Short story: Two-Hour Window
‘The gain comes with a risk, but is it worth it?’
(winner of Audio Arcadia’s 2019 short story competition)
Aiden enjoys his job as a hotel porter, but every night he comes home to face his bestial neighbours, Braden and Hayley. Their inhumane disrespect is causing him severe insomnia, which is ravaging his domestic tranquillity.
So, when an ex-colleague calls unexpectedly to propose a “financial gift horse”, Aiden is offered a way out of his domestic purgatory and a brighter future for him and his partner Ruby.
But Aiden could jeopardise everything. Has he got the courage to take the risk? His decision could give him everything or leave him with nothing; but either way, he will never forget this day at work.
extract from ‘two-hour window’ :
“ …the adrenaline that pumped through his legs induced small muscle spasms, like an over-zealous Olympic sprinter. Over the years he had travelled those floors hundreds, likely thousands of times, but never once did one of those modest journeys hold such tangible promise — unlike now. The right-sided lift was in countdown, and with the ping of an amplified microwave, its arrival echoed across the small corridor.
Entering the elevator, he manically hit the sixteenth floor on the button column. Following his ascent, the lift doors silently glide apart as he instinctively turned right towards the room. This mazy hotel is his playground and each turn has long become second nature. With each inconsequential room that he passed another emotion joined this raucous party, as it meant he was another door closer. His abrasive heart palpitations were so fierce that picture frames rebounded off the flimsy corridor walls…”
Two-hour window is published in: An Eclectic Mix - Volume Ten: A Collection of Short Stories and Poems.
