Staring absently out the window at the world beyond, Dave idly watched everything going on, the wind tussling the branches of a disfigured oak tree across the street as faceless people passed by below, weaving in between each other in an endless dance. Dave constantly wishes he could escape the mundanity of his current life, unsatisfied to be yet another face in the crowd fading into obscurity.
The bustle of the city seemed to fill the air, a quiet murmur of conversations with the occasional hell sounding out, creaks of signs banging and clunking in the breeze. The smell of smog and pollution heavily diffused in the air, occasionally interrupted with a fresh gust of wind, bringing with it the subtle scent of salt and seaweed carried along from the nearest coastline. Sounds of sirens could be dimly heard in the distance, no doubt responding to yet another example of human stupidity.
Turning back to his client he brought himself back into the moment to respond to their latest ineptitude. "I agree that having a hashed password store on your database is going to lead to more work, this however is necessary. Without it, if you get breached you'll find yourself with a lot more work believe me".
Mentally facepalming this felt like he'd had to go over this for what must be the 100th time. How difficult is it to understand such a simple concept. Dave was a cyber security consultant by trade, he'd been in the field for the past 15 years working odd jobs here and there until he'd finally managed to start his own firm. He'd been trying to explain this concept to Charles repeatedly over the last few weeks, yet he just couldn't get Charles to accept such a simple fact, that or he just simply didn't care, either way Dave was done with this conversation and felt the intense need to escape.
At thirty four years old he was really starting to feel the random phantom aches and pains ramping up, having been sat down in his chair for the past 3 hours, which whilst admittedly plush and comfy was causing his back to hurt once again.
Standing up to his full height of 6'3 he brushed his unruly dark brown hair out of his eyes once more. Long overdue a haircut, I'll have to get one this weekend. Dave was an average looking guy for the most part, whilst he didn't consider himself attractive he had an almost roguish charm to him, smartly dressed in black jeans and a white textured shirt. His electric blue eyes looked back at Charles "Look I'll send over the full details of how best to implement better security for your app tomorrow, our time is up I'm afraid".
Stolen story; please report.
Dave navigated past his desk and grabbing the door he gestured for Charles to leave, following behind Dave locked up the office door behind him and briskly rushed out of the building, finally out of sight he gave a deep groan as he could finally stretch and work out the discomfort before stepping out into the main street, joining the faceless mass as he began walking back home.
As Dave meandered the busy streets he couldn't get the feeling out of his head that he was being watched, a profile at the back of his neck, a shiver down his spine like something was observing him unseen. Nervous glances around all he could see was the standard city, drab building facades cluttered with tattered posters, trash littering the sidewalks and grafitti half scrubbed from cracked walls.
Trying to escape the feeling out of his mind Dave quickened his walk and hummed a meaningless tune to himself as he sought to get back quicker, the feeling never fully going away but somewhat receding into the back of his mind.
Finally Dave's apartment building came into view, it didn't look like a lot, just a wooden door with faded black paint tucked into the corner of a small divot to the side of a takeaway but that didn't matter to Dave, to him it was sanctuary, away from the banality of social ties and convention, where he could be safe from the stress and worries of day to day life. The familiar smell of Chinese invaded his senses, the sharp and tangy smell of sweet and sour sauce making his stomach give a quick grumble.
Fiddling with his keys Dave unlocked the door, stepping through the entryway, his mind half on the thought of grabbing a takeaway later tonight, for now he just wanted to sit downs relax and have a cold beer to de-stress after today's necessary social interactions.
This wasn't going to happen however, one moment Dave was deep in the city, the next he appeared bewildered into a wide grassy plain, bitter wind tearing across from behind he was blown out of the doorway and against all sensibility it slammed closed behind him. Dave looked around with visible confusion wondering how in the hell he'd got there, but one thing was for sure, this was not his home and he was pissed that his sanctuary had been breached.
A chilling ethereal voice suddenly whispered in his ear barely discernible from the howl of the wind. Now…now you're mine… After a brief pause it appears again with a fresh gust of wind No escape... no, no escape for you…I shall come claim you when the time is right… the last words fading as the wind dies down around Dave.