The Cycle

Chapter 1 - Alkin Hollist

"You're late!"my boss, Michelle, yelled from across the hall. The phone rang in five different cubicles as I walked by.

"I know," I replied already predicting what she was going to say.

Monotonous schedules just doesn't work for me. I honestly didn't care if I was late to work. It made my life just the slightest bit more interesting.

I swiftly walked to my desk in my office and sat down. My office was a neat room filled of stacks of written columns for the New York Times Newspaper that need to be edited. There weren't very many left that need correcting, but there were a few that need revising.

"You need to have those columns done by 2:00 pm," My boss demanded.

I looked at the clock. It's 9:45 am. There's plenty of time. I decided that the revision columns needed to be tackled first, so I faced the screen and started typing away.

...towns are torn to pieces in the United States. Cities include:

Knock knock

My closest friend Abby walked in quickly, sat in the chair facing me and crossed her legs.

"Can you believe what happened last night?"she asked.

Still typing. "No I can't...probably because I wasn't even there."

She continued, "So there is this guy at the bar last night right? And he's super cute. Like I'm talking about brown hair blue eyes type. He has perfect bone structure and everything. Anyways, he asked me if..."

Interrupting her I told her, "I hope you know that I have to finish editing all this by 2:00."

"I know, but just listen for a second,"she begged.

Still typing.

She continued again, "So, he came up to me and I was all dressed up and looking nice as usual."

I interrupted her again, speaking what I was typing aloud. "...and the society moves from town to town."

Then she interrupted me. "He asked about you!"

I stopped and looked up from the screen . "What did he say?"

"He said he needs to tell you something really important," she responded excitedly.

Then there was silence. I stopped typing and faced her wondering if she was going to tell me what was so important that she had to interrupt my tight schedule.

"Are you seeing someone?" She finally asked.

I responded quickly,"No! I would have told you. You know that."

"Ok. Just making sure." She gave me that you better not be lying look.

"I need to finish editing this now, so you need to go," I said getting up out of my chair about to shove her out the door.

"Fine, but we'll discuss this at the club on 21st street tonight at 8:00. Ok?" Abby stood up, pulled down her extremely short yet still professional looking skirt and ran to the door. She stopped and turned around. "Oh, and by the way, his name is Alkin." Then she ran out.

Alkin? What type of name is that?

I finished editing all the revision columns by 12:45 and was able to take a one hour lunch break. There's this really nice coffee shop about a block away that I had been meaning to try. Abby told me they served a really rich chai tea latte – my favorite!

Once I was sitting down, relaxed with my cup of heaven on the table, I decided to finish reading the book I started last Friday. It was called, The Dandle In Distress. The book was a typical adventure book where the guy saves the girl from being killed from the evil villain and the two live happily ever after. It was great for helping me escape my reality of being single and stuck in an office all day.

As I finished the last page, two people started arguing in the back of the café. I overheard them talking about the Foundation, a secret society working against the government. That was exactly what the article I was editing earlier was all about. Which reminded me that I couldn't stick around any longer or else I would never finish editing those columns.

I headed back to the office and began my work again right where I left off.

Knock knock

"What is it now," I said expecting Abby to walk through the door.
I looked up. There was a man standing in the doorway. He shut the door behind him.

He was very tall with an even amount of muscle making him look not too skinny and not too fat. His bone structure was amazing and his hair was perfect. Then I saw his eyes which were the color of the ocean and the sky, which I believe are two very different colors even though one is a reflection of the other.

Seeing that my thoughts had been interrupted for the second time today, I asked feeling perturbed, "Can I help you?"

"So you're the main editor in this building?" He responded sitting down in the same chair Abby sat in earlier this morning.

"Yes, and you are?" I gave him a look from the top of my eye trying to act sassy but absolutely failing at it.

"My name is Alkin, Alkin Hollist." He reached his hand out to shake but I just looked at it then looked back at him.

He recognized the rejection thankfully, preventing the situation from being more awkward than it already was and pulled his hand back. It was my turn to talk now. "Look, it's very nice to meet you Alkin, but as you can see, I am extremely busy right now. I dont have time to date anyone, so unless your hear to schedule an appointement -"

"That won't be necessary." I could tell he was British from his deep English accent." First off, I am already dating someone and second off, I hate being associated with the likes of you, but I have to because it's my job. On the bright side, today is your lucky day because I'm not here to talk about your personality." He paused. Then continued, "I'm here to warn you."

"Warn me about what?" I asked feeling even more annoyed than I was before.

"Warn you that your life is about to take a turn. It will take a turn in the wrong direction, and if you're not ready, you may lose it." He sounded serious.

I gave him a deeper stare, "What do you want?"

He said, "I want to help you."

"How do I know I can trust you?" I asked testing him.

"Because of this." He reached in the pocket of his leather jacket, pulled out a letter, and handed it to me.

"Meet me behind the club on 21st street at 9:00," he said while I was still examining the letter."I'll explain the rest there."

"Wait – ," I said trying to understand what just happened even though deep down I knew what was going on. When I looked up, he was gone.

I looked at the top left corner of the envelope to see who the letter was from. There was no return address in the top left corner. It just had my name on the front. I opened it to find one sheet of white folded paper inside. The letter read in bold cursive letters :

We will stop at nothing until your father surrenders. Our goals will be met at any cost. We know you're still alive. We know that the whole thing was an act and we know that You know what we want. You can't hide forever.

I scanned the rest and skipped down to the bottom.
It read:

From,
The Foundation

I knew after reading the message it was time to go. They found me.