The Domino Effect

Part 2: Moments Lost In Time

Arson-(noun) The criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property.
Accident- (noun) An event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause.

Answer me this reader. Do you have those moments, a phone call, a sight, a sound- that seem to be lost in time?

When you come back to reality they are just unbelievable and yet you haven't realized how much time passed?

Most of us think of happy times. A happy moment lost in time. The moments that make you forget you have a phone.

The moments you wish would last until the day you died. A birthday, a baby being born, your wedding day. Meeting the love of your life.

Our story brings us to a hotel, in downtown Denver. Denver located in the state of Colorado. Mostly known for attracting tourists for skiing.

Eric and Maureen are the focus of this chapter. Eric, an older man late 50's.

Maureen an older women also in late 50's. The parents to a son. Divorced but rekindled after sometime.

Staying in Denver for Eric's business trip. That is all the information you'll need for this installment.

Eric sat on the bed, taking off his nice leather shoes. Black ones to be exact. He spent all day in a conference room.

Board room 126. In the Hyatt hotel in downtown Denver.

Maureen in the shower. Using the horrible but only thing available cheap hotel shampoo. The kind secured to the wall. I'm sure you all know what I'm referring to. But enough about the shampoo holder. Back to the story.

Eric and Maureen planned on going out to dinner on this exact night. Not completely sure what night. Sometime in late December. When people do Christmas shopping and ice skating.

Maureen and Eric were never big on ice skating so they opted for shopping and a nice calm dinner.

Below their floor of the hotel in walked a man. In a pristine suit. Dark grey in color. With a tie. A silver one. Festive.

"Can I help you?" The bell hop asked. He was a skinny man, most likely just a college student trying to pay the rent.

"I'd like a room." The man's deep voice answered. It was a voice most people would recognize but not remember where they had heard it.

Like the deep voice on the subway, telling the street you will get off at next. A voice like that. Haunting especially when in the subway at night. But then again who goes on the subway at night?

Forgive me for getting off track again. Where was I? Oh yes, the deep voice of the nameless man. He needed a room.

"Can I get some identification?" The bellhop shyly asked. Socializing wasn't his strong suit.

"I could ask the same." The voice replied back keeping his head low. Facing the ground as if he was hiding something.

"Uh, I-I I'm Toby." The bellhop said nervous.

"Toby you say." The nameless man replied keeping his gaze at the ground.

"Yes sir. What would you like?" Toby asked somehow forgetting the identification of the man.

"Room 546. The one at the corner." The man said, his voice becoming impatient.

"That one is taken. Someone rented it the other day." Toby replied checking the digital map.

The digital map showed the rooms with activated key cards. When they were swiped, how often. What time.

"The one directly next to it then will have to do." The nameless man exasperated.

"To the right or left? Both are vacant." Toby said.

"Right. Left brings bad luck young man." The voice said.

Toby entered the data and slid him the key card. Before he could ask what name to put the room under or method of payment- the man was gone.

Like he dissolved into the wind. Walking up the hall the nameless man stopped. Room 546. Pulling from his pocket. A book of matches. Small ones, the miniature ones. So as to not draw attention. He coughed as he struck the small match against the side of the box.

When the match illuminated his face, he looked in the peephole. An older man was taking off his sweater vest. Presumably to change into something else.

Carefully the nameless man bent down. Threw the match underneath the door crack. And watched as the carpet lite up with flames.

A shriek from the bathroom. A yell from the bed. Walking away briskly the nameless man disappeared once again, not even bothering to check into his own room.

Arson- (noun) The criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property.