Awakened: The Story of Maxwell Cain

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

                        The Awakening

        “Mr. Cain, what do you think we should do about the dispute with the distribution laws in Dallas?”

        This was the next thing Max could remember hearing.  When he opened his eyes, he saw a massive mahogany table laid out in front of him with at least a dozen businessmen in designer suits staring at him, awaiting a response.  Behind them, through the panoramic window, he could see the New York skyline as its view.

        “Um...what?”  Was the only response Max managed to muster.  There was a long pause, and then all of the men began laughing hysterically.

        “Someone had a little bit too much fun at his birthday party last night!” the man to his right exclaimed, much to the others’ amusement.

        “Yeah…I guess so.”  Max forced himself to chuckle with them, but his own laugh sounded fake to his ears.  “Excuse me for a second.”

        Leaving the room, Max walked with as much calmness as he could muster to the first door he could find, and bolted inside.  After realizing it was a broom closet, he darted into the next door, finding better accommodations as he entered a bathroom.  He closed the door behind him. 

        Max could still hear the men laughing outside as he collected himself in the bathroom.

        “Ha!  He can’t even find the right door!” one man laughed.

        Max walked directly up to the sink.  This wasn’t just your ordinary gas station style bathroom.  It was, instead, the most luxurious bathroom he had ever seen.  Soft benches lined the side wall, and there was a beautiful porcelain sink with gold inlay trim, and a small seal in the middle which read “Cain Corporations”.  The seal was in the shape of a circle, with a man standing in front of what seemed to be the sun.  A large  eagle was flying next to him, and Max could   barely make out the small bird being clutched in the eagle’s claws.

        “Cain Corporations?”  Max asked himself aloud.  The first thing he thought of was stories of his rich grandfather.  He had never met the man, but his parents had told him he was a wealthy businessman who spent all of his money the year before his death, leaving his children with nothing.

        “Maybe my parents were wrong?”  Max thought to himself.  “And how did I get here?”

        As he thought this, Max looked up in the mirror, but he didn’t recognize what he saw.  He was staring at a grown man.  The man definitely looked like him, but much older than he remembered.  He ran his hands slowly over the stubble that he had been hoping would finally grow in for the last few years.  He was wearing a very expensive suit, obviously costing well over a thousand dollars.  And when he looked down at his oversized, calloused hands, he noticed that he had a watch with more diamonds than one might see inside an entire jewelry store.

        “Where did I get all of this stuff?” Max thought to himself.  “I must be dreaming again because this can’t be real.”

        Max slapped himself on the face in an attempt to wake up. Feeling foolish, he eyed the red hand imprint on his cheek.  Everything seemed so real, but how could something like this happen?  He was only a fifteen year old kid who had not even graduated from high school.

        “Breathe, Max, breathe,” Max whispered to himself, running his hands over his much shortened black hair.  “This has to be the most realistic dream I have ever had.”