I wasn’t always like this.
These were Morgan’s thoughts while he stared at his reflection in the mirror on the bathroom wall. The twinkle in his eye that he once held onto throughout his childhood and adolescence was nowhere to be found. If he had to be honest with himself, it had been gone long before today but he continued to look for it, everyday, in the hope that it would someday return to him. The hollow feeling seemed to grow in power, daily, consuming every ounce of life and energy from his body.
Morgan tried everything possible to fill this gaping hole in his soul: alcohol, food, organized religion, gambling and searching for love. All he had to show for it was a mild gambling addiction, a raging alcohol addiction, heartache and an account balance that was distressingly painful to look at. Ending it all seemed like the only possible escape from it and his training in the medical field had given him quite a list of methods he could employ to achieve his goal. Some were so painless that he would not feel a thing, yet he could not bring himself to do it. The smouldering embers of hope that yet resided in him made sure of that. As he continued to contemplate his life or more precisely what was left of it, his phone buzzed. It was a message from the consultant doctor at the hospital where he worked as a resident. After a few keystrokes and hitting the send button, he returned to staring at his reflection.
Happy face, happy face.
One of the few pleasures he got in life now was saving lives. The act of playing god did not appeal to him but the smiles and comments that he received for a job well done were far more gratifying. Five minutes later and he was ready to go. After locking the door behind him and double checking, he took a deep breath in.
It’s time to face another day.
Morgan Drake was not ready for today.
Maddison Silva was not your typical accountant. Her insatiable appetite for success had led her to be the youngest senior accountant at the Braccio Accounting Firm, the biggest accounting firm in the region. An intense desire to live life to the maximum led her to early morning workouts two to three times a week at the local gym down, dieting, attending church every Saturday, self-defence classes and reading many self help books on how to get the best out of life. The result of all this was a toned five foot eight inch frame, staunch religious belief and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. While most of her friends and colleagues were either in long term relationships or married, she had no desire for such companionship. A traumatic and abusive past relationship quickly saw th
Sangela City Regional Hospital was located on the outskirts of the city, precisely ten kilometres due west. Sitting on three hectares of land, it was the fifth largest hospital in the country and the largest in the southwest region. Founded in the early nineteen nineties by a group of local businessmen trying to make inroads into a growing private healthcare system, the hospital had steadily grown over the last two decades. Apart from an increase in the bed spaces from three hundred to just over two thousand, there were also a variety of specialist services included and thus it was one of the foremost medical centres in the country.
Morgan arrived at Pop’s diner thirty minutes past noon, taking a moment to marvel at the building’s longevity rather than its feats of architectural brilliance. The diner was opened a decade before the hospital and very little had changed over the years, at least that was what he was told by many of the senior nurses and other staff members at the hospital. While many of the other smaller businesses around it had been bought up by well funded corporate entities, the little restaurant continued to stand in defiance as the last remaining symbol of a bygone era. The brown, wooden logs and gray stone combination gave the exterior a distinct rustic look. Simple and earthly colours of gray, brown and taupe decked the interior, providing unpretentious and organic warmth to
Though it had been a long and arduous day, largely due to several creditors taking action against one of the firm’s biggest clients, Maddison’s colleagues wanted to grab a few drinks after work to celebrate their successful triumph over this accounting emergency. She took a rain check instead and headed home. Driving along at a steady pace, her thoughts started to drift. Maddison was part of the team that initially handled the books and though she was very good at what she did, she was not perfect. Her superiors informed her that only the most seasoned professional would have spotted the small errors that she missed which did little to comfort her.
“Crap!”The week had flown by and though it was usually a good thing, Morgan was less than happy on this particular occasion. Much of his week was spent on getting his affairs in order for the trip; a little extra shopping and packing an adequate amount of clothing that were at the very least presentable, getting a much needed haircut and shave, arranging his travel documents, going through the programme for the conference and making sure his apartment was spotless before he left. On the day of his departure, Morgan begrudgingly loaded his luggage into his hatchb
She opted to drive all the way rather than fly, adding as much as thirteen to fifteen hours to her journey. Maddison was positive she could cut it down to ten if she put the pedal to the metal. The SUV she hired for the trip was certainly capable of doing the job. Her day-to-day vehicle, a convertible, was in the garage undergoing servicing and would only be ready by Sunday for pickup. Embrace the journey, not just the destination.
The flight was relatively unremarkable, with the exception of the last twenty minutes when the aircraft encountered some turbulence. It was not enough to wake up from his nap but when combined with the grumbling of concerned passengers in the cabin, he silently protested by uttering a few curse words in a low voice when he awoke from his slumber. The pilot shortly made an announcement reassuring his passengers that nothing out of the ordinary was happening, nevertheless, there were still a few pockets of dissatisfaction. Twelve minutes later, the large airliner began the banking sequence before initiating its descent. The smooth landing was greeted with audible sighs of relief from a few sections of the cabin.
Maddison managed to talk her way out of getting a ticket which inherently made her feel guilty because she generally kept things on the straight and narrow. A total of four stops had been made during the course of her road trip and currently, she was hurtling away from her fourth and final stop several kilometres out of the city of San Valentino. Apart from refuelling and using the facilities, she also stopped for meals. On more than one occasion, she fought off the urge to buy coffee or energy drinks to keep her going and instead relied on good old willpower to get her through. The sun was beginning to set, prompting her to lower the visor so she could maintain her visibility. She turned off the radio, letting the grunt of the V8 engine take its place. Motor vehicles were a sec