Clouds spun across the azure sky like spiderwebs, holding back the morning light as David Ollin made his way to Murdoch without delay, being careful to stay away from the shoulder of the road where senior citizens loved to play pedestrian. Not that this happened often, but it was annoying on occasion. "Too old, too late" as David's superiors constantly reminded their ever-cheerful employees.

          Still, David held no such sentiments; he had never thought, not once in his life, that the elderly were something to laugh at. He himself hadn't aged well after all; too pale, thinning hair, scarred cheeks where the morning razor had gone astray. If that was supposed to be funny, David wondered what would constitute bad taste. But on second thought, maybe he didn't want to know.

           There was a lot he didn't want to know.

           It wasn't something that registered though. It simply sat inside him, useless feelings to build up dust, unspoken.

          Work, however, was another matter alltogether.

          He turned right on Goldwood, floored another mile. No other cars on the road. He passed darkened neighborhoods, a lightless pharmacy that was supposedly open 24/7.

        In his head he chuckled silently. Liars, every one of them. Without exception.

        Strange, then, that it didn't strike him as odd at all for the place to be pitch black at the moment. It had been open yesterday morning after all.

        yesterday...

        There was no time to consider, for it wasn't even a minute before the brooding castle that was Murdoch Incorporate soon rose before him on the right, a towering edifice the color of chimney ash that could have been mistaken as the Empire State Building's evil twin. If Satan was Bill Gates, this was Microsoft's Gates of Hell.

       And he was heading right into it.

       He got in the turn lane, cruised into the great lot which faced his workplace. The doormat of the door, so to speak. Once parked, he stepped from his Sedan into the cold, unshining day and walked, both mind and body caught in the great shadow of the building itself.

       It was going to be a good day, he thought.

       Unregistering the fact that his car was the only one in the lot.

       The wind picked up with his passing, as if in mourning...