

Can we really be on Part 10 already? How time flies. Yesterday we witnessed our antagonist, Johann Pfizer, in a brief moment of vulnerability. This gave us insight into how high the stakes of Project Phoenix potentially are. Today we learn why our protagonist, Adam, was in such a hurry to get home. We will also find out a little bit more about Adam’s backstory.

I hope you enjoy today’s episode!

Did you miss Part 9 of Alarm Clock Dawn? If so Click Here to read it.

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“Hey there! Hey mister, come here and I’ll tell you your fortune,” said a child of nine or ten who was smiling as he rested his elbows on a makeshift table made of wooden crates. The storms had created many orphans, and these children had to be very creative in how they survived.

“I-i’m sorry but I c-c-c can’t. I’m running—I’m late!” Adam gave his most valiant effort to callously avert his eyes from the needy child.

“This won’t take long, sir. I promise,” the thin, dirty-faced boy told him.

“You don’t have to call me sir. Call me Adam.” He studied the child for a moment. “Have you eaten today?”

The boy’s eyes dropped sadly down to the ground. “No, sir, not today.”

Adam smiled as he unzipped his backpack and pulled out a crinkly brown paper bag. “I see a chicken salad sandwich and a bag of chips in your future”.

The boy grinned. “Thank you very much, mister! Just for that, you’ll get your fortune for free!”

Adam grinned and rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

The child looked from side to side and motioned for Adam to come in closer. The boy handed him a slip of thick parchment with bold black letters penned in very fine handwriting. Adam turned on his heel to get under the streetlight to read it. Amidst elegant flourishes of script Adam squinted as he struggled to make out the words. THIS IS BUT A DREAM AND VERY SOON YOU WILL AWAKEN.

“Wha-what is this . . . ?” Adam turned around, but the boy and his table had vanished. Adam scratched his head in surprise.

He was a firm believer that things happened for a reason, and if it were any other night his dogged curiosity would make him endlessly obsess about the cryptic meaning behind what just happened, but not tonight. Adam absentmindedly tucked the stiff paper into his pocket and rushed off to one of the only places he felt completely cocooned and comfortable: 586 Elizabeth Avenue, Apartment 2B.

Adam unlocked two heavy security doors, went up a short flight of stairs, and placed his thumb on the keypad of his door, marked 2B. The lock opened with a soft click. Adam could never afford an apartment in this area without the subsidy from XenTek. It was just far enough from the city center to be serene. His apartment was dark and warm, and the sweetness of incense still lingered in the air from the previous night. Entering into his space instantly filled him with a sublime sense of calm. It was sleek, modern, and very small. The apartment consisted of just one room with a kitchen and a bathroom but was designed so cleverly that Adam never felt cramped. He had grown used to living alone.

Everything was in its place and the walls were bare except for a couple of pictures—a faded black and white photograph of he and his parents and a colorful but abstract oil painting that strangely reminded him of ketchup and mustard. Adam remembered the day the picture of him and his parents was taken. It was one of his last memories of them before the storms came.

Adam had been about four years old when the picture was taken. His mom and dad were on either side of him, holding his hands to keep him from fidgeting. Just before the photographer snapped the picture, he remembered looking up to see a flock of doves soaring across the cloudless sapphire blue sky. This image stuck with him all these years because this was his last memory of normalcy. Just a few days after this picture was taken his parents were killed in a car accident and he found himself sleeping in a strange bed in the first of many foster homes he was raised in.

On Adam's dresser, neatly arranged in an old cedar cigar box, was his coveted collection. Four vintage watches, all close to a hundred years old, found for next to nothing and lovingly restored to their original splendor. Like his life, Adam preferred his living space to be simple, neat, and uncluttered. The less that surrounded him, the easier he found it was for him to relax.

Adam threw his bag on the table and immediately switched on his tablet computer. Then his routine began. He wrapped himself tightly in the security of regimented sameness, the perpetual cycles of the daily routine lulling him. During the bad days, sometimes that was his only comfort. He methodically flipped the switch on the kettle and water soon began its slow boil for his evening tea as he grabbed a meal replacement bar.

Over the course of the last few months he had been chatting online with the same woman almost every night. VerbalTag7 was her screen name and she usually logged on at seven o’clock. If she was going to be available to chat, it was always at seven, not a minute before or a minute after. She was always on time, and Adam admired that about her. VerbalTag was like a mysterious mosaic that he had the privilege of putting together a piece at a time, always at her pace. It took immense patience, and the control was in her hands, always. In the five months they’d been chatting, she had revealed a few intimate details of her life but not yet her name.

So far he found that she seemed to be very well educated, had a good job, and occasionally shared her thoughts and writing with him. Adam quickly learned that VerbalTag saw more and further than the average person—not so much in distance but in time. She had a certain wisdom about her that was very attractive to Adam. She witnessed the world through a slightly different lens than anyone he had ever met. Even though he hadn’t physically found her yet, Adam still believed that his soul mate was out there. It was beginning to feel like VerbalTag might just be the one.

To be continued. The next installment of Alarm Clock Dawn will appear at the same time tomorrow.

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Alarm Clock Dawn is the first novel of a trilogy. The sequel entitled, Truth Is Stranger, will be published in the Spring of 2017.

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