Endings: Book One

Chapter Ten: A Good Day

We may all just be villains in each other's stories. The only difference lies in the versions that we choose to consider as truth and the ones we lock away. While the truth is rarely what it seems, the secrets are barely enough for us to handle.

-Adrian Cadillan, a few ways down the road.

The present.

The summer heat in New York was a deadly weapon. It had the ability to manipulate a man's mind and corrupt his judgment long enough for him to do something stupid. At least that was what he thought was the only logical explanation for his current predicament. Thus, at that singular moment, Adrian couldn't agree more to his deductions concerning the rising heat as his car drove up through the streets of Times Square.

It had only taken him thirty seconds, yes, thirty seconds in the exposure of sunlight as he was in transition from his company's building to his car for him to make his first stupid decision.

He pulled at his collar to ease the pressure it had been applying to his neck, the pressure caused by the heat no doubt. He had half a mind to have the air conditioning in the car be replaced but he decided against it, he would just get a new car.

Stop it, you're being irrational.

There were many things he hadn't done in a very long time and being irrational was one of them. He pulled out his phone once more, expecting a call that never came and being unsatisfied, threw it into the seat beside him.

I'm being impatient... Why the hell am I being impatient?

The traffic led his entourage to a halt, he was least surprised though for he'd anticipated it. The amount of tourists and locals enjoying the beautiful New York summer weekend was usually at an astonishingly high number.

He looked to the billboards and smiled, content with seeing his face plastered all over Times Square. After his recent announcement at the gala the day before, he'd made certain he was the main center of attention to the entire world. News about The Universe and its creator had spread wildly, calls from buyers and investors around the world had been pilling up and kept becoming tedious work even for his PR team and his secretary.

Yet he had made no move, answered no calls and made no agreements whatsoever. His plan was solid and he was going through with it. Even when his mother had cared to mention as to why the device had been reprogrammed to deal with psychiatric patients and not followed the original plan.

He'd had his own reasons and his mother's approval on such matters rarely mattered to him anymore.

Luckily enough for the both of them, her mother knew that her opinions were no longer pivotal on her youngest son's mind. Thus, she had taken matters into her own accord, preferably by having lunch with someone who's opinions were pivotal to him.

Fifteen minutes in, she must have already done something by now.

His only actions that stood to be considered irrational were leaving a meeting with the marketing committee that was essential in addressing the sales of the company's major product and racing through the city to where his mother was, without actually knowing where she was.

His phone rang and brought him back from the distractions of his astonishing self on the billboards.

"So how long does it take for you to find an address? I'm curious. Is it long enough for you to keep your job?" he asked calmly, careful not to reveal his anxiety at the moment.

"I'm sorry sir, but you're mother's assistant needed some persuading" his secretary Angelina replied, her voice too being calm enough to hide the fear of losing her job.