The shop assistant handed Jack the paper bag and dryly asked him to "Call Again", offering a very weak smile.� Jack attempted to smile back but it failed to reach his lips and he turned and marched towards the exit.� When he reached the revolving doors, he timed his exit carefully so his long coat would not get caught.� He stood in the revolving doors and let himself be carried out to the pavement.� His wooden sole cracked to the concrete and his other foot followed.

����� His grey suit looked tired after an arduous day in the office, his suitcase was clenched tightly in his right fist and his small carrier bag held loosely on his left arm.� His thin, gold rimmed glasses were pressed firmly against his nose and his crisp navy suit was being ruffled by the breeze.

����� On his way towards the corner of the street he spotted two homeless people, with rough beards, tattered clothing, begging for some spare change, he ignored them and let his feet take control.� On reaching the corner he turned left towards his place of work where his car was parked.

����� His brisk walk carried him to the building in under five minutes, he entered the automatic doors toward the lift.� He pressed the button firmly and waited anxiously for the arrival of the lift in the lobby.� He noticed the light turn off and heard the sounds associated with the lift settling behind the cast-iron doors.� The doors slid open and he stepped into the lift causing it to drop a fraction.� There was one other person in the lift, he was an elderly man, his nametag told that he was an executive working for a company called ESSEL, which he recognised as a major manufacturer of computer components.� He looked as though he was clearly addled by his job and had a very sombre look about him.� Jack saw that the man wanted the same floor as him, Car Park Level 3, and thus waited as the doors closed and the floor approached.� Neither of them spoke a word in the lift and they both went their separate ways as they left.� This floor was cold and poorly lit, it was made entirely !

by concrete and delivered a grey and boring feel.� He started in the direction of his car and switched off the alarm with a remote control he kept in his pocket, the lights flashed and the car beeped.

����� His Mercedes was a beautiful E class convertible in racing green, it had a soft cream roof that he kept down in the summer months.� He unlocked and pulled open the door.� The soft leather interior and wooden dashboard both settled his nerves at the end of the day.� He slipped in behind the wheel put his key in the ignition and closed the door.� The car coughed immediately into action when he turned the key, he revved the engine a little to warm her up then drove up the ramps to the higher levels and the exit.� The exit was out onto a very busy road and at this time of night it was especially busy.� A lot of cars passed before him before he forced his way out into the rush hour traffic.� He slid back into gear and rolled away.� Many heads turned (as they always do) as Jack drove down the road, and he felt content with life as he headed home to his wife, Clarice and his son, Troy, who is five.� He spent about forty minutes on the various main roads before turning off onto his own road which consisted of five houses all modestly sized with generous gardens.� It had become quite dark now and cold too.

����� "The winter really does bring the nights on much quicker" Jack thought.� He brought his car to a halt in his driveway got out with his briefcase and bag, closed the door behind him and armed the alarm as he walked up the drive.

����� Just as he was about to put his key into the door, it burst open and his son jumped out and grabbed him around the neck, he stayed there hanging as his father entered the house.

 

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����� He was sitting on a cold curb of a deserted street staring at the old mocking face of the moon floating high and full in the sky.� There is no other light on this shanty road.� The buildings are all four and five storeys tall, they seemed to overwhelm him, imitating a tower he once read about in a geography book.� The cracked, glassy eyes of the desolate structures, looked down on him.� What could have brought him here?� No sounds, no light and an acrid smoke hanging in the mist.� Burnt out cars parked on both sides of the road, shards of glass lie scattered in front of a few buildings.

����� Troy, not knowing how long he has been sitting here, stands and listens to his knees cry, not knowing how he got here, he walks towards one of the cars.� His legs creaking on every step like angry punctuations to each move.� He peered into one of the lonely automobiles, only to see his reflection in a pool of crimson blood on the driver's seat, and the image of the old moon smirking at him from thousands of fragments of glass.� It wasn't the most favourable welcome to this new time that he could have asked for, yet he was not surprised to see it, it was not the first time this had happened.

����� Something else caught the moon's light and threw it at Troys� eyes, it lay glimmering under the back seat.� So Troy went around to the side of the car and before he touched the handle, he saw his own image in a reflection, he looked fourteen, but he felt sixty, he was wearing chinos with a white pressed shirt with a silk tie and polished brown shoes.� Dismissing this thought until he could think about it, he opened the bloody door handle a!

nd reached under the seat.� He retrieved the object that initially caught his eye, at first his eyes grew in terror, and the revulsion tore up his spine causing goose bumps to come up all over his body in a cold sweat.� He expected to vomit at any stage but the feeling passes and he looked down again.� He sees a ring that looks very expensive (but then Troy is no jeweller) on a skeletal black finger with mould starting to grow around the fingernail.� The finger weighed too much for it's size, and was icy cold.����

����� Troy tried to pull the ring off, but it would not budge.� He tried again with the same result.� As he was trying to pry it off the finger a huge crash rang out at the far end of the street behind him.� He immediately looked up and saw what appeared to be an immense ball of fire come charging down the street towards him, it filled the air with great plumes of black smoke.� Igniting everything in its path, instinctively Troy leapt to the floor of the car and waited as the heat intensified all around him.� He waited for the flames to pass and then he looked out of the window and saw a small fortified dune-buggy, with huge hose pipes attached spewing out the flames.� He then realised the heat and jumped from the burning car to the footpath, out of view of the dune-buggy.

 

����� The heat of the footpath burnt his hands as he rolled away from the car.� He was out of sight of the fire blower but could still sense it's presence.� He could hear the roar of the flames being expelled from the great hose from street further away and he could smell the heat and taste the fumes from the gaseous fire.� Dazed and confused he put the finger into his pocket and ran down an alleyway adjacent to the street.

����� As soon as he thought that he was out of harms way, he took the burdensome finger from his pocket, and tried again to remove the ring.� He dug his fingers into the cold flesh and tried to tear, but the skin only stretched, so he pulled harder.� It was obvious to him now that the finger was not real, that it was made of some advanced material.� He touched the bone protruding from the severed end and got an electric shock, he then realised that it was definitely a metallic composition.� The thought of such a perfect imitation of the human finger, made Troy shudder, but it also brought some recollection to the surface of his bewildered mind.� He could not quite grasp it but he new it would come to him in the not too distant future.

����� While fidgeting with the finger his thumb slid over the nail, causing it to move slightly, revealing circuitry like he had never encountered before, the minuscule size of the chip was simply incredible, he slid the nail right back, and a small red light flashed from within the circuit.� Troy tried the ring again and this time it came straight off, he looked at the finger but nothing had changed it had not become any smaller and the ring had not become any larger.� When he looked at the ring more closely he noticed similar circuitry on the inside rim of it.� He put the ring in one of his pockets and the finger in another

����� Troy stood with his back pressed firmly against the wall making himself as small and unnoticeable as he possibly could.� He could hear the approaching dune buggy returning from its momentary lapse into a fit of destruction.� He could smell the propane fumes again and he could feel the scorching heat.� Gathering his thoughts Troy wandered down to the end of the alley and turned the corner.� Ahead he could see what clearly used to be a public park but remained as a scorched mass of bark and soil.� Tree stumps crudely reaching out of the ground gasping at the air, the black soil swirling in eddies imitating great tornadoes of past times.� Obviously a scene of mass destruction from some time in the past which he cannot remember, one would think that if such an event as the end of a time were to happen that one might remember it.� But life must go on and he must try to regain his memory before he does something, or goes somewhere he shouldn't.

 

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����� Troy let go of his father�s neck and dropped to the floor.� There was a lovely smell of roast turkey and baked potatoes drifting from the kitchen.� Jack peered into the dining room and saw the best chinaware and silver cutlery laid out, there were two candles in the middle of the table, and a small wrapped box in Jack's place.� Clarice walked out of the kitchen and welcomed Jack home.

����� "Hello honey."

����� "Hey dear, what's the big occasion?� We expecting royalty?"� Jack asked, knowing it was their tenth anniversary.

Looking clearly deflated Clarice dropped her eyes from him and sighed.� Jack opened the bag he was carrying and produced a gift wrapped package of his own.� Clarice threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly.

����� "I'm going to kill you one of these days" Clarice said speaking over a lump in her throat, "These little Jokes are not good for my heart".� She laughed lightly and then hugged him again.� Troy was still standing beside them looking aghast at his parents and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

����� "Happy anniversary Clarice," Jack spoke sincerely "I hope the future years will be as great as the days gone".

����� "There�s no reason why they shouldn't be Jack" and once again threw her arms around him.

����� Jack took a second package from his briefcase and handed to Troy, in one swift movement Troy had taken the package and ripped the paper off.� He produced a model car, a Mercedes E class to be exact, an exact replica of his father�s car, down to the leather seats and walnut dashboard.� He screamed with Joy and hugged his dad's leg, then ran off and started driving it up the banister.

����� "Troy!� You go and sit down like a good boy, your dinners ready" Clarice said "You can play with your car after dinner"

����� She brought her own present, still in it's wrapping, to the table and setting it down in her place at the table then proceeded to the kitchen.

����� "We will open them after dinner Jack" She shouted from behind the door.

����� "All right."� He replied.

����� After eating one of the biggest and tastiest meals of his life and drowning it all down with more than enough wine, and then polishing it all off with a huge wedge of cheesecake smothered in cream.

����� "Okay then, now the presents, you first." Jack said.

����� After shaking it first and weighing it up and down she started to meticulously cut through the tape and to unfold the paper.� When eventually she got the paper off she revealed a large silver photo frame with an enlarged photograph of the three of them, taken at Christmas, with a tear in one eye she said

����� "It's absolutely gorgeous Jack, I love you so much" and sobbed gently on his shoulder.

����� After drying the few tears that she had wept, she urged Jack to open his present.� Almost as delicately as Clarice had opened her gift, Jack unwrapped his.� Inside he found a gold bracelet, on the inside rim it had the anniversary date and his name etched in italics.� It was beautiful and he loved it, he threw his arms around her and held her close.� Troy had gone upstairs and the couple were alone in the dining room.� They were standing close enough to smell each other�s shampoo, and the slight tint of red wine off their breath.

����� A great wind had blown up around the house during the meal, and neither Jack nor Clarice had noticed, but now it was blowing so fiercely that the windows were shaking in their frames and they could hear the trees creaking outside.� There was a dog barking somewhere on the street, obviously forgotten by its owners and left to suffer the night�s weather.

����� Seeing that the mood had been broken Jack suggested they check on Troy, as their son had always been afraid of a storm.� He used to sit at his parents bedroom through the night, not being able to sleep, and watch the shrieking lightning steal down and kidnap sleeping children from around the world.� So both Jack and Clarice climbed the first flight of stairs towards their only child's bedroom.

 

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����� After walking about aimlessly for about one hour Troy sat on the curb to regain his thoughts.� He concentrated on all he could remember trying to evoke old memories that were out of his reach.� The clouds had come with the night and a low rumbling came from the east. There was no sign of the dune buggy from earlier in the night and Troy didn't really want there to be.

����� Nothing would come to him , try as he did, not one iota returned.� It was as if someone had literally just erased a portion of his memory and left him to suffer the aftermath.� After about twenty minutes the rain started to fall, it fell in large drops the size of golf balls, almost alien to anything Troy had ever seen.� He had heard of hailstones this big, but not rain.� After only seconds he was soaked through and looking for shelter (which was not hard to find in a deserted city).� All the windows and doors were either open or else just broken down.� So he ran into the nearest building and escaped the rain.� After having an investigatory glance about the reception area he pulled up a chair and sat down.� The rain was steadily getting heavier and louder as he watched from his cover.� His temporary asylum consisted of one chair one table and a lot of broken glass, it was clearly a reception area for what ever offices once filled this building.� The thunder outside became louder and closer.

Turning the finger and ring over in his pocket, he couldn't help but be reminded of another time, a time when he was much, much younger.

 

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����� Jack reached the top of the stairs first and rounded onto the landing swinging with one hand tightly on the banister rail.� The door to Troy's room was closed and there was a lot of disturbance coming from inside.� Jack tried the handle to find it was locked from the inside. Claudine now stood behind him whimpering in a panic.� Jack took one step back and put his shoulder to the door in an attempt to force entry, his attempt was unsuccessful and his shoulder started to hurt.� There were no screams coming from inside just a lot of fuss, things breaking and crashing to the ground.� The storm was still raging and on Jacks second attempt the door was sent flying to the floor of Troy's bedroom.� The room was devoid of people, the window was standing open and papers and pictures were chaotically being thrown around the room by the wind.� Jack ran to the window and put his head out, he scouted up and down the road for any sign of movement but saw none.� The rain and wind was hammering at his face but he could hardly feel it.�

When he turned around he saw his wife lying in a heap on the ground, there was no apparent blood so he presumed she had just fainted.� Feeling unsure of himself and a bit like fainting himself he went over to his wife to try and revive her.� He knelt down beside her and rolled her over.� At first he didn't know what to think, her eyes and mouth were wide open in the middle of a silent scream, then he noticed a needle sticking into her throat.� A thousand thoughts flashed through his mind a second too late. As he turned he felt every muscle in his body become paralysed and he fell to the floor. His vision turned into a negative image as he fell he could see two figures under Troy's bed, then there was nothing more.