The buildings surrounding me stood in silent judgement, so I turned my gaze upwards to the purple-blue wash of sky being slowly softened by dawn’s glow. Ha! I should’ve been a poet! Or maybe a musician. I used to play the keyboard, got quite good at it too. But no, none of those held the pull of politics. I actually entered this game truly believing I could do some good, make a difference. That’s the reason I fought so hard to become Mayor of Meadowview. And when I finally made it? What a frustrating shock to find that any clout I had was strictly rationed and carefully controlled. I’d had to learn to play the game quick, fast and in a hurry to fight for more, or I would’ve been left out in the cold along with all those I was fighting for.

But, somewhere along the way, I’d lost sight of all those people who had put me in office. They became … irrelevant – except around voting time. Until it got to the point where I genuinely believed I didn’t need them any more. Power required money, so I did what I had to do to acquire it. I’d quickly learned that where money was concerned there was no such thing as enough or too much. The things I’d instigated over the years, the wheels I’d set in motion, not giving a damn who those selfsame wheels were going to roll over and crush. I’d climbed higher and higher, discarding all those who had hoisted me up in the hope that I’d take them with me.

The phone in my trouser pocket vibrated once. Another news alert. I had my phone set to pick up notifications from all the major news channels worldwide. One of my ways of keeping my finger firmly on the pulse.

The last few hours had been a rollercoaster ride – and it still wasn’t over. My head had been wrung and spun, and yet the world kept turning, and others got on with their lives, oblivious to how desperately hard I was trying to hang on to mine. My phone vibrated with regular irregularity, notifying me of the latest breaking story, the most recent nationwide event making the news, yet, uncharacteristically for me, it stayed in my pocket. What was I so afraid of? Missing a news item that might affect me or watching the world turn without me?