Dear Friend, this is my experimentation post, a sketchpad of sorts. As such it is bound to change as often as I sketch, kindly bear with me and read the finished products above.
Prologue: End of the long wait
The incessant vibration eventually stirred me out my reverie. Slowly regaining my focus, I remembered that the call was expected at the half-hour mark. Not a minute before, not a minute after; precision was their mantra. Without turning my head or taking my feet off the pillow at the end of the rickety bed, I reached over and rummaged through the rumpled beddings till I located the phone. I pressed the accept button and put it to my ear.
"Hello!"
I said "Hello" again and except for a rhythmic faint rustle on the other end, there was still no response.
I looked at the clock silently blinking away above my feet and noted that it was reading precisely half past the hour. I sat bolt upright, as though I had been jolted by a shock of electricity. Every nerve in my body was on edge. Fully alert now, I spoke one more word into the phone's mouthpiece and after about 2 seconds, I heard the unmistakable click of metal against glass. Without uttering another sound I slowly counted to seven and the line went dead. This was the phone call I had been waiting for for the last 60 hours.
Without missing a beat, I threw the phone down on the untidy bed and quickly gathered my gear--a novel in paperback, a pack of playing cards and a little, faded brown bag that looked like a CD case--and quickly walked out the door. As I made my way to the destination chosen for me, I knew that no matter how things turned out, the courses of several lives were about to be irrevocably altered. How many and to what extent, were things I could not bring myself to imagine, even if fleetingly, lest my resolve suffered a chink.
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