It is midnight and Aiden’s shift is over. His body needs rest. He finishes up his final tasks, puts on his coat and leaves the hotel to walk home. Most people are asleep now and the streets are almost as quiet as when he arrived.
Aiden is walking home. It’s dark out and the streetlights are on. As he starts along the train tracks he is approached by a menacing group of young men. Aiden knows what’s coming but there is nothing he can do. He has been engineered not to defend himself. They beat him down with punches and dropkicks to the face. They hit him with something heavy. He buckles to his knees. Someone kicks his head up like a football. His teeth smash closed and he finally falls back and over.
He falls backward as if from a plane high up in the atmosphere. He can see the sky and clouds rushing past. But there is no wind. He is not scared but he’s not sure where he is. He’s falling. All he can hear is a beating heart sound. Muffled. Underwater. He can hear breathing. He is overwhelmed with tranquility and peace and as he falls asleep in his dream he wakes up to reality. He is laying on the train tracks. A strange face is looking down at him.
The men yell out and run off. Aiden lays there and with a quiet groan tries to pick himself up. A bum who was there when he awoke, helps him up to his feet. Aiden gives him the $50 tip and walks back toward his room near the warehouses.
Aiden returns to his room and goes back in front of the mirror and looks at his bloodied and beaten face. His head is throbbing, his lip broken. He washes his face and gets into the shower. The hot water is relaxing. His mind is clear. He cleans up, dries off and lays down in his bare room on a single bed in the corner.
It is morning and Aiden’s body is aching. He sits up out of bed and returns to the mirror. His eye is swollen shut and his lip is swollen and broken. He puts on his suit and tie and sets out back to the hotel for his shift.