Silence the Shadows

1. The Counselor

Light poured in through the window s of his office, the overhead lights weren't buzzing, for once, he noticed. Feliciano's eyes traveled the area of his office. It was a sizable room, with gentle music playing throughout, the sound bouncing off the walls. The walls, being a soft grey color with little speckles of paint flaking from them, revealing the baby blue color beneath. Feliciano was in a daze as he leaned back from resting on his desk. Glancing over to a nearby clock, he noticed the time was 5:45 PM. Almost time to clock out for the night, unless he was on call for any hotlines in the area, which, according to his schedule, wasn't happening. He stood from his chair, and leaned forward, then back, stretching his arms and legs from the long day of sitting and typing. Days with little activity always drug on and on, sadly. Every minute felt like hours have passed until he can drag himself away from his work for lunch, then to drive home. Even outside, which was normally filled with cars and children playing and running about was quiet. "How strange." He muttered to himself, before bending to pick up his briefcase and shoving his notes into the different pockets. He started to notice the quietness of the rooms in his hearing range. Everyone and everything was silent, and the noise from his slowly ticking clock seemed to only be amplified by the silence. He looked once into his briefcase, ensuring he had every object he needed, running through the list he made earlier, he realized he was lucky enough to remember everything. He glanced once more at the clock. It read 5:50, still ten minutes before he could leave this office and head back to his home, still ten minutes before he had to make dinner, and still ten more minutes until he may have a more exciting evening than what it had been so far.