ALARM CLOCK DAWN (An Original Novel - Part 12)

In yesterday’s episode VerbalTag shared something with Adam that wormed into his brain and has began to fester. During the past few months of chatting with VerbalTag he was filled with happiness. The thought of getting to chat with her every night, even for just a few minutes, was what got him through his excruciatingly long days at XenTek and provided one of his last pillars of hope. In episode 11, this pillar crumbled and came crashing down. Adam was an orphan and grew up amongst strangers in an endless succession of foster homes. Loneliness is no stranger to him, in a way it was his only friend.

Today our antagonist, Johann Pfizer also returns. If you’ve come to know Johann like I know Johann you realize that trouble and drama can’t be too far behind.

Thanks so much for your continued support! If you’re enjoying this story and know someone else who might like it please help spread the word and share the link.

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Did you miss Part 11 of Alarm Clock Dawn? If so click here to read it.

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With that last line VerbalTag’s icon, a picture of her favorite tattoo, the blue OM symbol on a background of bright pink ink, disappeared from Adam's screen.

“Are you kidding me!? Did this just happen?” Adam had been so close to asking her out for lunch. In fact, he was working himself up to do it this very night, in the next few minutes. Again, he had waited just a little too long. This wonderful person that it took him so long to find and whom he looked so forward to chatting with had just slipped out of his life. Poof, just like that.

It had been years since Adam had read that poem, and he had never shared it with anyone. He smiled as he revisited the moment in the snow that inspired him to write it. It reminded him of how spiritually connected he was back then in those simpler days. It was as though his younger self was for a moment reaching out through time to try to pull him back to where he needed to be.

VerbalTag’s words endlessly looped in his head. “All that is truly important has been replaced by things that have absolutely no meaning. I need to find my own unique reason for being alive before it's too late.” Adam kept going back to the screen to reread it, and each time it resonated more true than the last.

Adam's face fell into his hands and his body rocked as he sobbed, feeling a deep aching at what he was afraid had just slipped through his fingers. Another missed opportunity. The tears pooled in his palms, but as they did his heart began to feel cleansed. He couldn't help but wonder again why life was so difficult for him. He was so tired of missed opportunities and feeling as though he was just an observer of life instead of a participant. All he wanted was someone to share this existence with. Was this too much to ask?

He blew his nose, wiped the tears from his face, and did what habit had conditioned him to do when he needed an instant pick me up. He logged on to check his retirement account balances. For his entire working life Adam had squirreled away twelve percent of his income, sometimes at great sacrifice. He had seen what the worries of poverty had done to those around him and was determined not to find himself in old age without a penny to his name.

Adam was smart enough to know that this was only a temporary escape but it always made him feel a little better when he could daydream about the comfortable golden years of his life. He fantasized about a time in his life where he and his future wife traveled the world, did what they wished, when they pleased, and never once had to wake up with an alarm clock. Just thinking about it usually made his circumstance a little easier to bear and allowed him drift off to sleep smiling.

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Tonight even this Utopian daydream didn't help. Adam lived just long enough to realize how time seems to pass more quickly with every year. The conversation with VerbalTag shook him. As he was drifting off to sleep, he began to wonder if he was spending far too much time preparing for some distant future that may never come and not nearly enough time enjoying the present moment. He needed to find a way to cultivate joy and begin living his life before it was too late.

Although he wasn't really even tired, he knew the alarm would again be ringing in less than seven hours. As it always did, five o’clock would come too soon and he needed to be fresh for work. As he'd done thousands of times, like some recurring nightmare, he climbed under the covers, clicked off his small table lamp, and began to force himself to sleep. As he got ever closer to slumber, he had a distinct thought: Here I am in the prime of my life. Why am I so eagerly frittering it away?

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CHAPTER 5

Johann and his entourage squeezed into the elevator. Throughout his career he had made many enemies, and he always felt safer and was at his best when he was the nucleus of a large group of handpicked underlings. This particular group consisted of various layers of aides and assistants interspersed with a few of his best personal bodyguards.

As usual, Johann's senior aids politely jostled to get a spot close to him in the elevator. Busby, of course, was his almost constant shadow. Among those in the elevator were Evelyn Poltier, the head of Research & Development. She was a stunningly beautiful and intimidating brunette with shoulder length hair and green eyes. Evelyn was one of the chosen few who were privy to some of XenTek's biggest and most fragile secrets.

As the elevator doors closed the director clearly enunciated two words. “Bottom. Floor.”

To Be Continued. The next installment of Alarm Clock Dawn will appear on Steemit 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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