1 A Normal Day at Work

Jay DeRose, a lawyer working for Hause Law Firm in the big city. Known for a red hot civil murder case 12 years ago. Former drug addict and divorced from his spouse Kathy Frause 7 years ago. Jay walked out of his 2008 Toyota Corolla in the parking deck and grabbed his work laptop. Walking past the many people on the way to his job, a strange impulse to go and grab coffee corrupted his train of thought. Alas, he already had his morning cup on his way, so he was forced to come to terms with the fact that he was probably addicted to it now and left the Starbucks alone on his morning commute.

Arriving at his desk at 8:34, he checked his email for any new cases to be addressed. None so far. His law firm had been slowly sloping downhill into below mediocrity for the last 5 years, ever since his wife left him. In immediate response to a lack of work, he checked his phone for the daily news. Work was generally slow at this time in the law firm, so he usually played on his phone for half an hour or so.

"Hmm, the Starbucks caught fire? What the hell caused any of that? Glad I didn't get an extra cup today. Maybe I can work on that case if it becomes an issue." Jay was always looking for more opportunities to make it big. After all, he was Jay DeRose, the greatest lawyer in the city! At least, he thought so.

The law firm eventually started to get its workers moving and nearing half after 4, Jay finally got up from his desk and left. Walking down the street, past more people again. Getting into his car, turning the key, and driving out of the parking deck, just like every single monotonous day. The sudden need to eat something stopped him from taking his normal route. He hadn't eaten lunch at work in ages, but today he also skipped breakfast for the first time in a month. He stopped at a nearby fast-food joint that was getting popular these days. Did he know what the hell it was called? Nope, just like he didn't know what the latest phone was. He was nearing the end of his fourth decade of life at 38 years and 11 months. His birthday was in 20 days, he was going to go bowling with old friends for it. Quickly wanting to get home and catch the show he was waiting to premiere, he missed the sound of sirens blaring far behind him.

He closed his car door in his driveway. Taking out his keys and locking the doors before walking up to his front door and walking in. It was dark inside, everything barely visible from the light shining through the curtains. He started to walk to the kitchen, but then it all went black. Jay DeRose was lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding from the back of the head.

"You sure this is the guy?" someone standing above him said.

"Yeah, she told us his description. This is definitely the guy." said another.

A day and a half later, Jay finally woke up. He was in his basement, tied to a chair with his old wife's stuff from his bedroom sitting in a pile a few feet to his left.

"Finally awake. I told you you hit him too hard Red." Jay heard voices coming from behind him. He tried to ask who they were, but he realized he was gagged and his mouth was covered in tape.

Three men in colored masks walked out from behind him. Each carrying different weapons. One had a standard pistol, another had a metal bat covered in dark stains, the last had a knife on his belt and an assault rifle on his back.

They ripped off the tape covering his mouth, pulling the gag with it. Jay sat there, spitting for a minute until the men started to interrogate him.

"So, how'd you do it?" asked the middle one, masked in green.

"Huh?" Jay could barely understand what he was saying.

"Cheat death! What else! How did you do it?" asked the red masked man on the left.

Jay was now confused. Weren't these robbers? Cheating death? What did they want from him?

"What are you talking about?" he felt entitled to answers, after all, he had no clue what the hell they were talking about.

"You should be dead, our lady is asking you politely how you did it so that we can send you off nicely." The one to the left in red was obviously getting impatient with him, pacing from right to left like a predator gauging its prey.

"I still don't know what you mean! Why am I supposed to be dead? What did I do to deserve this?" Jay's lawyer instincts kicked in. He was being questioned, so he became aggressive at the lack of answers.

"You should've been dead since yesterday morning, at 8:13, in a Starbucks in NYC. Then, our management, realizing you were still alive, tried to fix that. The Wendy's you visited exploded and should've killed you. Yet, you are here still alive. So, one last time. How did you do it?" The one in the middle was obviously the leader of the group, being the most active in the situation.

"I still don't know what you want me to say! I wasn't trying to do anything! Just leave me alone!" Jay was getting annoyed. Were these guys toying with him? But if they weren't... Jay started to wonder about the meaning behind their words.

The man in the green mask stared at him, piercing him through the eyes as if he could see all of the secrets of his soul.

"Whelp, it seems we won't get anything out of him. We were told 𝗻𝗼𝘁 to torture him remember blue?" the green masked man turned his head over to his left. The man in the blue mask slumped and trudged back up the basement stairs.

"Ok then, I'll send him to upper management." the red masked man walked behind him, grabbing something off the coffee table.

"Huh?" Jay was confused.

𝘾𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙠

Darkness