There’s no cure for human nature….

That’s what the little twat yelled at me as her and her little cockroaches threw eggs at me. Can you believe the audacity of it all? They boycott in front of my office just because some of my projects have torn down large nature areas. Like I’m the only one! There are hundreds of property developers like me but they choose to harass me, the little….

“Are we to continue to the potential site for you to survey?” Alex my driver asks from the front seat.

“Yeah but stop at the house, I need a new shirt” fucking ridiculous, I should sue for assault. “And have the outside security footage sent to the police station. I want those people brought up on charges” I can hear Alex sigh. He’s seemed quite sympathetic toward those people lately and I don’t like it.

———

The land is 130- acres of prestige land. The real estate agent is droning on and on reciting fact after fact that I already know. The real question is why is it so cheap.

“So what’s the problem with it?” I ask.

“Pardon me?” She asks with an innocence that is masterful but I make deals all day and can spot a fake with ease.

“Let’s not play dumb. Why is this land so cheap?” I stare her down watching her fidget uncomfortably. She pulls at her starched firm collar before finally answering me.

“The land is said to be haunted.” She leads the way to a clearing where a lake sits. Its Calm foggy waters are deep and dirty, slightly Erie but otherwise completely normal looking. What bullshit, I’ll buy this land for a steal drain the lake to develop the land and sale it for a fortune.

“Get the paperwork together” I stare at the lake but when the realtor says a prompt ‘right away’ there is relief in her voice. I feel a bit of stillness fill me as I watch the glass like lake not move even once. Shame, it’s almost pretty but I won’t let a small body of water or the stores surrounding it stop me.

——

I sit in my home office looking over the city sky line from my floor to ceiling glass wall. It’s a nice view that doesn’t inspire any calmness like the one I had earlier at that small lake. The small woosh sound notifying me I have a new email almost sounds like a wave and brings my attention back to the present. I open my new email to read over the buying contract for the new land. It looks good so I Esign and send it off to my lawyer who will confirm and then send it back, just like that millions in the works. I turn off my computer and tuck in for the night.

I blink my eyes and am suddenly standing face to face with that awful protestor yelling at me, so close I can see the anger swirling in her eyes. With each venom laced word of how I’m a plague on the world slowly killing it makes her brown grey eyes churn with waves of anger like the start of a storm whipping up waves. I go to turn away but am taken under water. I struggle to break the surface but the more I fight the further down I’m pulled. I kick and reach but the light above the surface gets further and further away. The water isn’t cold yet it still feels like icy fingers working their way into my lungs. The thickness of the water starts to win the battle I’m fighting to keep it out. My mind tells me to keep fighting but the burn hurts too much and I’m getting tired and more afraid by the second. I can’t die here at this place like this. I can’t be dragged down by this water but I also can’t fight it anymore. Just as I decide to forfeit the fight I gasp myself awake sitting upright in my bed drenched with burning lungs and watering eyes . I try and catch my breath as I notice how wet I am, Not in a sweat filled way but in a just stepped out of a pool type of way. My pajamas hang heavy on my tired sore limbs and I’m terrified.

——

“There’s just no cure for human nature, if we don’t fix the problem….” The angry scientists voice on the podcast my driver is listening to brings me to my present.

“What is that you keep listening to?” I bite out at my driver from the back seat.

“Oh sorry, you seems out of it and it’s extra credit for my environmental survey class. It’s a shame the earth is dying and we will too if we don’t fix the plagues we have become to this planet.” Something in my chest tightens at his words and it gets harder to breath as my ears block up sounding muffled like there’s water in them. I speed dial my lawyer.

“I was just about to send off.....” I cut off his words before he can finish.

“Kill the deal.” I say with a deep breath, I feel like I can breath again.