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Prologue -
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The smoke drifts up from the lit cigarette in my hand, i dont smoke it, it's only for show, i gaze around at all the other people seated in their booths, their happy go lucky lives, part of me feels sad, wish i could be like them, another part feels superior, i could squash them like the bugs they are and they would never know what hit them.
the waitress comes over, and takes my order,
Coffee Black... just like my heart...
i dont say the second part out to her, i smile, and i catch a glimmer of unease in her eye, did she sense what i was thinking, did i show too much teeth.
no matter, wont be here for too long.
i check my watch 2:35 ... always with the watches, the handlers have to be so melodramatic with each and everything.. every time it's the same patek phillipe every time, silver with the white dial.
guess it is all about time at the end.
there is a clock at the end of the cafe, big antique number, i cannot help but compare the seconds on the face of my watch to the face of the antique number on the other side off my just a few seconds.
i think to myself what if i time myself from that, and even as i think that, a sharp pain radiates down my spine paralyzing my body for a moment, taking my breath away for a fleeting second..
as i hunch over and recover from the God Awful pain that feels like a spike of fire in the back of my head and all down my spine i think to myself, the handlers do a pretty good job of tying in all the loose ends.
i start thinking of the ripples in the water, the pictures they showed us, quite amazing how every single human life can bring such a huge cange in the universe by a small infentisimal act.. sometimes i think what if the watchers are wrong.. what then.
still that's no place thinking such blasphemy for the likes of me, i glance at my watch as i put my hand in my coat pocket and bring out the vial full of glass beads.
would have prefered my usual a silenced .45, but you cant say the handlers dont have style, specially when you know all the outcomes of a situation, it's sometimes surreal to see the domino effect of events leading to the ultimate conclusion.
i uncork the vial, and let my hands hang below the table, the waitress come back with my coffe and places it on the table, i thank her without looking up, she turns her back and starts walking away, i check my watch
3
2
1
the door swings open at the exact time shake the vial and throw the beads towards the door, the jingling of the bell masks the sound of the beads bouncing on the wooden floor, in walks an old woman wearing a cardigan and an old man holding a cane wearing glases followed by a guy in a black jacket, i pick up my cup of coffee and keep my eyes straight on the antique clock in the corner watching their reflections in the smooth glass.
i can sense the beads bouncing to the door, the old lady with the cardigan and the old man with the cane barely notice the beads bounding toward their feet , the man in the black jacked suddely slips foward knocking the old lady down before everyone realizes what's going on, the old man takes a step on another bead and slips, tried to regain his balance, and oversteps, tried to plant his cane to get back his balance. the guy with the black jacket barely gets time to move before the old man plants his cane square in the middle of his throat, and falls on top of him.
suddenly everyone in the cafe is getting up and screaming and running around it seems, someone is screaming call for 911 this guy isn't breathing. everyone is going crazy.
i take another sip of coffee, leave money plus tip on the table, ease out of my booth and start walking to the door, no one cares to stop me as i edge out from the side, the door opens and people from the outside start looking in, someone else slips on one of the glass beads someone elase is screaming for God.
hmph... foolish people...
i walk out into the sunlight, an ambulance blaring it's siren coming to the front of the shop.
more people gathering.i can hear the waitress explaining panicked " they just came in and fell "someone screamed " oh my GOD i think this guy is dead "
last sound i hear as i get into my car and turn on the radio.
i get a text on my cell phone.
" Good Job , time to end the link , terminate the Time Keeper"
Same Shit... Every Day.... i think to myself as i pull out into traffic straight into the path of an oncoming bus.
This is gonna hurt.
Crunch of metal on metal, sounds almost musical, i feel the steering wheel shatter the ribs in my body.. or rather in the body i am in.. the pain radiates again in my spine, or his spine i should say. everything goes black.
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Chapter 1 - Where it all Starts .
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Open my Eyes, feels like i've been hit by a truck, well more like a bus not a truck, guys in lab coats all around me.
" How was the jump this time Michael " asks the one with the weird glasses and grey beard no mistaking Dr. Roderick with his head full of silver hair.
"Fine doc - you gotta make this ending a little bit more easy on the old body though, exit hurts like a mother f%&$"
"lie back and rest, we have not countered the effects of the drugs in your system, you'll still be groggy for a while."
Short bald man with round glasses calls from over the corner,
" Hey mikey, great job on this one, we were all watching the visualizer "
i grunt my approval.
Dr. Roderick goes and starts taking notes on his tablet,
i sit up and feel woozy lie back down.
" told you " he says without glancing up.
"hey doc , got something to ask ya"
"go ahead" he says.
" how do we know who the mark is, you guys usally tell me to just go on the corner store and buy all the lemons, or some other weird stuff like that, this time the guy died and i just threw the glass beads, what gives ?, did you know that was gonna happen"
"Mike, you know better than me i cant disucss these things" Roderick says as he turns back to the monitoring equipment
"how about unhooking me from this now"
" Svenson, make yourself useful, detach the cerebral electrodes, and be careful you dont give mike a shock "
I see svenson on the corner working on his laptop, he gets up and comes to me, pale thin and always sickly looking hook nose, the guy even gives me a creeps.
svenson starts pulling out wires from the back of my chair, i feel a tugging sensation in the base of my head and then another shock down my spine
"what the f&$ svenson"
"Svenson i told you be careful with him" Dr Roderick Admonished.
"sorry sir, my hands slipped" he replied in his wheezy voice
"slipped my ass, you almost yanked it out, if you do that agian i will bust your nose you Igor reject from a frankenstien movie" i raged.
svenson steps away after he's done his work, doc comes back with a needle in his hand.
"Ok Mike You know the drill. try to relax and sleep, we'll bring you back when we need you." he says as he injects me with the drug.
looks like he's speaking to me through a tunnel, everything's going black. i fade off to sleep.
