NOVEL — URBAN FANTASY

Bruce Langley, Psychotherapist For Hire

Rising out of the ashes of failure

The wind — image created by author using Fotor AI

The wind.

Walking down the street from the public parking lot. Bruce found himself leaning forward into the wind, while holding the top of his jacket closed to prevent the fingers of the wind from chilling him to the bone. Walking down the street with the wind whipping his hair and trying to tear his jacket off, made Bruce wonder why he hadn’t taken an early vacation this year.

The extended weather forecast for the rest of the autumn didn’t offer much hope for improvement. It wasn’t so much about the wind making it feel colder, it was more about the sting of blowing bits of sand and dust. Of course, the lowering clouds had added to Bruce’s misery.

“Gods, do I hate wind!” he cursed under his breath.

He arrived at the entrance to the small office building, a three-story affair which always seemed to have office space for rent. Entering, he stopped for a moment to run his hands through his hair. The stairs to the right, led up to his office on the top floor.

The first floor housed a massage therapy office and a small health food and supplements store. The other office space on the main floor was currently empty. The last renter had…