[Contest entry] Harold of the Apocalypse chp 2

The day dragged on, as Harold stared out at the traffic going by from his window. The cars went from being unheeded to back to back rush hour traffic as it did around this time. Harold remembered fondly of the days where he traded in stocks instead of crypto. He would wake up extremely early to buy and sell in the pre-market hours. It happened so often that he could look at the traffic and guess what time of day it was.

“It’s all so predictable.” Harold said to himself.

From 4am to 5am the traffic was spacious and fast, but as 6am rolled around it was a bumper to bumper parking lot. Harold laughed to himself, finding the irony that he didn’t need to see the future to know what was exactly going to happen. He moved away from his window and made his way to his couch in the middle of his living area.

“Alexa, show me recommended shows.”

Five feet away from the couch a screen rose from the floor and began to load Harold’s video streaming service. The screen turned black with the words “Loading Recommended…”

“Might as well not let this go to waste.” Harold said to himself as he picked up the bottle of champagne and began to pour himself a glass. A minute went by before the screen turned to the intro of WWN also known as World Wide News.
“What the hell is this!?” Harold yelled to himself. He hated the political theater that was always being shown on the news. Pretending to be unbiased while simultaneously telling him who was right, who was wrong, who to believe, who to hate and so on, it annoyed him greatly.

“How did this get in my recommended?” He asked frustrated. Harold sat up looking for the remote. A news anchorwoman appeared sitting behind a desk.

“Hello this Gloria Blogria and this is World Wide News and we have breaking news involving the crypto market.” Harold’s head perked up hearing the word “crypto”. He stopped looking the remote and got comfortable again smiling to himself remembering his latest score. “A lesser known crypto currency known as ‘Steem’ has risen in value dramatically, from being worth around a dollar per share to $982 per share.” The news anchorwoman spoke. Harold took another sip of champagne feeling content as he listened.

A small chime went off from his cellphone, he picked it up seeing that he had new text message from his neighbor Malcom. Harold groaned to himself, he never really cared for his neighbor.

“This dramatic interest of steem has been speculated by many in the crypto community, many are linking it to one unknown user who is buying at higher and higher rates.” The WNN reporter talked in the background as Harold opened up his phone, to see what his neighbor wanted. Harold could remember the day he moved into this neighborhood.
“Hello, you must have just have moved in.” The man said as walked up holding his hand out to Harold as he was watching the movers take in his stuff. “What’s your name stranger?” Harold ignored his hand and eyed him up and down for moment, he was older about ten years older than Harold, he was balding showing a come over the top of his head and wore a black and white business suit.

“Harold.” Harold said plainly not caring to give small talk.
“Right…” The man lowered his hand embarrassed. “Well my name’s Malcolm.” The man gestured to himself. Harold didn’t respond and continued to watch the movers causing a noticeable silence. “That floor you bought was pretty expensive.” Malcolm continued “You must have earned a lot, are you into the stock market?” Malcolm asked. Harold still disinterested just gave one word answers.

“Cyrpto.” Harold replied back.

“Ah the crypto market, like bitcoin?” Malcolm asked clearly trying to keep the conversation going.

“Yes.” Harold said, still giving one word answers. Malcolm could tell that he was not getting anywhere in their discussion.

“Well if you ever want to talk.” Malcolm took out a card from his pocket. “You can reach me at this number.” Malcolm handed the card to Harold, who reluctantly accepted it. Harold looked down at the card; it only had the phone number; no name, no business or anything. Harold looked back up seeing the man begin to walk away. “I live below you; try not to have too many wild parties.” Malcolm chuckled as he walked away. There were times that Harold did text Malcolm but it was always for apartment troubles like if the internet was down or if the buildings power shut down. Occasionally he sees Malcolm on his way up and down the building and they would engage in small talk.

Back in the present Harold opened up his messages uninterested in hearing the pundits discussing the ins and outs of crypto currency, turning his focus to his phone. It was unusual for Malcolm to ever text out of the blue like this; he never considered them to be friends but acquaintances at best. He looked down and began to read the message.

“Hey, Harold txt me back as soon as possible. I’ve got something big you want to look at.” The message read. Harold set down his phone and turned his attention back to the screen sipping from his glass.

“In other news the U.S has ramped up their drone program to expand to not only foreign threats, but what the government is calling possible domestic threats.” Gloria reported. As the report went on in the background, Harold had managed to down last of his drink, feeling the bubbles go to his head. Harold’s vision began to fade as he sank into his couch.

Harold awoke to feel Pascal licking his face while he was lying in a makeshift bed that with pillows and blankets he found throughout the ruins of the city.

“What is it boy?” Harold rose petting Pascal on his head. As his hand was resting on the dog’s head he felt the house shake. “Still?” Harold questioned. Annoyed Harold gets up from his bed and walked over to the window where he first looked out of window where he first saw the capitol building.

“Why did they drop one bomb randomly in the middle of the night?” Harold questioned. The dust was started to clear and Harold soon realized that they only needed to fire once more. They were aiming at the Tea Party Three’s vehicle leaving them stranded. Harold sighed to himself “It’s only a matter of time now, until the Consensus goons come to deal with what remains.”

To see the contest go to- https://steemit.com/writing/@markrmorrisjr/harold-of-the-apocalypse-chapter-one-a-co-authored-novel-help-write-chapter-two