Chapter 1: Introduction
The office was one of those sleek and sterile environments that screamed monotony, making it hard to believe that anything interesting ever happened here. Which was obviously true, most days anyway. The floor was lined with long desks, arranged in airplane-style rows to divide the room. A sea of cubicles stretched from wall to wall, broken only sporadically by clustered plants, half-hearted attempts to spruce up the place.
The only spot of color in this black-and-white world was a single door, slightly ajar. Behind it, Michael Burnside worked at his desk, the picture of a mediocre, low-grade employee: glasses, a haphazard receding hairline, and a belly like a beer keg that made him slouch in his chair.
He didn't fit in. He knew it, and everyone knew it. Sure, he got along with those around him well enough, but it was always surface-level interaction.
The only spot of color in this black-and-white world was a single door, slightly ajar. Behind it, Michael Burnside worked at his desk, the picture of a mediocre, low-grade employee: glasses, a haphazard receding hairline, and a belly like a beer keg that made him slouch in his chair.
He didn't fit in. He knew it, and everyone knew it. Sure, he got along with those around him well enough, but it was always surface-level interaction.
The only spot of color in this black-and-white world was a single door, slightly ajar. Behind it, Michael Burnside worked at his desk, the picture of a mediocre, low-grade employee: glasses, a haphazard receding hairline, and a belly like a beer keg that made him slouch in his chair.
He didn't fit in. He knew it, and everyone knew it. Sure, he got along with those around him well enough, but it was always surface-level interaction.