Paul A. Rice - Parallel II The Gift (or Awakening 2 The Gift)

Parallel II

The characters and events in this book arefictitious.

Any similarity to real persons, living or dead iscoincidental and not intended by the author.

Copyright Text Paul A. Rice

ISBN: 9780956276957

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Previously published by YouWriteOn.com underthe title:

Awakening 2 The Gift

The right of Paul A. Rice to be identified asthe Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance withthe Copyright, Designs and Patents ct 1988. All rights reserved, nopart of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrievalsystem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without theprior written consent of the author nor be otherwise circulated inany form of binding or cover other than that in which it ispublished and without a similar condition being imposed on thesubsequent publisher.

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Do you believe in fate are you someone whothinks everything is pre-ordained and that no matter what you do,the end will always be the same. Well, if thats the case, thenheres a thought for you, an idea, maybe: what if you were to getout of bed tomorrow, but get out on the other side for once, trywearing those blue socks instead of the red ones you normally wear,on Tuesdays. Perhaps this time you should brush your teeth beforeyou shave, put on a tie, or maybe dont put on a tie, just for thehang of it. Hey, why dont you eat some cereal instead of toast read a newspaper instead of watching breakfast TV?

Why dont you take a bus instead of the car,or maybe you could take the car, but do a right at thecorner shop instead of your usual left, you know, take that otherroute, the one which goes past the park. Take your time, stop for awhile and watch the ducks splashing on the lake, the one where youused to paddle when you were a kid. Do you remember those days?When you do get to work, why dont you park the car somewhere else,perhaps do the Park and Ride for a change. Have a brisk walk acrosstown and then take the elevator to the third floor, not the stairsas usual, and then, for goodness sake, will you tell Jenny onreception that shes looking great, you could ask about her Mum,too, shes just had her hip replaced and by showing an interest youwould totally make Jennys day. Dont be too late getting intowork, though, because by saying lets change a few things, I didntreally mean a getting fired type of change.

But, then again, perhaps if you did getfired

Anyway, as I was saying: why dont you eat adoughnut at ten oclock, dump the brown bread sandwich and livelife on the edge for once. Shouldnt we just go the whole hog andleave ten minutes early for lunch as well, tell them that you havea headache or something, whatever, but just get yourself the hellout of there, imagine all the different people youll see in thecanteen, one of them may change your life forever.

I could go on, but I hope that by now youllbe getting the idea?

And so, if you did these things made someof those little changes do you suppose your day would still end inthe same way? I suppose that it may well do. Although, come tothink of it, maybe if we change only one simple thing, then perhapseverything changes, perhaps the changes we made werepre-ordained in the first place, maybe the consequences of ourfree will have already been decided.

Who knows?

Maybe nothing is as it really seems to be maybe there are plans already laid down for all of us. Plans thatare laid down in stone, and no matter what we do the end willalways be the same.

Lets see, shall we...

It had been five years sixty months and twodays, to be exact since the big event. That wonderful night whenhed carried out the deed, an act which changed his life forever.With a quick push of his forefinger, the man permanently alteredhis own destiny, the action had only been a little thing, a smallphysical action, but its consequences had been enormous. You haveruined the lives, the hopes and the futures for hundreds of otherpeople! Well, thats what the Judge had said during her summing upspeech the pathetic bitch! James laughed as he thought about herhelpless fury. Boy was she pissed off at me! He remembered thatparticular night, remembered it like it was only yesterday. McBrideallowed his mind to take him back to when everything had started togo right, the wonderful night when hed finally made sure that hisown fortunes had changed...

The spreadsheet flickered across the screenof his laptop, the final figure leaping out at him. Even though hetried to stop himself, James couldnt prevent the guilty glanceover his shoulder, it had become almost an automatic reaction oflate, and one he intended to stop. Why he even looked was beyondhim, it was gone midnight, he was on the eighteenth floor and otherthan some security personnel in the lobby below, he was alone? Heturned back to the screen and looked at the figures, scanning thebottom line, his well trained eye easily picking out the figures heneeded to see. With a final nod, he sat back and smiled hiscalculations had been correct and unless he was much mistaken,James knew that he had just become a very rich man. His softlywhispered words of glee echoed within the confines of his plushoffice: Yes, thats the one, the final deal, now theyre donefor! he said, with a laugh. By this time tomorrow theyll becrying in their fucking chicken soup, oh deary me theyre going tohave to get used to that on the menu! He laughed once moreand then pressed the enter button.

Please wait, transfer inprogress... The little window flashed its message, the faintlight reflecting in his eyes as he leaned back in the leatherswivel chair. He enjoyed the moment and took his time to savour it,casually reaching across the desk to lift the heavy crystal tumblerand raising the glass to toast the screen in front him, beforegreedily slurping back the malt in one long gulp. His thoughts weredelirious with joy. Ive waited so long for this and now finallyIm there, years of hard graft, hours of wheeling and dealing,months of camouflaging the truth, and now at last its time Jameshad endured endless nights of sleeplessness as hed waited for theplan to slowly materialise, and it hadnt been easy. Two horrendousstomach ulcers still festering in his guts were the living proof ofhow stressful it had been. Yes, tonight was indeed the night tonight was payback time. Now its my time! His teeth gleamed inthe liquid light. The sound of his own voice soothed him and helpedrid his mind from the small grains of fear, the atoms of braintearing guilt and other bad feelings, which he suppressed witharrogance and whiskey. He knew that his own greed paled toinsignificance compared to that of the half-wits whom had entrustedhim with their funds. Their only goal was profit an increase ontheir balance sheets. More money is all they wanted, and McBridehad given them some a little drip here and a little drop therejust enough to keep them interested, whilst in the meantime, behindtheir backs, hed been laying the big plan.

His investment scam had entrapped manyfools; they had come, like insects to fly paper, to taste the sweetnectar of his poisoned promises, the lies, that hed learned how totell whilst working at the bank. James snarled lips twisting inanger as the thought entered his mind. That pissing bank The onewhich after fifteen years of loyal service had decided to fire him!Those pathetic little bastards, fire me, me! He remembered thatsmug little prick, Rupert Oliver, mincing down the corridor with anotice of termination held in front of him, his patheticwoman-hands shaking the damned thing as though he were offeringMcBride a million pound bonus. Hed wafted it in the air with hisfucking, gay voice deliberately raised so the rest of the staffcould all hear McBride getting the good news: Sorry James, but youknow how it is old boy, times are hard and weve all got to tightenour belts, havent we? That was a joke it had felt more like afucking noose theyd tightened around James throat. The thoughtmade him raise one hand to his neck and loosen the red silk tie.Hed had taken the note and left the building that very samemorning, his parting comments shattering the waiting silence of theoffice. They all knew he wouldnt go quietly and so James didntdisappoint them: Shove that notice up your arse, Rupert, you cunt!Thats if theres any room left up there, you little wanker!Oliver hadnt been able to reply as there had been too much bloodfilling his mouth. After all, theres nothing quite like a goodold-fashioned head butt when it comes to saying goodbye