Euphoria

By David J. Rouzzo

Damien Williams is just an average guy working a dead-end job and tolerating a miserable relationship. His life takes a quick turn as he stumbles into another world called Euphoria - a beautiful world full of elves, witches, pirates, mermaids, dragons and so much more.

Damien soon finds that this world is more like home to him than anything he's ever known before, and is quickly recruited on a journey to save it from a threat that could remove the entire world from existence - a bitter witch and a man seeking control and power over the creatures of this new world.

Damien discovers that he is capable of so much more than he once believed, and realizes that sometimes what's best for us is to step out of our comfort zone and find the place we belong - and when we do, to never let anything destroy that special world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387381937

Book preview

Euphoria

EUPHORIA

DavID J. ROUZZO

Copyrights

Euphoria

Edition 2.0

Copyright © 2017

Written by David J. Rouzzo

Cover design by David J. Rouzzo

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means – mechanical, photocopying, electronic, recording, or otherwise – without prior written permission of the publisher, as well as the author.  The only permitted exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

© 2017 Lulu Author. All rights reserved.

978-1-387-38193-7

Euphoria

Dedication

To Tiffany,

for being my inspiration and motivation as I wrote this book each day, eager to bring a new world to life,

as you’ve done for me.

Euphoria

1

Beep.  Beep.  Beep.  Beep.  Beep.

As much as Damien hated the sound of a busy signal, it was far less irritating in comparison to the screech of a fax machine or the bitter rasp of overworked receptionists that assisted busy signals and answering machines in his day to day workload.  Management meandered about the office, answering the redundant, frequent, yet seemingly necessary questions the new hires asked. The supervisors always avoided the veterans when possible. They knew better than to bother people who would just grow irritated and defensive over the seemingly endless micromanagement. Even if they only somewhat knew what they were doing, the ratio of veterans to new people was quite substantial, as a group of six veterans were surrounded by about thirty new hires. That was how things ran around that place. 

Truth is, the work was stressful and overwhelming at times and could easily take a toll on a person’s mentality.  Receptionists seemed to be some of the cruelest people, whether they answered calls for doctor offices, law firms, or even churches. In fact, receptionists were some of Damien’s least favorite people in the entire world. An interesting point on this matter is that the ratio of people Damien actually liked in comparison to those he didn’t makes for an excellent comparison to the ratio of veterans to new hires at his office. Though if you asked him, he likely could name thirty people he didn’t like much faster than he’d name off six that he did.

It wasn’t so much that Damien didn’t like people, or find good qualities in them, but more that Damien found them to be far more annoying than they are admirable. The tapping of the pen from Frank, who sat to Damien’s right, and the constant griping of the intensely disgruntled Natalie on his left stood as just two of the constant reminders of why anxiety was a thing in Damien’s life.  A quick look around the room and he instantly realized the rut he was stuck in – though it wasn’t so much that he felt this part of his life could be better - a job is a job, after all, and Damien knew to be grateful for that.  There were just so many characters surrounding him in the workplace that it felt unrealistic at times, almost as if he was living in a low budget television sitcom.

Tap.  Tap.  Tap.  Click!  Tap.  Tap.  Tap.  Click!

Stop it, he thought, glaring at Frank and wishing he could rip the pen from his hand and toss it across the room.

I can’t believe these idiots, all they need to do is pay their bill but for some reason it’s my fault we shut their services off. Natalie grumped.  Damien laughed to himself, as she complained about the majority of her calls each day in a very loud, bitter tone.  Damien just looked up at the banner hanging above the room. Dialacom: Communication Experts of Today! He snickered at the sign and the fact that nobody had told him a week ago about the direct deposit issue that resulted in his paycheck not being deposited, which in result caused him to be late on his rent payment.  Being experts at communication would have come in really handy during that moment, so he could have made other payment arrangements. Alas, he just shrugged off the situation and took in appreciation of the irony of such a slogan being proudly proclaimed upon their company banners.

"You know, the thing is, I just can’t seem to get this guy on the phone, you know? It’s like, I call him, and someone new answers each time, you know? I am trying to reach Phil, but I keep getting Sue or Sophia or Shelly.  Then I sit and start wondering why all of his receptionists have names that start with S, and start to wonder what’s really going on over in that office. I guess I could be over thinking it, I know that I do that, but it IS weird, isn’t it? Every one of them, and their names all start with an S…"  Charles was the big talker in the office. If he started talking to you, you’d find yourself listening to him for a good 45 minutes of your day before he’d finally realize he had work to do. Damien didn’t mind Charles at all actually, as the long conversations, often about nothing in particular or consisting of any real significance, helped in tuning out the back to back phone calls of sales and collections that haunted his daily schedule.

I’m telling you that this is the best offer I’ve got, and if you pass it up now you’re going to miss out. You call me back tomorrow and I can’t give you this same deal I’m offering you right now. Do you really want to pass that up? Damien shifted his focus to Elise, one of the most cunning sales leaders and longest running employees of the office. Elise was good at what she did, and she knew it. Her ego was the only thing bigger than her weekly bonus.

               That’s what I thought. Smart decision! I’ll send you the contract now.

Yes, the workplace was filled with many different characters and each of them had their own quirks that got under Damien’s skin a bit, but they all sort of helped the day pass by faster. That, however, wasn’t always something Damien wished for. His life at home was seemingly even more miserable than his life at work, but the stack of papers his boss, Ryder, just placed on his desk was going to keep him busy for a while.

New accounts? Damien asked.

New accounts. Dial carefully, headquarters is monitoring. Follow your guidelines. Red papers are sales leads, blue are collections, make sure you bring some money in for this one, Damien. You’ve been sitting in the middle of the totem pole around here lately and that’s not like you. Ryder lectured. He wasn’t wrong. Six months ago, Damien had gone an entire year of being in the top three sales and collections employees, but for some reason everything had died down.

I’ll do what I can. Gotta figure out my way out of the rut of late. Damien responded.

Rut? Just be more aggressive like Elise and maybe you’ll get somebody to actually hear you out. Ryder responded with a smirk. He patted Damien on the back and walked off to go help a new hire. Damien rolled his eyes. Only at Dialacom would a pat on the back be an overtly condescending act. Damien cringed with frustration before cracking his knuckles against the desk, grabbing the paperwork and shuffling through it. The one perk to new paperwork at 4:00pm was that if it took longer than an hour to go through, Damien would be able to stay past 5:00pm and not only get a little overtime pay, but also have less time to be at home. In regard to his home situation, let’s just say for now that Damien had a girlfriend (Monica), at home who, to put it kindly, strongly made him believe in the saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder. So much so in fact that he wished she was completely absent, forever. But she wasn’t, and no matter how much he disappointed her, she stuck around. This was mostly because she was freeloading and didn’t care so much about the relationship as she did getting new wardrobe every three months, but that didn’t mean she was friendly, kind, or nice in any way whatsoever. In fact, the less Damien earned, the meaner she became. But leaving her, at this point, just seemed to be too tedious of a task, so he stayed, maintaining a mindset that some company, regardless of its nature, was better than none.

Damien shuffled through the papers slowly, sorting them one by one, excited at the idea of leaving work late. The less time he spent at home the more time he felt free – not to mention that after 5:00pm at the office, everyone else went home and Damien could have solitude like never before. Yes, it was the thought of working past 5:00pm that had him currently filled with excitement as he shuffled through each paper, sorting it properly so that he could begin dialing the next day and hopefully, revive a bit of a bonus to his paychecks again. The papers seemed to go on and on as Damien continued sorting them. This had to be it! Finally, a day to work past 5:00pm and experience freedom and solitude, if only for a few minutes it would still be completely worth it!  Damien continued to shuffle, until suddenly, the papers were all sorted.  Damien glanced at the clock and stared in disbelief as the clock read 4:25pm.

Fantastic. He muttered under his breath with disappointment.

Tap.  Tap.  Tap.  Click!

Frank’s pen seemed to click louder and louder with each passing moment. Elise was working on another sale. Charles was rambling on about the language barrier he had just endured 20 minutes ago, and why he wasn’t sure how so many language barriers seemed to infiltrate his leads as of late, while Natalie was grunting about how she needed a cigarette. Damien looked at the clock again to see that it was only 4:30pm. Ah, that moment of day when the clock comes to a sudden crawl.  It had its perks, as he could slack off for most of the day and still seem to get more than double his work done during the last hour of the day, but that didn’t make it very enjoyable as he never had enough work to keep him past 5:00pm. He longed for that solitude, for the ability to have time and space to himself, even if was spent working it would be unsupervised and unhindered by any noise or cluster around him. It would be the closest thing he could grasp to freedom, to his own kingdom. A kingdom of solitude and tranquility.

The clock finally switched to 5:00pm and Damien grabbed his red jacket from the back of his chair and stood and looked around the room. Elise was still on a sales call, Charles was talking to two of the new people about God knows what, and Ryder was staring at Damien with a look of disappointment on his face.

I know, you hate to see me go. Damien joked quietly to himself.

Damien nodded at Natalie who was still on a call with a complaining customer, grinning at her out of pity and headed out the door. He walked to his car and got inside, tossing his jacket onto the passenger seat and turning the key in the ignition. His stereo blasted the love ballad he had been listening to earlier in the day and he smiled, imagining what his life would be like if he could be as fortunate as the one he was listening to, a chart-topping hit musician. He sat in his car and played air guitar to the song that was playing, when he felt a sudden thud against the back of his car. 

I’m so sorry! A voice cried out. Damien climbed out of his car, realizing someone had backed into his.

Is everything okay? He asked, concerned. He looked at his car and was relieved to see that there wasn’t any damage. A girl climbed out of her car and stumbled over to him.

I’m really sorry. This is such a bad first day! This car is a boat in comparison to my other ride. She explained. Damien smiled, not bothered by the situation.

Honestly, I’m relieved. There’s no damage, and it has me getting home five minutes later now.  Thank you for that. Damien joked.  The girl smiled in response.  He reached his hand out to greet her. I’m Damien.

Hannah. She smiled back. 

Hello, Hannah. Drive carefully, okay? He joked again. She smiled and rolled her eyes as she turned back to her car. Damien sat back in his car and laughed at the situation before driving home.

2

Home was the least favorite part of Damien’s day. He pulled into the driveway to see that Monica had company visiting.  He slowly climbed out of his car and made his way into the house where Monica was sitting and eating dinner at the table.  Sitting at the table with her was Kyle, an ex-boyfriend of hers who she maintained what could only be described as an absurdly close friendship with.

Hey there he is! Nice of you to come around, working man! Kyle shouted out with his obnoxiously cliché tropical paradise toting stoned surfer voice. Damien hated Kyle. Kyle didn’t work, but had money because his parents worked. Kyle was a freeloader, and a freeloader with a lot of money can get very irritating very quickly.

Hi, Kyle. Damien gritted through his teeth as he