Adam turned off the lights in his office as he walked tiredly toward the door... he was the last one out of the building.  Again.

He sighed... it seemed like he was always working late these days.  It was just one more thing to add joy to his life.

His life had started its downward trend a few months ago, when his long time girlfriend had a mental “crisis” and decided that she needed to be independent, that he was too “safe”.  The next week the layoffs had started at work... while he hadn’t been let go, he now had to do the work of two people, without any bump in pay.  A week after that, he had found out his mother was very ill... she hadn’t died, but she was still recovering, months later.

It all added up to a life that seemed out of control.  He felt overwhelmed, mentally exhausted, and just completely worn out.  He had nothing left to give, no energy to even think about going out and starting anything to improve his life.

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Adam turned off the last light, locked the entrance behind him, and looked around as he gathered the energy to start the trudge down the street to where he had parked.  The area used to be nice, but now it was starting to get a bit run down… dirty windows, litter near the curb, trash in the alleys.

There was no one around, not a single indicator of life or movement, other than one flickering street light.  It felt like the people in the neighborhood were getting as run down as the buildings.  As he approached the flickering light, it went out completely.

Just my luck, he thought.  As he passed through the now dark area, he heard a sound coming from the alley just behind him.  He turned his head slowly to look and saw several dark shapes rushing toward him.

Then, before he could react, the world went dark.