Distant Challenges (eBook)

Chapter 1
Who Needs This

Terrified, the human subject runs through the forest propelled by his adrenaline. Spotting a large rocky mound ahead that might offer him a vantage point, the man quickly looks back and sees the animal gaining on him. Its muscles rippling as it charges forward. When he reaches the base of the mound, the human begins climbing like a madman …

***

Someone bangs on the door, and Anthony is awakened from another night of heavy drinking. “Who is it?” he yells.

“Delivery!” the guy calls out.

“Gimme a minute!” Anthony grumbles, then grabs the warm beer from the side table and takes a huge swig. Letting out a defiant burp, he opens the door and the man is forced to step back from the smell. After the package is signed for, the delivery guy — whose face is about to turn blue, lets out a gasp as he quickly grabs his pen, then hightails it back toward the elevator. Slamming the door, Anthony is preoccupied reading the label when he gets tripped up by a pizza box and curses it as he falls back into the sofa.”

Ripping open the envelope from Jena, he plunders through some of the trinkets she no longer wants, including the ring he’d given her just days after landing in New York. Taking it out, Anthony stares at the gem covered band with a sense of anger, thinking, I’m surprised she didn’t pack a few rain clouds to go with all this crap! Then dropping the ring back in, he tosses the package onto the coffee table, and tries once more to push recent events out of his head …

Anthony’s tired, tired of everything. Walking the same path for the past three years and ending up like this wasn’t something he expected to add to his résumé of life. Everything he’s worked for is gone — his job, girlfriend, and the majority of his friends. Anthony’s life now reminds him of the fish in his thirty-gallon tank, belly up!

The Southern boy, who traveled from North Carolina to the Big Apple looking for success, is now nothing more than a pile of dried grits under Ms. Liberty’s big, green foot.

***

Anthony was totally out of control the day he got the call from one of the largest advertising agencies in New York. Two years of working on low-paying commissions after college had finally paid off, and he was now being hired on as a project manager for the Manhattan firm …

A month before Anthony was to leave, a couple of his buddies got together to throw him a going away party. Jena was surprised when she got her invitation, but even more excited to hear he was moving on to bigger things. Still feeling a certain connection to him, she wanted to be there to give Anthony a good send off.

As the party raged on that night, he and Jena eventually found themselves locked in each other’s arms. Later, they would slip away and reconnect with as much passion as they had earlier in their relationship. Afterwards, as they lay in the hotel room with rekindled emotions, Jena was shocked when Anthony asked her to move to New York with him. “Just think, baby, you and me living in the Big Apple,” he gushed.

Having just lost her position as a graphic designer for a local magazine, Jena needed a job. So feeling the cool breeze of opportunity, she agreed to go with him.

By early fall they made it to the iconic city with dreams of having great careers. And soon after moving into their apartment, the two celebrated that same evening in a nearby pub. A week later, Anthony was commuting by subway to his new job, while Jena searched for freelance work from home.

***

Initially Anthony was on top of things, and everyone loved the amount of energy he brought to the office. But a year later, as deadlines began to pile up like rush hour traffic, he was forced to spend more time at the office. This put a strain on his relationship with Jena, and eventually she started going out alone at night, telling him, “I love you, Anthony, but I need a life, too!”

As the second year came and went, Anthony tried unsuccessfully to spend more time with his girlfriend, along with having to fire some of his burned-out team members. Although he tried his best to keep both relationships running smoothly, Jena became increasingly unhappy with their arrangement, and Anthony’s team members were finding it almost unbearable to work with him.

Working himself like a diesel engine over the past two years had finally turned Anthony into a complete jerk. He knew it, Jena knew it — and even his best artists who once supported him, were now talking about jumping ship.

By the end of the third year, with him still struggling to meet deadlines, Anthony wasn’t surprised when the managers called him into their office and explained that while his work was excellent, he was no longer a good fit for the company.

Stumbling out of the office with his ‘box’ the same day, Anthony could hear the quiet sighs coming from his colleagues as the door shut behind him. The once jovial guy, with a laugh that could bring smiles to everyone’s face, had hardened like the sidewalk he now lumbered over for the last time.

On the subway ride home, he tried his best to think of a way to break the news to Jena. They’d argued the night before, and Anthony knew it would be impossible for him to convince her that things would get better any time soon. As he watched the tunnel lights pass, it reminded him of just how quickly his life had gone from being a dream come true, to an all-out nightmare.

By the time he walked into his apartment that evening, Anthony’s plan was to convince Jena to go back to North Carolina with him, and he’d give her the bad news there. Besides, the trip might help to lighten the situation and possibly save his relationship, he thought. But no matter how things turned out, it would give him time to lick his wounds, and even a chance to work on a new strategy …

After pouring himself a whiskey, Anthony called out to Jena, but when he didn’t get a response, he walked over to her office and discovered she wasn’t home. He figured his girlfriend must be out meeting with a new client, although it seemed unusual she hadn’t called to let him know.

Quickly downing the first shot, he went back into the kitchen to pour another one, and that’s when he found her note lying on the floor …

Anthony, I know things have been difficult for you these past three years, but I just can’t handle the person you’ve become. I hope you’re able to work out your issues and return to that same positive guy I moved up to New York with. For now, though, I think it’s best if we just carry on separately. I’m sorry, — Jena

As he stared at the message, Anthony remembered how difficult it had been for his girlfriend to watch his initial success. But with him barely able to keep up, he scarcely had time to breathe — let alone any time left over to help Jena kick-start her own career. This had caused their first major conflict, but when he started spending even more hours at the office, her anguish drove a wedge of resentment between them.

The note bit hard into Anthony’s already bruised ego. After swallowing down the second whiskey, he threw the glass into the sink, then watched as it shattered like the rest of his dreams.

***

Weeks have passed since the implosion of his life, and once again Anthony searches for the remote he threw at the wall earlier in the day. Finally locating it, he sees that the back has popped off and curses out loud as he gets down on all fours to look for the batteries.

He locates one under a chair, and the other battery that’s managed to land in front of a picture of him and Jena at the park. Anthony puts the picture in a drawer, then crams the batteries back into the remote and starts flipping through other disasters of the day.

After a series of buy me, sell me, brain sucking schemes, he clicks on a program that shows a group of starving kids in some third-world country. All he can think about is how little control they must have over their lives. But with their plight crossing his mind, it reminds Anthony that he still has control over his own. “Time to man-up, or go the way of analog TV,” he spouts, heading for the shower.

Anthony sighs as the cold water runs over his long brown hair and crystal-blue eyes. At six foot, he’s a well-proportioned man, and his large hands press against the tile as he focuses on the coolness of the water.

Turning off the shower, he reaches for a towel, but there’s only Jena’s old T-shirt hanging on the rack. With no other choice, Anthony dries himself off — then holds the shirt up to his nose, smelling the lingering scent of his girlfriend’s perfume. “Who needs this?” he mutters, then casually drops her memory to the floor.

After trashing his closet for something clean to wear, Anthony settles on a worn pair of jeans and a blue sweatshirt Jena bought him a couple of years back. The slogan on it reads, ‘Going nowhere fast!’, and although it was her sense of humor he’d once been attracted to, the shirt now reads like prophecy.

Looking around his apartment of beer bottles and garbage infused doom — Anthony grabs his coat and walks out, hoping to escape his agony… 

The elevator reaches Anthony’s floor and his next-door neighbor walks up and steps in with him. “Hey, Robert,” he says. But the man doesn’t respond. When they reach the lobby, Robert...