Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    American Nightmare
    American Nightmare
    American Nightmare
    Ebook81 pages1 hour

    American Nightmare

    By T.K. Murphy

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Robert Malcolm Jr. was the typical American , living the American dream. A self made man, who had pulled himself up and had reached a very comfortable position, Bob was also the nicest person you could meet. Then things go horribly wrong. Bob gets a divorce, loses his job and the American dream turns into the nightmare. With nothing to hold his belief system intact and with no one to turn to, Bob slowly becomes unglued. Bob was always the nice guy and always did the right thing, even if it hurt him.

    But sometimes, life throws at you circumstances that are beyond your control. Circumstances, that all your belief systems cannot explain away. Bob was faced with such circumstances and being Mr. Nice guy did not help him in any way. All the stress bottled in, finally surface, transforming Bob into a very dangerous and disturbed individual.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKAI Publishing
    Release dateApr 18, 2011
    ISBN9781935670551
    American Nightmare
    Author

    T.K. Murphy

    T.K. Murphy enjoys writing novels and short stories. Writing has always been my passion.

    Read more from T.K. Murphy

    Related to American Nightmare

    Related ebooks

    Mystery For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Letters

      Apr 1, 2022

      Real is as real does. I was momentarily bewildered recently when someone snidely suggested that a late family member “wasn’t of course, your real sister”. The much-loved person was my younger sister with whom I shared the same mother but we had diffe

      3 min read

    • Article

      Cool Dads: Tough Times Edition

      Jul 3, 2022

      Cool Dads: Tough Times Edition
      7 min read

    • Article

      We started AGAIN

      Jul 15, 2019

      We started AGAIN
      8 min read

    • Article

      “This Is How I See Him”

      Feb 26, 2019

      “This Is How I See Him”
      6 min read

    • Article

      Married With Benefits

      Apr 13, 2019

      Married With Benefits
      18 min read

    • Article

      Forever Family

      Aug 12, 2021

      Forever Family
      7 min read

    • Article

      Bonus Kids

      Mar 25, 2022

      Bonus Kids
      5 min read

    • Article

      Soaring HIGH from an EMPTY NEST

      Sep 8, 2022

      Soaring HIGH from an EMPTY NEST
      6 min read

    • Article

      Boss Move

      Sep 13, 2020

      Boss Move
      6 min read

    • Article

      ‘There’s Not A Day Where Everything Is Perfect’

      Jul 7, 2022

      What is your earliest memory of broadcasting? I went on Blue Peter when I was 15, and when I went into the studio, I felt telly was a place where I’d quite like to work. While I studied Law at Durham University, I worked with a local radio station.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Winning Letter

      Mar 22, 2024

      IN AN effort to up my fitness goals for the year, I’ve recently taken up yoga and Pilates as part of my workout regime – just another way to move my body and keep my muscles and joints oiled. Starting out it proved to be quite challenging as I tried

      5 min read

    • Article

      More Than A Pastor

      Jul 28, 2020

      More Than A Pastor
      6 min read

    • Article

      Don't Let Valentine's Day Ruin Your Marriage

      Feb 12, 2020

      Whether you're a fan of Valentine's Day or not, for those who are unattached or are in struggling relationships, Feb. 14 is a reminder that you're alone, either literally or figuratively. The divorce rate tends to go up around Valentine's Day. Fol

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Child in Time

      Feb 1, 2022

      A Child in Time
      6 min read

    • Article

      9 Questions

      Feb 26, 2018

      Chris Hughes The Facebook co-founder, Obama campaign digital strategist and former owner of the New Republic on his new book and a Zuckerberg presidency

      2 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Mar 27, 2020

      I LIVE on the first floor of a block of flats. Every morning I hear a boy of about 10 and his mother. He always speaks loudly and sometimes it feels as if he’s making too much noise. I’ve wondered why his mother doesn’t stop her child from making su

      3 min read

    • Article

      Taking The Lead

      Apr 30, 2020

      WITH her first book she taught women to Lean In and support each other. And with her second, Sheryl Sandberg offered a road map to others coping with death and bereavement. It was titled Option B – because option A, being with her husband, was no lon

      10 min read

    • Article

      I Found A Sperm Donor On Facebook

      Nov 14, 2023

      Waking up one morning in July 2020, I felt incredibly lonely, a painful feeling in my chest that had been building up for months. I was single, and during the COVID-19 lockdown I’d been self-isolating but was starting to wonder if life would always f

      4 min read

    • Article

      Love AGAINST THE ODDS

      Jun 7, 2022

      Love AGAINST THE ODDS
      6 min read

    • Article

      LIFE, LOVE & LESSONS…

      May 27, 2022

      LIFE, LOVE & LESSONS…
      18 min read

    • Article

      MEN behaving SADLY

      Aug 27, 2020

      MEN behaving SADLY
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Trojan Horse of Modern Technology

      Jul 22, 2022

      Technology, it’s the buzz word! The earlier we can get our children exposed to it, the better. Right? I am not so sure, be careful. We have a Trojan Horse in our midst and very few seem to sound the alarm. I have some concerns. Let us mirror technolo

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for American Nightmare

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      American Nightmare - T.K. Murphy

      Special Smashwords Edition

      American Nightmare

      by

      T. K. Murphy

      This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

      American Nightmare

      Special Smashwords Edition

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

      Copyright © 2011 by T. K. Murphy. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

      The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

      Cover Art Design: Telemachus Press, LLC

      Cover Art Illustrations:

      Copyright© iStockPhoto #4777932

      ePublished and distributed by: Smashwords.com

      http://www.smashwords.com

      Digital design by: Telemachus Press, LLC

      http://www.telemachuspress.com

      ISBN: 978-1-935670-55-1 (eBook)

      Version: 2011.04.15

      Table of Contents

      1 The Layoff

      2 The Date

      3 The Second Date

      4 The Car Disposal

      5 The Boss

      The Layoff

      Robert Malcolm Jr felt the pain and fear at the pit of his belly. He had just read the email asking his team and several other teams to have a joint meeting in two hours. He knew what that meant. 52 yr old Bob had worked in this mega corporation in San Francisco for 22 years. He had started as a security guard for the building. Then got a job in the help desk and worked up the chain and was now a Project Manager in the IT department. Along the way, he had worked in many departments and this was his family-especially since his nasty divorce four years ago. The company did not offer pension benefits anymore, but he would qualify for a retirement package in three years and that included health benefits.

      Then the email came. He had seen the signs before. Slowly a team of Indians had started working in his office. They were only going to help the team, he was told. They were from a very big consulting firm and the new IT head was from that firm too. That did raise a few eyebrows, but corporations were not good to people who stand out and so nobody raised any questions. Slowly they learnt the job and started handling more of the work. Concerns were raised, rumors were swirling-but they were here to help the employees –that was the official line. They worked for almost a year and initially took over the mundane tasks and then started to do the more complex stuff. But as long the rest were getting paid, nobody cared, although they knew intuitively that something was wrong.

      Then the email came and Bob and his fellow workers were huddled into a giant conference room. His manager Marcy, her boss Dick and the HR representative were there. Dick started, First of all, I want to thank you for being the best team I have had the pleasure of working with. Unfortunately the company is facing very tough conditions and we have been forced to let you all go. This was a very difficult situation and we had no other option. Then the HR representative started going through the policy details and how they would be let go and that they would all have individual meetings to get familiar with the packages. Bob’s worst fears were now confirmed. Yes they were being let go. The entire department, along with many other people had been outsourced to this company and most operations would now be done in India. The accompanying corporate nonsense about how valued they were and how they sorry they were to lose talent etc was the most painful. Why couldn’t they be more honest? Then they set up individual meetings with each employee. They got a nice severance package. Some were asked to join as consultants –but most were given a few weeks to a month and asked to pack up and leave. The sick thing was the company had just pulled in its best quarter ever and was sitting on a humongous pile of cash.

      Bob was devastated. This was his life. He was 52 years old and had been with the company for 22 years. He had yet to qualify for retirement and had diabetes- making it very difficult to get health insurance. He would be eligible for COBRA for a short period of time, but beyond that he was on his own. His ex wife worked for the city in a low paying job, but she and the four kids all had insurance through her. Bob did not take home much, between his alimony and child support which was garnished from his wages. Bob had also lost his house in the divorce. He now lived in the North Bay in Sonoma County. He was 52, no job, no health insurance and still reeling from his nasty divorce and now this. Many of his friends in other companies that had been laid off, still had to find jobs. Quite a few had stopped paying their mortgages.

      Bob still had to come to the office for another month and ensure the transition had to go smoothly. He had to aid his own replacements to take over his job. Being the good corporate trooper that he was, he complied. But he grew increasingly despondent over the next few days. How had his life gone so horribly wrong? He had done everything right. He had worked hard, married, took care of his kids and never even abused the medical/sick day that his company generously offered. He had always done his work on time and rarely if ever had a complaint. That had been his story almost all his life. Bob was raised in coastal Oregon, as an only child of a handicapped mother and an alcoholic, absentee father. His father was abusive, but

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1