Exodus

As he neared the end of the path, the forest began to thin out. He looked out upon what was in front of him. He began to hear a loud, almost rythmic sound, as though someone was throwing pebbles at his window.

He woke up. Someone was throwing pebbles at his window. He walked over to the window. He opened it and stuck his head through to look down to the ground. There was no one there. Something hit him on the head and he recoiled into the safety of his room. Pebbles poured through the window and landed on his floor. He knelt down to pick one up. It glittered as he reached down. His eyes widened.

"What the hell?" he asked out loud. "These are diamonds!"

He threw on some clothes, not even bothering with his morning ablutions. He ran out of the building after racing down the stairs. He nearly tripped over the threshold of Thallow Flats. There was a commotion coming from the vacant lot. He headed that way. There was no one there. There was nothing there. Not really, anyway. The lot had been blasted into oblivion. Shattered asphalt lay everywhere.

"What the hell?!"

No one could hear his exclamation over the chatter of the crowd across the street. A few people were closer to the lot, but they seemed to be silent, at least from his perspective.

Diamonds were still raining from the sky. He knelt down and picked up a handful.

He looked at the people around him. Most were scrambling around hoarding the diamonds. He looked into his own hand. He held dozens of diamonds. He began to walk back into Thallow Flats. As he walked away from the scene of hysteria behind him, he dropped the diamonds on the ground.

"It's time to leave," he said to no one in particular. "It looks like I'll miss the game tonight."

Too Early

The sun rose over Thallow Flats, bathing the building in an angelic glow. The thought of this place as heavenly, filled him with silent, mocking laughter. Thallow Flats was a dirty, run-down, decrepit apartment building. Getting up this early messes with the perception, he said to himself. This place is anything but angelic. A predawn run had seemed like a good idea. But now he was sleepy, and needed to rest his eyes, even if his body could have kept going.

He wanted to head back up to his room to sleep, but he had work to do. That's why he had been up so early in the first place. Maybe a caffeine pill. He didn't have one though, so he headed to the pharmacy nearby. He walked through the gift shop on his way into the pharmacy, and started to talk to Karen. She was nice enough, but a little too cheery, especially this early in the morning. Fortunately, her cheery brightness had at least woken him up more. He said good-bye to Karen, she had been a little distracted during their conversation. Maybe it had something to do with that Jimmy guy. Good for them, he thought. Then he forgot about it altogether. The game was later that day. The thought of the game got him through all of his work that day.

He arrived at the game that night, ready to win. He didn't.

Indulgence

He woke up on Sunday morning with a splitting headache. What happened last night, he thought. He tried to clear his memory, but everything was still foggy. Eventually, he gave up. So what if he couldn't remember anything about the night before. He decided to skip the morning jog. He felt compelled to go to the roof of Thallow Flats. As he walked up the stairs, he felt a cold touch on his shoulder. He instinctively looked behind himself. He had come level with a dark and dusty hallway. At the end of the hallway, there appeared to be the figure of the woman. As he looked closer, she seemed to fade into nothingness.

Out on the roof, he looked down at the old Barnaby mansion, and wondered about the old man. He couldn't shake the feeling of strangeness. He didn't even know why his thoughts had led him to the Barnabys.

At the game, he tended to avoid the cigars and beer that the other men seemed to favor. Tonight though, he decided to indulge himself.