This is the first time I decided to do something different and share a short story I have been writing. The title at the moment is chained wings. I feel like today was a good day to switch things up a bit and share it with you followers. Let me know what you think. I didnt want to release the 7 page story all at once, so I will release the other half in a few days. 


<h1><center>Chained Wings</center></h1>


Albert’s days were always the same, a man of ritual, wake up, run, shower, dress, breakfast, drive, work, lunch, work, dinner, read,  sleep, RESET. He was a man who put nothing to chance, every part of his day was organized out to the t, no room for error. If his run ran late, it meant a shorter shower, if god forbid his alarm clock died and he overslept, it meant skipping the run, shower and breakfast entirely. Albert would call these days “Black Days” as a single day not according to plan, was… well… not according to plan. It had always been his philosophy that a proper productive life was not something one simply puts to chance, but rather a calculable formula anyone could master. So Albert’s days went, one by one, each as productive and efficient as the last.

Albert worked in investment banking, specifically the risk management division, calculating the proper amount of risk the company should take on. For a man who avoided chance on a daily basis, it was quite a thrilling job for Albert. For eight hours a day he was able to put himself in the shoes of far riskier men and live vicariously through their successes or misfortunes. Although Albert, for the most part, hated unscheduled occurrences, he took exception when every once and a while he would finish his work a few minutes early. Although rare occasions these were, Albert had a remedy to pass the time, a travel book, or rather an encyclopedia filled with pictures of places and people from faraway lands. 

While Albert hadn’t taken a vacation in twenty years, since his Aunt died, a dreadful occasion that set his schedule back two days; Albert would day dream about one day , long after he had achieved maximum efficiency, and enough money where he would retire and see the world. You see, Albert wasn’t always a man of stern practicality, in fact as a boy he was quite the opposite. Growing up he had loved dinosaurs and dreamed of being an archeologist, traveling the world and unearthing all that remained of the massive beasts that once roamed this world. He would dig up the grass in the backyard from dusk until dawn, looking for treasures from a lost age. 

<center>http://orig02.deviantart.net/70ad/f/2006/334/3/d/chained_wings_by_basiliskzero.jpg </center>

However when he started High school, he read an article distributed by his teacher, listing the top 100 salaries and nowhere to be found was his beloved dream. His teachers told him “Albert is Archeology really practical?” or “Albert, you need to do something that can support a family”. Albert’s parents shared in his teacher’s concern and told him that picking one of the occupations on the list would make his life much more comfortable and only then could he achieve happiness in retirement.

Albert, in the last and greatest risk he would ever take, closed his eyes and randomly put his finger on the list and opened his eyes,  #16 Investment Banker. From that point on he had one goal, get a good job, with a nice presentable title and make his parents proud and that is exactly what Albert had done until their deaths in a car accident during his senior year of college. At that point he chose to honor the family name as best he could through success in the workforce. His parents would be so proud of the man he had become, Albert thought. 

Albert lost himself in the travel book and before he had realized it, only a few moments remained left in his work day, so he readied his documents and began to stand up from his desk when , who should walk into his office, but his boss Ross Peterson. Ross was a good man in Albert’s eyes, but a man who had obtained his position and more importantly his title, illegitimately. You see the Petersons had worked in at the bank since its inception, fifty years prior, and had an unusually high rate of promotion. For a man twenty years Albert’s junior, Ross had a sizably higher position at the bank. 

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“Albert you have been working here for exactly 25 years and 6 months as of today, did you know that?” Albert did, times and dates were his specialty, but in keeping with his modesty he responded “No sir I did not know that.”  Albert was now on borrowed time and knew it would cut into his post work relaxation time. “Well Albert, that’s quite an accomplishment, don’t you think? Especially since you have kept such a standard of excellence the entire time.” If there was one thing that kept Albert forgetful of the time, it would be praise. In his mind praise was something that could always be scheduled in, regardless of the cost. 

“ Well Albert, we at the bank believe your hard work should be rewarded and perhaps it was time we gave you a bit more responsibility.” A bit more responsibility, Albert knew that phrase well, it meant a promotion was imminent. “We at the bank want to offer you the position of Senior Manager of Risk Analysis. How does that sound?  Seeing that today is Friday, we can iron out the details come Monday. Obviously you would be looking at quite a nice bump in your salary and some other perks as well.”


Albert was ecstatic, he hadn’t received a promotion in five years and his hard work was paying off. “That sounds wonderful sir, I look forward to talking more about it come Monday.”  Said Albert, attempting to stay calm and reserved. “Fantastic, I’ll let you get home and celebrate, see you Monday.” Ross exited the doorway and made his way back to the stairway leading to his office. Promotions were a very special time in Albert’s life, in fact the only time he would reward himself for a job well done. Nothing too special, perhaps he would stay awake an hour later, or order out food for dinner, something that usually he only did for his birthday. 

<center>http://www.bankpromotionexams.com/images/banner1.jpg </center>

Upon arriving home, Albert realized it was of no use to harp on his achievements and would need to find a way to pass the weekend before he discovered the details of his promotion on Monday. Usually, he used the weekends to go for a hike, or perhaps the gym on a particularly rainy day, but seeing as it was a celebratory weekend he figured, just this one time, Albert would allow himself to sleep in.

Albert awoke to a loud, endless knocking at his front door followed by the ear-drilling noise of his doorbell ringing in quick succession. A “Black Day”, Albert thought immediately as he grabbed his robe and rushed for the front door. He peered through the eye hole of his front door and saw two figures, a man and a woman holding briefcases outside his door. “Damn Jehovahs” Albert thought as he tried to excuse himself from the situation. “Sorry I’ve already have one” he shouted from behind the comfort of the closed door. “Have one of what?” the woman from behind the door responded in a puzzled yet slightly intrigued tone. “A god, I already have a god and he’s quite fine, thank you” Albert yelled back. 

Albert heard some snickering and a bit of laughter behind the door. “Sir your god is more than just fine with the surprise we came to bring you” replied the woman.  Albert hated surprises. She continued “I assure you we are from no religious or sales organization”. Albert slowly opened the door to a quite attractive woman, put together far too nicely for 10 in the morning, accompanied by a shout, stout man holding a sizable news camera. “Are you Albert Freedman?” the woman asked. “Perhaps, what is this about?” Albert replied with a confused look on his face.  

<center>http://www.scaryforkids.com/pics/peephole.jpg </center>

“We’re here from Eagle Air and Mr. Freedman, we are going to make you a very happy man.” said the woman in a smug tone. Still confused and not yet fully awake, Albert showed them to the living room and sat them down on the couch opposite of himself. The woman continued,  “Mr. Freedman are you aware of the sweepstakes you entered last month?”.  “ I never entered any sweepstakes, you must be misinformed.” He quickly replied. “ Are you currently enrolled in an Eagle Air miles program on your credit card?” the woman inquired.

Albert was, he had opened up the card twenty years ago and had been saving his miles for retirement. He had never spent a single mile in that entire time despite being tempted on rewards catalogues he would receive in the mail, featuring new TVs, refrigerators, ect. “Yes I believe I am” he said. “Well sir, if you had made any purchase in the last month, you would have been automatically entered” the woman said with a smile. She continued “Well Mr. Freedman, I came to inform you that out of over three million entrants, you Albert, won!” the woman said enthusiastically.

“Won what?” Albert asked unenthusiastically. Taken aback quite a bit, the woman opened her briefcase and presented Albert with a document the thickness of the coffee table itself. “Well Mr. Freedman, the first place prize of the Fly For Life sweepstakes you won, is entrance into our Fly For Life program, which means you are able to fly to anywhere in the world up to three times a month, first class and free of charge. In addition you also receive a lump sum payment of a million dollars, before taxes of course”. Albert’s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. He was unable to formulate any clear thought, let alone produce any noises from his mouth. All he could do was sit there and stare at the paper. 

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The woman gave a hand signal to the man with the camera, which he turned on and began filming Albert with. “ Congratulations Mr. Freedman!, you just won first place in the Eagle AIR Fly For Life sweepstakes worth over a million dollars! As our newest member of our Fly For Life program, where are you going to go first?” Sounds, then mumbles and finally words were able to come out of Albert’s mouth. “Lawyer, I need my Lawyer”. The woman, confused and a bit annoyed gave another signal to turn the camera off. “Yes of course Mr. Freedman, everything can be checked over by your lawyer, nothing needs to be signed just this moment, but there is just this tiny bit of PR work that is required, so it would be a lot easier if we just did it now and got it out of the way. My friend is just going to turn on the camera and just say a place, anywhere, it doesn’t even have to be a specific country, it could just be Europe” 

The woman signaled her partner again to turn on the camera and repeated the question enthusiastically. “Where are you going to go to first?” “Europe” replied Albert, still unable to formulate idea of his own. He was not accustomed to good surprises, especially ones at this magnitude and had no idea how to respond. “That works fine I guess” the woman hesitantly replied. Her partner turned off the camera and she continued. “Okay well with that all out of the way, the only thing left is to do is read over the terms, sign and send over the paperwork. Here is our direct contact info if you need anything.” The woman and her partner stood up from the couch and walked towards the door. “Congratulations Mr. Freedman, best of luck to you!”. They exited the front door shutting it behind them, leaving Albert alone to calm down and assess the situation. 

<center>http://i.imgur.com/4u1EC27.png</center>
Thanks to @Elyaque for the badges