CHAPTER 6

Getting fired barely hours after his wife had  left him by a man that wanted his wife had to be the most ironic circumstances  Atlas had ever been a part of.  

The tears he had been holding back for so long came crawling out of his eyes of their own volition.

His life had gone from not so good to terribly unfortunate in a matter of hours.

First, his wife had decided to leave him  and then his mother and now he'd  lost his job.

Without thinking, Atlas picked himself up from the ground where he'd been dumped and began to walk down the road with tears streaming down his face.

How on earth was he going to cough up ten grand from? He had nobody to call, not Jessica, not his boss. His father had died before he was even born or at least that was what his mother told him.

He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't bear to see his mother die. He just couldn't. He'd been through too much…

The universe had to be playing a prank on him, a very sadistic one and  he didn't think he could take anymore of its games. He couldn't possibly stomach it.

How was he going to face his mother and tell her he couldn't come up with the money to proceed with her treatment? How was he going to look her in the eye and tell her she was going to die because he was too broke and alone to find money.

He couldn't go on any longer. It was too much to bear. He didn't want to be alive to watch his mother die, she was all he had now and losing her meant that he'd run mad.

Without thinking, Atlas walked up to the highway and stared  as cars sped past him. All he  needed to do was take one step and it would all be over.

All of the pain, all of the suffering and hurting would be done with. He wouldn't have to feel it anymore nor would he have to be subjected to this constant state of worry and humiliation.  He'd be in a painless space where he didn't have to work or get his heart broken.

Atlas continued to stare at the road. At this point he wasn't thinking straight.  All he wanted to do was stop the excruciating

pain in his chest and the tears that ran down his face like a busted pipe.

With his mind made up,  Atlas walked into the  incoming traffic, closing his eyes so that he didn't have to see anything.

In a second or two he'd be gone and the pain in his chest would finally stop.. It would be painful at first but it would be over almost as quickly as the pain came.

One,

Two,

Three,

He counted in his head as he walked slowly across the road. Any second now a car would hit him and he'd be gone.

Four,

Five,

Six

The horn and screeching sound of a car coming to a halt followed by the sound of a car door being opened, prompted Atlas  to open his eyes only for him to find a Audi 2023 model barely a feet away from him and a woman walking towards him, anger in her eyes.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" The woman that had just come down from a sleek black Audi growled, her eyes blazing with anger.

Oh, great. Why did she fucking stop?!

"Why would you walk into  oncoming traffic?  Do you have a fucking death wish or something?"

The woman barked, getting into Atlas's face.

"Why did you stop?" Atlas retorted quietly, very disappointed that he was still alive.

"You should have just killed me," he pointed out to the lady.

One minute the woman was staring at Atlas the next, her hands were connecting with Atlas's face hard and fast.

Pain spread through him and he quickly reached up to soothe the spot with his other hand.

"You want to die? Go die somewhere else… Oh my God! It's you?" The strange woman paused on her rant, seemingly recognizing something

Atlas blinked at her sudden change of course.

"I'm sorry?" Atlas asked, staring at her in confusion.

"It's you!You are Atlas."

"How do you know my name, lady ?"

Atlas asked with a puzzled look etched on my face.

"Oh my God,it is you! You have no idea how long I have been searching for you." The woman said, pulling him  into a brief embrace.

Atlas, still perplexed,  scanned the tanned brunette  woman who suddenly seemed a little too happy to see him, trying to figure out if he knew her from somewhere but as he  took in her features, nothing was coming to mind. In fact, he knew for a fact that he had never fucking seen this woman in his life.

"Look lady, I have no idea who you are, how you got my name but you are in my way. As you can see, I was on my way to end my life."

The lady slapped him across the face again and then sneered at him

"Don't  you fucking dare  say that! Do you have any idea what would have happened if I had accidentally hit you with my car?"

"I would have died?" Atlas supplied the obvious answer.

"No, I  would have been arrested for manslaughter not to mention the fact that I would have been sued for some kind of conspiracy involving trying to kill the heir to the Atlas empire."

Atlas scoffed, realizing what this was; a scam.

"Okay lady, clearly you have a couple of loose screws but I don't have time for this." He  said to her, impatience lacing his tone.

She was about to speak when the Horns of several cars interrupted her.

"Look, how about this? Come with me to my hotel room and then I can explain everything."

"I'm not going anywhere with you!"  Atlas said firmly. He had no idea what was going on but he knew with his luck, he was probably about to be kidnapped and then his organs harvested. He didn't want to take that chance.

"Please, I'll give you whatever you want if you do." The woman pleaded.

Atlas blinked curiously at her.  Why the hell was she begging? Was she trying to get him into one of the psychwards? Because he'd rather just die now than be locked up with a bunch of loonies.

"No, the fuck? I have no idea who you are! For all I know you could be taking me to a psych ward or worse you could be planning to harvest my organs."

"No, no, that's not it at all. You are the man I've been looking everywhere for, for over three weeks now." The woman exclaimed, staring at him as if he was some kind of priced artifact and it made him quite uncomfortable.

Atlas continued to stare at her, still skeptical about her intentions but tempted to hear more from her.

What was the worst that could happen? She'd kill him?

Well, good, that was exactly what he  wanted anyway. Although, something told him she wasn't in fact trying to kill him plus she'd just promised to give him whatever I wanted.

Maybe he could use this to his advantage, whatever this was.

"Twenty thousand dollars!"  Atlas said with a defiant tilt of his head.

The lady stared at him blankly, a clear sign of confusion.

"I beg your pardon?"

"If you want me to follow you, you'll have to pay me twenty thousand dollars or I will walk into traffic."

She blinked at me before breaking into a smile.

"You are truly your father's son. Of course. Come on, I'll do it in the car."