CHAPTER 1

The noises of the phones ringing and printers scribing circled in his head. He had been typing on his desk for many hours now with no purpose. He didn’t even realize he was about to pass out from exhaustion. Feeling like a puppet with no hope of cutting the strings, he lied his face down on his desk with arms crossing, forming a pillow.

“Hey Jack, Jack! Get back to work, you can’t be sleeping on the job.You do that again and you’re fired.”

Jack’s head shot back up.

“Sorr- Sorry, Yeah sure thing! I apologize. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

 His manager, Nathan, was a pain in his ass. He always put Jack on every hour of the schedule with about 30 minutes of break time in between. Jack looked at the clock. 

“Only 1 hour left,” He thought, “Just one more hour”.

***

The clock hit 5:30pm. It was time to check out. Jack let out a sigh of relief as he walked out of the office and out onto the street. He was swaying side to side trying not to hit the pavement.

He struggled to get the keys to his apartment out of his pocket. Jack entered his two room apartment that he shares with his mom. About a year ago his mom was diagnosed with a heart disease and she nearly died from lack of supervision. Jack felt guilty and took care of her in his apartment. At the time he hadn’t realized that he would have to work twice as hard to pay the bills and make food for the both of them.

“How was your day at work?” She asked.

He replied back in a moody manner. “Same as always, stress inducing and sleep depriving. It's Nathan, he’s making me work overnight and I just can’t catch up with you, my friends, even myself! He’s such a prick. I don’t get why he doesn’t just get Doug or Janet to fill in for the lazy sons of b*tches.”

“Calm down, I get it. I know it can be stressful sometimes, but it’s not your fault. Why don’t you get some sleep, I’ll get the groceries.”

“No no no no, it’s fine.” Jack said rapidly, with a worried look on his face. 

“Don’t be worried about me. I’m fine, really. Also you should definitely go on a vacation. You deserve it.”

Jack had some hesitation. “Okay fine, you can get the groceries, but don’t come back late, please.”

Jack’s mom nodded before going out the door and getting in her car. He lied down on the crouch and pondered. He was thinking of what his mom told him. “Go on a vacation huh. Maybe she’s right. Nathan can’t keep me there forever. And if he does, I'll just quit.” He hopped on his computer and started to search the internet for a country to spend his vacation time in. He found them all very unamusing. Jack started to search for local areas for about 10 minutes until a mountain range with many lakes and a forest caught his interest at sight. “It's perfect.” He thought.

 It was settled. Jack got into his car and went to his nearest Big Five store to buy hiking gear.  He spent 20 minutes picking out the perfect utilities and clothing and he left the store with a smile on his face. A good amount of stress left him just thinking about the trip. He called his boss that moment to tell him that he would be going on a three day trip. His boss was angry on the other line, but despite that, he hung up the phone and got back into his car.

Jack walked through his apartment doors and saw his mom cooking a meal. Sure enough, it was spaghetti. He examined the food joyously and complimented his mother’s work of art. She replied back saying thanks as he sat down. Sauce overfilled the plate with a fine crimson color and  was accompanied with a side of chicken wings with sprinkles of seasoning on top. He ate his mother’s dinner with a sign of satisfaction sneaking across his face.

“What’s got you in this happy mood?” She asked. She liked seeing her son in a happy mood. It reminded her of the past when he was a little boy playing in the yard.

“I thought about what you said to me earlier. I’m going to take a break from work.”

“Really now? Well, where are you going?”

“Not too far. I saw this place a couple miles away. It's a mountain range with a path and I’m going to hike it.”

“Make sure that you bring enough supplies. Did you even get gear?”

“Yeah, I just went out and got some.”

“Well, be safe and have fun.”

Jack went back up to his room and prepared for tomorrow’s trip.

He woke up early in the morning and started to make his trip. He started to put his gear in the trunk of his car when he noticed a note on the back of the seat. The note read, “Trips often lead to horrible conclusions when you meet the reaper”Jack was confused as he thought his mom made the note. He looked around his surroundings.  He saw nothing that could’ve left this note inside his trunk.  He looked back and saw the note had disappeared and in it’s place lay a receipt. “What?” Hurriedly, he got into his truck and started to drive off.

With his destination in front of him, he got out of the car and started to unpack. It was a lovely view, a waterfall with a baby blue and teal color rained from the cliff above. A thick forest engulfed the surrounding area and it went on for miles. “It’s even better in person.” He thought to himself. He started to make his way to the lake uphill. The bushes caressed his skin and legs. The ground was wet from a recent rainstorm that had occurred the other night and it had some paths blocked off because of fallen trees.

 He navigated his way around the rubble and almost tripped over a few times. But despite that, he finally saw the beautiful river. Shining like crystals and flowing  with a ribbon-like body. He sat down on the moisty dirt and admired the river. He was mesmerized by the sight of nature. In the treeline, he could see an odd shape sticking out of the bushes. A briefcase , rather than a box. 

 Jack walked up to it and examined it. The briefcase was covered in dirt and mud as if it was supposed to be disguised. The trident symbol on the side had caught Jack's eye. It sent chills down his spine for an unknown reason. The symbol was gilded with a gold and crimson color and reflected the sun's light. It nearly blinded him, but he had a sudden urge to open the briefcase. He swiftly looked around to check if anyone was there. He looked back down at it and reached for his backpack. He pulled out his multi-tool knife and started to cut into the wet leathered case.