Today was a bad day to die. Of course, Howard Rent would not know that until he was dead. Howard was a hard to please man. A balding, slightly overweight workaholic in his mid-forties with three kids who never saw him and a wife who’d been having an affair for three years with the neighbor. Not that he saw any of that. No, how could he, he was never home. His family didn’t care, they got his money, and that was enough.

On his last day, Howard got up at 5:15 like he did every morning. He grunted and rolled out of bed, turning off his alarm clock before slipping into his house shoes and making his way downstairs. His wife turned over and continued to sleep. She wouldn’t be getting up for hours, after the nanny had brought the kids to school. Howard still thought she worked as an interior designer, though she’d given that up after decorating the neighbor’s house.

Howard trotted down the stairs, rubbing his eyes as he turned on the lights in the kitchen.