Our Story Begins... 1

He rolled over to the familiar sound of the alarm clock stutter and grumbled before squeezing all the buttons to make it stop and pounding his head into the pillow for eight more minutes.

Then, more beeping, this time more arresting than the last. "But, it's still dark," he thought. Usually by the time the buzzer went off, rays of light were pouring through the shades. He purposely left them open before falling asleep so the sunlght would help wake him up. Not that it ever did. But today, it certainly didn't.

At six thirty, he [our hero] finally fell out of bed and showered. There was no time for much else, as today was the day he planned to get out of the house earlier than usual. Today was the day he was going to take over the world singlehandedly, and noone was going to stop him.

Of course, as these things do happen, he was inevitably stopped almost immmediately upon arrival. The doors were locked and there was already a line of hero-wannabes waiting. By the time he made it inside and signed his name to the two all-important lists of his choosing, he was number seven (on one) and eleven (on the other).

A short train ride away, hundreds more were doing the same thing at other buildings and on other lists, but how was our hero to know? He thought it best to do it his way, like Burger King or Robert Frost, and wasn't ashamed of it either. In fact, he smiled that familiar smirk of his and wondered if he would ever be as famous as either one. He figured probably not and kept walking.