Sam Blake (39)

Sam Blake sat at his computer, sorting through various work minutiae, the tedium a **** attempt to combat the existential dread that was building up in the back of his mind. An event horizon of sorts was coming for him, threatening to suck him into a dimension of unending misery and torment.

Sam was turning 40 in just two days away.

Now, Sam didn't feel his age, and certainly he didn't look bad. Sure, the athleticism from his high school years had gone to shit but he was by no means overweight, and so what if he had a few lines around his eyes? Balancing work and a family wasn't easy!

No, it wasn't his appearance or really any external thing that concerned him. It was the simple fact that very soon he would officially be deemed "middle aged". Could there be a more horrific title?

And of course, with that forth decade of life Sam would be **** to reflect on what he had done with it all. So many years toiling away in a boring, lukewarm existence. If he dedicated any real thought to it, Sam might have leapt from a bridge.

Unable to combat the inevitable march of time, Sam did the only thing he could to soothe his mind: throw himself into an avalanche of work and hope that the monotony would smother his existential crisis. He absently ran a hand through his brown hair (that was definitely NOT flecked with grey) as he moved his way through the various emails and memos, hoping against hope that maybe something would come up that could occupy him for the remainder of the hour he had left in the office.

As if receiving a cosmic answer, an email suddenly popped up in his inbox. On instinct he clicked it and read the message without really processing it.

Hello, Sam Blake. Are you bored with life? I have a gift for you that might change all of that, provided you're brave enough to accept it. If you are, click below. I promise you'll like it.

Beneath the text was a JPEG of a golden box. It brought to mind the trinket from the Hellraiser movies Sam had seen as a teenager and without thinking he clicked on the picture.

A second later he chastised himself. What was he thinking? He knew better than to click on spam mail. Who knows what might have been sent his way?! Luckily the IT guy had set everyone in the office up with antivirus software, so there shouldn't be too much trouble...

...and then his screen went black. Fuck.

His panic began to rise. Had he fucked up and allowed some kind of cyber attack against the company? They were a mining concern, surely no one would try to hack them, right? Right?!

Sam was almost on the verge of silent hysteria when suddenly his screen lit back up, text write across the screen.

Congratulations Sam, you're in for a lot of fun.

And a second later the text was gone, the email was gone and Sam was back at his inbox. Frowning and a little confused, he checked around his desktop to see if anything new had been installed or anything else untoward. It all came up a big fat negative.

Sam blinked in confusion for a few moments. Had it all been a daydream, was he really that out of it? He checked his watch. A few minutes until he could call it for the day. Christ, he needed coffee. Or a beer. Yeah, definitely a beer. **** could always be called upon to save him from his own thoughts.

His musings were disturbed by a sudden chime and vibration in his pocket. He retried his phone, frowning at the number.