Chapter 1 – Another Monday morning

It was just another boring Monday morning. The sparse rays of sunlight that found their way through the blinders’ narrow gaps did little to disturb the man sleeping deeply on the bed. However, the serene peace was short-lived as the accursed sound of his alarm began its daily ritual of ruining a good dream.

Jake, previously enjoying the sweet embrace of his blankets, was startled awake, fumbling around until his hand finally found his phone. Grumbling, he rolled out of bed and started his usual morning routine, preparing for yet another day at work.

He went for a warm shower, a quick breakfast, got himself dressed, before he finally grabbed his stuff and headed out the door. The entire morning routine was done in less than half an hour.

Walking down the stairs to his car, he had an intuition that the day was going to be interesting. He didn’t know why as everything was as usual so far, but he couldn’t entirely dispel the feeling. Maybe someone brought donuts?

Traffic was terrible as usual, living in a big city and all. He spent most of the time not actually driving but sitting in the endless queues of the morning rush. He had considered cycling or maybe running to work, but then he would have to shower and get dressed at work, and that just sounded bothersome.

As he finally pulled into the parking lot, he got out, grabbed his bag, and headed on inside the corporate office that had been his workplace for the last couple of years. The building itself was a massive monstrosity of glass, with way too many floors. It wasn’t all that out of place, though, being surrounded by similar structures.

As he got inside, he was greeted by the receptionist, Joanna. She was a middle-aged woman, who always wore these large earrings, and more makeup than an entire class of high school girls would need in a week. If Jake had to describe Joanna in the easiest way possible, it would be a soccer-mom stuck in a perpetual mid-life crisis. The reception was located only a couple of meters away from the elevators, so greeting her in the morning was a natural routine for most employees.

“Morning, Jake, had a good weekend?” she asked, with far too much energy for this early in the morning.

“Same as always, how about you?” Jake answered politely, knowing what was to come.

“Oh, it was great! You know me and Mike tried to…” she replied with vigor, explaining in great detail, giving Jake déjà-vu to last week, where the exact same scenario seemed to have played out.

After the far too long conversation about inane subjects with her, the arrival of the elevator finally saved him, allowing his escape as he headed on up to the 14th floor.

Stepping out of the elevator, Jake was met by a calm, open-office space. Seems like I was one of the first to arrive today, he thought, as he found his way to his desk. Booting up the computer, he started going through the emails that came during the weekend.

Jake had worked in this office for a bit over two years now. His job was what many would describe as boring, yet he somehow found it peaceful to immerse himself in the spreadsheets, financial reports, and whatnot. He worked in the financial department, and if he said so himself, he was rather good at what he did.

He mainly worked with investments, his official title being a business analyst. Jake had a knack for picking out the excellent stocks and avoiding the bad ones. He had always had a good gut feeling about those kinds of things.

The office slowly got filled up as more and more made their way off the elevator. After the initial morning greetings and polite social exchanges, the noise slowly died down as everyone got busy with their respective tasks. No donuts, he noted internally with great disappointment.

As he sat there, having finished up the most immediate tasks, he began to feel a bit tired once more, clearly having not gotten enough sleep. Most others in the office had learned by now that he wasn’t one for small talk, so most left him alone. Just the way he wanted it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Jake had always been a rather laid-back person. Cautious and a bit withdrawn. He had always been a bit of a loner and chose activities based on not interacting with others. Heck, when his dad forced him into doing some kind of sport to get him out of his room, he chose archery as he could do that entirely on his own.

All in all? Jake was content with his life. He had a well-paying job, a good family, a nice apartment, great colleagues, and his future was looking bright if he said so himself. He wasn’t an extraordinary person, but just another face in the crowd. And he kind of liked it that way. Standing out meant unnecessary attention, and he would prefer to avoid that.

As he finished his thoughts, his superior, Jacob, walked over with a big smile on his face.

“Hey there buddy! Me and the others are heading out for lunch, you wanna come?” he asked cheerfully.