White Walls

Chapter 1:

With the stealth of an experienced FBI Agent, Luke Adams slipped out of the double bed bathed in silk, quietly crept over to the bathroom and admired himself in the mirror.

He stared for quite a while at his chiseled jaw, perfectly defined by the stubble he had spent many years mastering. Bushy eyebrows were a sat perched above his eyes, dominating his face, and yet it was his eyes that people always seemed to be most drawn to. Luke squinted them slightly to create a sparkling effect which he seemed to control: a very handy tool when he'd spotted the girl he wanted for the night. He'd turn on the charm, and his eyes sparkled the way a diamond reflects sunlight – and of course, ladies love diamonds. Luke then switched his attention to his jet-black hair. He stared for a couple moments more, tilting his head this way and that, finding certain angles and raising one eyebrow for his own amusement. He then smirked at his reflection.

"Still got it. Even in the mornings."

He sought his suit, each piece having been scattered around the hotel room in his night of passion with the blonde. At last, he found his white shirt, buttoned it up to the top, fastened his clip-on tie and exited the room, without a word to the girl sleeping innocently. I'll speak to her tomorrow Luke thought. He did not want to have to speak to her at all. He did not want to have to go through the rigmarole which was becoming routine whenever he spent the night with her. He did not want to say he loved her and promise her that soon they would be together, not because he knew that that was not true, but because he was just simply bored of saying it. I'll tell her that Dad called and I had to dash – she'll believe that.

As he made the walk down the hotel corridor he fastened his fitted black suit jacket and entered the lift. He walked past the reception desk and with a quick glance over his shoulder mumbled something so quietly that the receptionist had to lean over the desk to catch the words, and even then, had to guess some of the words she'd missed. She concluded that he had indeed said: "She's paying."

Luke strode arrogantly down the street the few paces to the train station. He inhaled deeply and took in a gulp of the fresh spring air. He loved life. He had a successful career, good looks, an intelligent brain, a wife and a mistress on the side. He wondered how one could be so blessed.

He entered the train station still immersed in the bliss that was his life. He unconsciously fed the machine the ticket, entered the gate and found his platform. He knew the way like the back of his hand and was starting to think that it was getting a bit tedious. Maybe he should cast the mistress away and find a new one – it was easy enough. He lived on the excitement, the risk of getting caught: he thrived on it, but the excitement of this affair was wearing thin. The blonde, Stacy, had gotten it into her head that they were madly in love, that they were going to run away together and start a new life and make a family. Luke, of course, had gone along with it, partly so as not to jeopardize their affair, and partly because he found it highly amusing that someone could be so deluded. It was from that moment on that he'd decided to add acting to his endless list of talents and qualities.

He laughed a little and shook his head, only to quickly backtrack in case anyone wondered why he was laughing to himself in public – they would think him crazy and that would ruin his intelligent reputation. Only he need not have worried. The train station was deserted, apart from the odd one or two singletons moping around, holding coffee. Although he was glad of the solitude, Luke could not help but wonder why the station was so empty. He'd been there at that time of the morning many times before, and it was usually busy with exhausted looking businessmen running around trying to hop onto their train before it glided away. He found it strange that they were no longer there and, even more strangely, missed the familiarity.

Now he came to think of it, the train station appeared eerie when deserted. Like part of a different world – a future world. The station had only recently been built, explaining why the whole thing looked like the painters and decorators had just thrown a truck of chrome paint around. The concrete floor was a clean, sharp grey, whilst everything else was silver, with the odd blue railings here and there, giving it a cold, futuristic effect.

Luke wrinkled his nose and thought that the station had been poorly decorated. If his design team had decided to go with entirely silver, he would have scolded them and probably reduced their pay. Of course, there would have been objections by the team, but everyone that worked for Luke knew better than to cross him. He could afford the best lawyer in the UK if it came to it, but Luke was confident that it never would because the staff knew he was ruthless enough to sack them there and then, in front of everyone if need be.

He was the CEO of his own property company, although all his job consisted of was sitting behind a desk and donning a suit to look the part, and he was free to admire Stacy, who also happened to be his secretary. He had a team of people deal with finances. A team of people to buy the property for him. A team of people to rejuvenate the property, and a team of people who offered an interior design service if the client so wished. Quite successful for a 24-year-old. The company had been passed over to him when his dad retired.

Luke was notorious for embarrassing his staff, purely for his amusement, and that was the main contributing factor to why people hated him. He'd often find new ways of patronizing his staff in front of the entire workforce and was particularly proud when he'd succeeded in making one of them go red, or near to tears.

When he got bored of that, he would ask Stacy into his office in quite a stern manner, making him look like the fair boss that he believed he was. He'd then tint the glass windows of his office with the use of a remote control, making sure no one could see in or out, and then seduce her in the middle of the day, in the room next to the staff.

There was a soft alarm above his head that brought him out of his thoughts.

"The next train arriving at Platform 2 is the 6:27 service to Birmingham New Street." The announcer spoke in a false robotic tone.

However, not one split second after the words had escaped the tannoy's speaker, a train ground to a stop in front of Luke, and he boarded his carriage. The train too was eerily empty, but Luke didn't complain as he had the bliss of choosing a seat with a table.

Eager to continue his reminiscent daydream, Luke lay his head back and relived the events of the previous day.

It was 5 pm and the staff at Adams & Co were quickly gathering their belongings in their eagerness to get away and enjoy a Luke-free weekend. Stacy deliberately lingered behind and, when the coast was clear, entered Luke's office. She sat on his lap and enticingly whispered, "You ready to go darling?"

Luke hated that word – darling. It made them sound like a married couple.

They were to depart for London where they would spend the night, using the excuse that he was on a business trip, which Luke's wife, Claire, always seemed to believe.

His head suddenly dropped, as though his head was too heavy for his neck to support. Luke wasn't tired. He'd just woken up. So why was it then, that he could feel his eyes become heavy and his head tilt forward? It was like he was in no control of his body and everything seemed too heavy for him to carry. He tried to fight the strange sensation, but it was no use. He slowly began to fall onto the table and that was the last thing he saw before falling unconscious.