Rain could always be a soothing experience for me. Tiny round droplets of cold water falling from the sky, crashing into whatever got in its way, to make a sound easing the tension. I could always count on the rain to put my pulse and my racing mind back in check.
Spring in New York always had the potential to let loose the rain. That day it happened to be raining as I looked out my hotel room window to the street below. An ever moving and never sleep city that didn't care the tiniest little bit about the water falling from the sky.
I was in New York for business and a little bit more. Paranoia was starting to creep in and I wanted to start setting up some things that I could use later. I was buying some property while I was in town trying to show the board of one of my companies a new technology we were going to produce.
Both Matt and Bob had made the trip and had lists of things I'd given them to do. Bob also wanted to check with some friends he had about any unusual activity going on across the country. He was looking for whispers about whispers. He tried to keep up with whatever he could so he was never surprised by anything going on. Of course, this didn't have anything to do with me, unless it had to do with me.
Matt was buying up the property for me and as the head of Technology for my companies he ran all the projects, so he had to be at the board meeting anyway. This was also giving us three the time to talk out in the open about everything that had been going on with me.
It had been over a year since I hired Bob and he was working out better than I had ever expected. Not only was he very protective of me, but also of Matt. Since Matt had to go with me to a lot of meetings, this turned out to be perfect for us.
On top of that, Bob was always in the know on everything. He had a lot of contacts all over the U.S. People would see him and just spewed information about what was going on in their worlds. Add on top of that the fact he revamped the security systems at the house and every other 'Hidden' property I owned and you have the perfect Left Hand Man.
Quickly I walked away from the window and across the living room area toward the door. My suit was black with silver pinstripes and a sliver shirt with a silver tie. I was ready to present to the board. Standing at the door as I opened it was Bob with Matt in tow. Matt had all the paperwork we needed, both for the meeting and for after, in the black leather briefcase he was holding.
"Well, let's get you guys to the meeting then. You look all pimped out," Bob smirked. He took the lead as he always did and walked us to the elevator.
"You look pretty pimped out yourself, Bob." He was wearing an all black suit with a white shirt and black tie. "Get that idea off 'Men in Black' or what?" Matt joined in with the laughing. Bob just shook his head as we got on the empty elevator.
Bob turned back to me and said, "I'm going to walk you to the board room and then go see my buddy around the corner at a coffee shop."
"Great. You know," he saw it coming, "with the sunglasses on you look like a Secret Service Agent." I gave him an odd look. "You look really professional, though. I don't think anyone would fuck with us." I smiled and so did he knowing the clothes had nothing to do with it.
We walked out of the elevator into the lobby right behind Bob. He was so large he could block the sun if it was out. No one would be able to get a clear shot at either of us, that was for sure.
As we walked out of the lobby I was trying to think of how much to tell them. Neither of them really asked question anymore. At first they both had a lot to ask, but over the last six months or so they hadn't asked many questions about what I was doing or what was happening to me. They held back knowing I would tell them in my own time.
For some things it seemed like now was the right time. Wanting them to know about some of this, or at least what I knew about it, was happening with more frequency and I didn't want them to be caught off guard when they did happen. I didn't seem to have much, if any, control over what was going on, they would just happen out of the blue, spontaneously.
On the curb in front of us, a black Escalade was waiting. Bob walked to the rear door and opened it. He was looking around the windows of the surrounding buildings and up and down the sidewalk. If there was something that could be seen it would be seen by him.
Matt slid in the back seat and then I did right behind him. Bob, as he always did, checked every direction as he walked around the car to get in. He opened the door and hopped in with the door shutting behind him. A few taps of the navigation system and we were off.
"So, let's give them the 40,000 foot level on the circuitry," Matt started in. My mind was drifting a bit, "Hey. You here?" My head snapped back with a nod. "Then let's fill them in on the planned applications and how they fit. If we move right from that to the market shares we plan to pull from this thing, it will go over very smoothly. You agree?" Matt was looking for an answer.
"Well, going over the market share is good, but I also want to nail down the demographic we want to consume in each market share." He nodded in agreement.
"That sounds right. Okay. I'll add that right after the market share." He looked out the front window. "Now, let me do most of the talking. I'll defer to you for the technical details when needed. Okay?"
"Sure. This one is your show, man. I'm just along for the ride!" My teeth were showing through my smile.
"My ass! It's your technology, pal. I just know how to sell it." Yes he did. The guy was so smooth I had seen him talk the CEO of a company into letting him take the guys wife out on a date. He always had that smooth edge that everyone loved. Even me.
"I wanted to talk to you both about something else." I looked up into the rearview mirror to see Bob's eyes.
"What's up, boss?"
"Don't be surprised if you see more of the strange shit that's been happening to me. My understanding of this is terribly lacking. Until I do, the uncontrolled behavior will keep happening and my put everyone around me in danger." Silence was not golden at that moment. I was looking for any kind of reaction of response.
Finally, Matt chimed in, "What the hell is it that's happening to you?! It freaks me out every time I see you close your fucking eyes and your hands twitch," he pointed at my right hand.
"I don't know, man. I wish I did, but I don't. I'm trying to, so bear with me on this one," Tilting my head down, I looked at my feet.
"Will do, boss. Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll figure it out." The glass is now half full.
"Yeah, I'm with you. It's actually pretty cool once you get past the initial shock of it happening right in front of you!" Matt laughed.
"Yeah. The kids think it's awesome! That's what they tell me anyway." Bob had a proud expression on his face. No doubt that's pride that his children didn't freak out and get scared about it.
Different things had happened in the house since they moved in. Beyond just me knowing things about them or what they were thinking or even just moving really fast. Objects had been moving around randomly on accident and I had been moving around in different rooms of the house.
Remy was pretty weirded out by the whole thing starting with the night at the restaurant, but after a month or so she got use to it. She had been helping me out with it whenever we were home. She had been talking about it and researching things online for me. That was good since I didn't have a lot of time lately.
My days were spent trying to run companies and set plans in motion on the side. I had no time to do research, even with Google and the other search engines out there.
The Escalade pulled up to a high-rise with mirror tinting on all the windows. Bob rushed out of the car and around to our door. He opened it and shut it behind us as we jumped out and entered another building with marble tile in the lobby. It seems everyone was doing this remodel project with marble tile.
We followed Bob into the elevator where he put his hand out to keep people from getting on with us. It happened all the time. He didn't want to put us that close to an unknown because it would be hard to stop anyone at that range. That's what he told us anyway and it was pretty logical.
He hit the button for the 42nd floor and the elevator was headed up. He popped out his phone and looked through it. I could hear him whisper, "Lisa. Lisa"
Bob was standing dead center in the middle of the elevator doors with us tucked in straight behind him. He was good at what he did. No one would be able to get a shot at us without going through Bob first. I sometimes worried Bob might get shot one day. At this point I was pretty sure I couldn't tell Remy and the kids their Dad and Husband was dead. They were family now and that kind of devastation would be too much to see in their eyes.
With a ding, we had arrived. Bob walked us up to the reception desk and crowded us in. "Michael and Matt to see Lisa," he said to the woman behind the desk.
"Oh yes. She has been expecting you. I'll call her up now." The receptionist was an older woman with glasses. She hit a button and a woman's voice came over the intercom.
"Yes."
"Michael and Matt are here to see you."
"Okay. I'll be right there." I could hear some apprehension in her voice. She was also quite nervous.
"I'll take you into the board room. Right this way." The receptionist came around from the back of the desk and walked down a hallway about fifteen feet. A glass encased board room was right near the lobby. "Here you are." She hit a button as she walked out of the room and some blinds automatically rolled down over the glass to block the view.
Within thirty seconds a 5' 9" slender blonde woman walked in through the door. She was very attractive and noticeably nervous. As if she knew who I was she walked right up to me with her hand out.
"Michael, it's nice to finally meet you," she said with a shaky tone. "I'm Lisa Sampson."
Taking her hand I immediately got the feeling she intended to hide something from all of us. Quickly she turned to Matt and shook his hand and continued to only look at him after they had stopped shaking.
Haze started fogging over my vision as I looked at her looking at Matt. My eyes twitched and rolled back in my head a bit before my right hand started to twitch. I could see Lisa as I closed my eyes. She was standing in the lobby of a hotel talking to three tall well dressed men and a petite dark haired woman, also well dressed. Each of the men wore black tactical boots under their all black tailored suits.
"Yes, I'll do it, but you better be right! This could cost me my job," her voice echoed in the lobby they were standing in.
A sweet semi-high pitched voice spoke up with a very stern and direct tone, "Your job? Love, you better start thinking bigger than that! There's a hell of a lot more at stake than your fucking job!" The petite well dressed woman motioned to the men to follow her out of the building. I couldn't see her face in the image.
The thoughts were cleared from my head as I opened my eyes and the images were gone. Anger flowed over me, seeing Lisa standing there nervous and obviously hiding something. I never saw the details of what it was she was hiding or trying to hide, but it pissed me off to think of one of my employees stabbing me in the back.
"Lisa, love," I threw that in there to see if she noticed. She did notice and I noticed her noticing. She had met with them that day. Her clothes were exactly the same right down to the watch she was wearing. When she stopped breathing for a moment I knew she noticed. "You seem quite nervous," I said inquisitively. My tone was direct yet soft. "Is something wrong, love?" Again, I wanted her to be as uncomfortable as I could while she wondered what I did and didn't know.
I'm not sure how long the pause was before she decided to open her mouth again, but it seemed like an eternity, enough time to make every else, besides me, uncomfortable.
"Yes, there is something wrong," honesty flowed out of her. She looked around the room like a spy about to tell a secret. "There have been whispers around the office that the reason you're here is to fire everyone or tell us we are selling." The honesty didn't last long, she was lying and I knew it as she said it a feeling of anger washed over me. "Is that true, Michael? You've owned the company for over a year and you have never visited the office, in person, once."
I had to play along and play nice. Calmly and collectedly, "No, Lisa. We are simply here because we invented some new technology that we want to move forward with in this company." Holding back the intense anger from my tone, "We will need to hire quite a few new people in addition to the people we have."
Pretending to be relieved, "Whew! I hope you don't mind me scattering that in whispers throughout the office to stop the rumors and boost moral?" It was hiding inside of her. I wanted to know so bad it was eating away at me.
Smiling as if oblivious and happy, "Not at all! I think you should, love." She was still shaking every time I said it. "Hopefully everyone will be excited and not worried about their jobs!" A fake chuckl seemed appropriate.
"Great! Thank you, Michael." She turned and left the room swiftly.
"What the hell was that all about? And what happened? I saw your face and hand," Matt blurted out.
"She was fucking lying. That's what happened," I was noticeably angered and agitated, but trying to keep my voice down. "I could see her meeting with some people. They were getting her to do something that had to do with the company."
"How do you know it was with the company?" he was concerned, but I wasn't sure if it was about the company or if it was about me.
"Well, the fact she said whatever it was could cost her this job and that it happened today. She was wearing the exact same clothes." I was calming down a bit. My mind was working overtime trying to decipher what it was these people wanted her to do that was so bad it could get her fired.
"Yeah, that would do it," Matt couldn't dispute the obvious. "So, what do you want to do?" Great question. What did I want to do? Something had to be done.
"Call Bob. Have him put someone on Lisa and have him run a check on her." That was it? My head was spinning with interrogation techniques I had seen in movies and read about on the internet.
Matt must have been thinking the same thing, "We could just tie her down and shove Bamboo Shoots under her finger nails." He smiled huge and whipped out his cell phone to make the call.
"What really bugs me is that those guys were all wearing those damn Tac Boots!" He stopped his chuckling. I had told him and Bob about the boots already. At first it came off as just a coincidence. After a few more times of incidents it became something more to both men. There's no such thing as a coincidence happening over and over again.
The questions surrounding Lisa and the motives of those people were swirling in my head long after Matt had finished talking to Bob.
"Bob said he'll get some people on it right away. He'll give you the details later, mate." I heard him but my attention was off in the world of spies and industrial espionage.
Industrial Espionage would mean that the people Lisa met with would have known about this new technology. Lisa was genuinely surprised when I told her the reason we were there. The board members must not have talked with her or anyone in the office as to the nature of the meeting.
Of all the strange ideas I could come up with for Lisa to do for them, one question kept me backing up. What the hell did she do?
"Matt, what the fuck did she do, Man?" I wasn't mad but the thought was up for grabs. "I mean, she came in here. She was nervous and shook our hands, told us about the rumors in the office and then left." Shrugging my shoulders, I lifted my hands up in the air. "What the fuck?!"
Matt looked more puzzled than I did about the whole thing. He sat and leaned back in one of the leather covered high-back board room chairs. His hands went back behind his head which exposed the white of his shirt.
"You're right. That doesn't make any sense." We both sat in silence for a few moments. He was staring at the ceiling and I was staring at him. My mind was going over and over the conversation she was having in the lobby of whatever building it was. It was just repeating on an infinite loop in my brain. I couldn't see anything that jumped out at me. We just sat there thinking in silence
Then Matt came up with something I hadn't thought of, Unless…..," he paused for a moment.
"Yeah," leaning forward in my chair in anticipation of an explanation.
He swung his chair forward, "Unless that's all she was supposed to do!" His fingers laced he pointed at me with his two index fingers.
I hadn't thought of that. But why in the hell would someone go through all the trouble to setup a meeting in a random lobby in order to tell someone to do something so simple? It seemed like a waste of time and resources. What possible outcome could they be looking for?
To my right the door swung open and the board members all strolled into the room. I gave Matt the 'We'll talk about this more later' glance and he nodded. I didn't know what was going on yet, but that had been the story of my life for over a year. The puzzle that was my life seemed to be getting larger, but I had fewer pieces.
Harold C. Clintock held his hand out. I took it firmly in mine and shook it. Meeting all the board members many times before in Austin, Texas where Harold lived, I knew he was the largest shareholder in the company besides myself. A deal with him was made the day I told him and the board I wanted to buy the company, I would be Chairman of the Board in name only and he would run the board and every meeting they had. My excuse at the time was that I was too busy to fly out and attend to every need of the company and I didn't think it was fair.
Another stipulation was we would hire a CEO to run the business and report to me just as Harold did. Once again, power got the best of a man. Harold was all about having power and once it was in writing he was behind it whole heartedly. The opportunity to run a business, in a way, without the need to spend more money was a dream come true for him. It was obvious it in his eyes every time we met or talked over video conference.
The rest of the board consisted of Allen McMurray, a strikingly handsome Irish entrepreneur with fire red hair. Sara Guggenheim, of the same family with the museum in New York, was a very tiny woman in her late fifties and reeked of old money. Jasper McCord was a real-estate tycoon with money in every type of technology business he could find. Jimbo, which was a nickname for James, Johnson who was the son of a very wealthy development company owner in Manhattan. Then there was Cal Norton.
Cal was the owner of a few internet companies out of London. He was friends with Matt and was brought onto the board for his background in technology and because Bob, Matt and I talked about having someone we knew around to keep us informed on the informal bantering of the board members.
This had already worked to our advantage a few months before when Cal called us to describe in great detail how the board was secretly talking about how to split the company and sell it off in the shadows and in secret meetings. They thought the amount of quick money they would make selling the pieces within a couple of months was worth the risk the company would grow how I had projected it over the following two years.
Cal had got the names of some of the companies that they were talking to and we simply picked up the phone. Within two hours I had every company mentioned calling the board members and telling them they were no longer interested in buying.
Each of the companies had dealings with other companies of mine. It was relatively simple to explain to each company that dealings such as this would not be tolerated. The amount of risk to reward on buying up pieces was overwhelmingly in my favor and terrifying for them to think about.
The only company that I didn't deal with was a real-estate company that Jasper had dealings with. They were the last phone call I made. Over the years I've tried to never make threats when doing business. It made me feel terrible inside and I didn't like it, but in this case it was unfortunately required. I called the CEO, Spencer Tillman, personally and put it in no uncertain terms if he didn't back off I would stage a hostile takeover and sell his company off in pieces myself. He knew I didn't deal in idle threats so, in the span of the following five minutes, I explained just how and who I would use to do this. Less than a minute later the board got a phone call.
Cal later told us that Jasper got drunk that night with him and spilled the beans about everything. He was devastated by the loss of money and the power he realized he didn't have. As the alcohol flowed that night, so did Jasper's personal and financial problems. It seemed he was about to lose his house because of some gambling debts and all the money he and his wife had saved for retirement was gone.
Sometimes my heart is bigger than my chest. The next morning I setup a payoff on his house and replaced the money in his retirement. It came in the form of a dying wish from his great aunt in Texas he hadn't seen since he was four years old. A little bit of a lie that Alice, my personal assistant, came up with. That night a man in a black suit, a friend of Bob's, found him walking into a casino and stopped him. He handed him a letter from me.
"Jasper,
I make it my business to know things about my employees or, in this case, my peers. It is unfortunate that we as over intelligent men have our vices and sometimes our addictions. I do not wish to see you in this situation.
The money from your great aunt was from me. The only thing I request, a stern request, in return is that you go to the Gambling Addiction Clinic in South Dakota. It is an 'In-Patient' program for 30 days.
In the envelope is your reservation which is already waiting. The man standing with you will give you a ride to the airport where my private jet is waiting to fly you there.
I do not like to threaten, so I will simply say this is your one free pass you will get from me. Please, for the sake of your family, take advantage of it.
Sincerely,
Michael"
Since that day, not another problem from Jasper and no more talk from the board about selling. It was always 'Move Forward' and 'Let's make this work'. It's good to have friends in business or otherwise.
Matt and Cal were greeting each other as if they were long lost brothers. "Before Matt and I begin, I would like to have a conversation alone with Harold. Could the rest of you please step outside and get some coffee for about five minutes? Thank you." I was issuing an order from the owner. It was taken without question. Truly, I wanted to get Matt and Cal out of the room so Matt could question him about Lisa and tell him what we thought might be going on. Though, I did want to have a word with Harold.
"Harold, I heard something today that made me uneasy," scanning his face for any type of odd reaction.
"What was that, Michael?" He wasn't even fazed by the thought. I started to wonder if he had any knowledge of Lisa meeting with people in lobbies of random hotels.
"Everyone in this office thought I was coming here to fire them or to announce that we had been sold," standing up and walking to the window overlooking Manhattan.
It was real and genuine shock that came over his face. He had no idea and at that moment I realized no one in the office actually thought that. It was either a lie by Lisa to cover up being nervous or what she was told to do.
"Michael, I'm shocked! I had no idea," he was leaning forward and sweating in his suit. He was a kind of portly man anyway. This stress didn't help his perspiration level by any means.
"I didn't think you did, my friend. I just want to be sure that we keep morale up especially in this office. That's all." A quick smile that seemed genuine but was just an act calmed him down.
"I'll make sure I have my fingers on the pulse of the office and the company going forward. I promise," and he really would moving forward.
Setting him straight on being more connected with the business was only a small part of what I needed in these few minutes. The other thing that came out of it was Harold, and the board, had absolutely nothing to do with Lisa and her meeting. It was someone else pushing the buttons to make this happen.
Matt ducked his head in the door and I waved them in. After holding the door for the rest of the board, he walked around the table and shrugged while mouthing 'Nothing' to me. It was expected at this point. Part of the truth sat in this room and so did the contradictorily, but the rest of it was outside this building and I needed to find out what 'it' was.
Everyone took seats at the table and Matt popped his black briefcase up onto the table next to me. He pulled out some paperwork and set it aside as he stowed the briefcase under the end of the table. I sat down and let Matt conduct his symphony. He relished those moments.
Wandering out into space, my mind couldn't help but go over everything that had happened today. Matt walked around the room and passed out bound copies of what he would talk about over the next couple of hours. All I could do was stare out the window and think about Lisa and what she had planned.
Was it really that simple, as Matt suggested? Could she be just a pawn in a game of chess to make me more paranoid? It seemed like a logical ploy, but why do it?
Looking around the room, I studied ever board member's face as Matt spoke in detail about what we were going to create and manufacture. Each person was focused on him and every word he spoke. From behind the easel he pulled some boards that had been sent to the office that morning. They were graphs and charts of the market shares and the amount of money in each compared to what we projected, on the conservative side, to take from each. He had them all watching him which gave me time to study and observe them all. Only the board would benefit from making me paranoid or so I thought.
About an hour into the presentation Bob popped his head in and shot me a glance. I got up, "Would you all excuse me for a moment, please." I stood up and felt the stiffness of my legs from sitting so long, having not said a word in the entire meeting to that point, I could tell Matt had it handled.
Bob was waiting for me as I came out of the board room. He started walking and it was obvious how he turned and walked he expected me to follow. Long strides and a quick pace, I was having trouble keeping up.
We climbed into the elevator and Bob pushed the 'Lobby' button, "We have a serious problem!" He was antsy and pacing in the elevator like I had never seen him do before.
Looking down at my watch, it was a little after 5:00 PM. It was very early Spring which meant the days were still short. The 'Ding' signified we were in the lobby and it was a good thing because Bob was like a caged animal in the elevator.
"Bob, calm down! You're making me nervous," I said quickly grabbing him around the elbow.
He took a few deep breathes. "Well," a breath, "the friend I met up with use to be with the NSA, but he still has friends inside." He was still trying to catch his breath. "He was telling me about some new project that was going on over there." Being intelligent doesn't mean you can put together a 1000 piece puzzle with only 2 pieces.
I shrugged, "So...." Leading was the only option and at that point I was worried Bob might have a heart attack before he got it out.
"They created an entirely new department for this project about two months ago," his hand was waving as he breathed a few really deep breathes in and out.
"What the government does and doesn't do with the agencies doesn't really interest me." Who cared if they created a new department? For all I knew they created new Janitorial departments every single day.
"He said your name came up with a couple of his friends in the department!" he barely got out in one breath.
Thudding pounds in my chest had me glance off into the lobby of the building. Why would the government care about me? Unless, it was for tax purposes or trading technology with other countries for weapons. Of course, I wasn't doing either improperly. As my mind raced uncontrollably so did my heart.
Then it occurred to me, that could explain the boots and the meeting with Lisa. It was a bit of a stretch. Now I had 750 pieces, but there were still some big holes. I needed some time and a place to think.
I pulled out my cell phone and called Matt. He picked up right away. "We're heading for The Stage. Meet us there after," it wasn't a request.
"No problem," he sounded cheerful and happy. He was covering in an act for the board and he did a good job of it.
Bob led and I followed out to the Escalade. In the passenger seat was your typical mercenary type of man. A big thick guy with short hair in a black suit and he was wearing black tactical boots.
"Cute, Bob. Cute!" I said as I looked directly at the boots.
Laughing he said, "Thought you might like that. This is Richard." Richard opened the rear door for me. "He's going to hang around and go with Matt," he was crossing to the driver's side. Behind us was an identical Escalade, which explained why Richard was there, another driver to split the team up.
"Whatever you say. Thanks, Richard." I was just going with it.
"No problem, boss." His sunglasses were hiding his eyes, but his mouth had a tiny grin at the corners and it was apparent where he got that from.
I shook my head in humored disgust. "Not you too." Laughter bellowed from the driver's side. Bob knew I hated to be called 'Boss'. "You fucking smartass!" It was kind of funny, though.
Richard headed into the building after closing my door. The boots were a nice touch. I was hoping all of this was just 'Over Paranoia' and not something real.
"What gave you that idea?" I said looking at him in the rearview.
"Which one? Richard or the boots?" He let loose a cheesy smile.
"Well, both," looking back out the windows as we sped down the streets of Manhattan.
"After talking to my friend I called Richard just in case you two wanted to split up. The boots I figured would be good if anyone was actually following you. It would let them know that we know. I even put a pair on," his chuckle seemed a little crazed.
"Okay. Smart." It was an intelligent thing to do. Two could play this game and the boots would signify that.
The sun was setting and the city's primary light source was starting to come from lights. We passed building after building and all I could see now was one crazy day. We were heading into the Broadway area when I started to get a strange feeling rising out of my stomach.
I'd never felt anything like it before. It was overwhelming and making me feel nauseous. Grabbing my stomach and doubling over, I let out a grown. It was loud enough for Bob to hear and react.
"Boss? You alright?" His concern was always refreshing. I knew he was looking at me in the mirror.
"No, Bob! Stop the fucking car!" I yelled it so loud it hurt my throat. Bob pulled the Escalade over and stopped. Leaping out of the vehicle, I threw up all over the street. Cars were buzzing around us with the horns honking and people screaming every cuss word known to man compounded together into things I'd never heard before. Andrew Dice Clay and Sam Kinison might have been shocked and probably quite proud.
Heaving so hard my face was turning purple, Bob put his hand on my back and rubbed a bit like taking care of a sick child. It just didn't stop even after I started to see the black mixed in with everything else, not that there was a lot else to mix with.
"Fucking drunk fagots!" some random guy yelled out at us. I managed to put my finger up.
I kept heaving and was having a hard time getting a breath in before I gagged again. Looking down at the stream coming out of me, I noticed it was all dark red. Now I was just puking up blood. I closed my eyes and focused trying to breathe through my nose for a second.
After catching a breath I quit gagging and stood up. Bob was just waving people by as the color of my face started changing colors headed back to normal. I could still feel it in my stomach. It was pulling me across the street. Feeling a little light headed I stumbled across the street weaving through traffic and almost being hit I don't know how many times.
Leaning up against a brick wall of a building, I saw in front of me an alley that was pulling me down it. The darkness in the alley was so thick the two lights down it didn't seem to light it or even penetrate it at all. They were just two small circles above with blackness down below.
Breathless whispers were echoing out of the dark and right toward me. I could feel them in my head making me drowsy and my vision sloppy. One after the other overlapping constantly, the whispers kept getting louder in my mind echoing relentlessly. Starting down the alley stumbling like a drunk man from wall to wall, I wanted to make it into the blackness so bad. Something was telling me it was the greatest feeling in the world and I would never feel as great as when I reached it.
Five feet from the black cloud under the lights, I fell to my knees and reached out for it as it pulled at me. Whispers turned to urging, sweet voices dancing all around me. It wanted me and it was telling me how much. I could feel how bad it wanted me and it made me yearn for it. Just as I was about to touch the blackness, Bob grabbed me.
"Michael! What the hell are you doing?!" the voices got louder and louder.
A rush of pure hatred flowed over me and the voices were telling me to fight him off. Jumping up and yelling out in frustrated anger, I threw a punch at Bob. He blocked it off without a problem and then wrapped me up in his huge steel arms where it was difficult to move.
He was dragging me away from the cloud when a woman's pale white arm stretched out from the blackness. "Come back to us, Michael. We love you. We need you." Over and over in my head. It was like a junkie trying to get a fix. I wanted it so bad I could taste it. All I had to do was get away from Bob to get to it. It was all I wanted in life, whatever was in that cloud of darkness. I needed it so bad my mouth was watering.
"NO!" I started thrashing in his arms. "NO! FUCKER! Let me go!" I tried pulling his arms apart to get free. "They love me! They need me!" I bit down on his hand drawing salty blood into my mouth which made me smile and laugh with proud joy. It was so close.
He let go of everything but my hand. I spun out and start to head for the darkness when his hold on my hand stopped me. Then, with tremendous strength, he yanked me back right into his punch. I could still hear the voices calling out to me as everything faded into a low whining cry from the voice in the intoxicating darkness.