Rising Star Adventures and Beyond

Day 11 prep 2025 (Antagonist Back Story)

Pulling into the gas station parking lot, light gray smoke was billowing from the engine of the cherry red corvette. Raven expertly brought his car to a stop and turned the engine off. Frustrated, he hit his steering wheel and cursed under his breath. He instinctively reached for the hood release and made his way to the front of the car. His cell phone rang.

"Hello!", he answered as he looked around the busy parking lot. Everyone seemed to be caught up in their own particular drama. There were customers pumping gas, a few cars parked around the building as people ran inside to grab a cold drink or snack and use the restroom.

The voice on the other end said, "May I speak to Raven Keegan?"

"Yeah, I'm kind of busy right now. Can you make it quick?" He snapped. He glanced at his watch. He was already running late for his meeting.

"Mr. Keegan, this won't take long. I am Cara Ingraham from Global Communications Inc. I wanted to inform you that your application for financial business assistance has been denied. You will receive a letter in the mail explaining everything in the next 7 to 10 business days."

"Thank you. Goodbye!", he hung up the phone and muttered to himself, "Great! That's more great news! Just what I needed. Now, what is wrong with this car?"

Raven popped open the hood and propped it up. It didn't take a genius to realize the radiator was blown. "Beautiful! Absolutely beautiful! There goes my deal with the Peterson's Group! Mr. Franks is not going to be happy."

Raven Keegan had been experiencing a run of bad luck. Just the day before, an opposing company had out bid him for a project. His boss was already mad at him about that because he had lost a high-profile client. Now this incident was putting his job in jeopardy. The loan he desperately needed to fund his own personal business adventure didn't go through. Now he was stranded at this little mom and pop gas station with a broken-down car.

Picking up his phone again, he called his boss. "Mr. Franks, I got some bad news. I won't be able to make it to the meeting with The Peterson's Group. My car's radiator just Blew out. Unless, you have an alternative idea to save this thing, I am going to have to call for a tow."

"Mr. Keegan, you are starting to become a liability instead of an asset to this company. If I lose this deal with the Peterson's Group, you no longer have a job with this company!" his boss snapped. "I'll call Collins and see if we can save this deal. You had better pray we do. I'll see you when you get back to the office." The phone disconnected.

Raven's heart was pounding as he called for a tow. He couldn't afford to lose this job.

After the car was towed to the repair shop and he took a taxi back to the office, it began to rain. As he made his way back to the boss's office, he really hoped they didn't lose the business deal. He was starting to feel hungry as he hadn't had any lunch. This had just been a horrible day. He had spent $200 of his own money for the taxi and the tow.

Entering the boss's office, he had a feeling he wasn't going to receive good news. Mr. Franks didn't smile when he pointed to the chair for him to sit down. It was also not a good sign that security was standing by. Mr. Franks began, "Mr. Keegan, your performance here the last couple of weeks has been less than satisfactory. You have with your negligence costs us three very important business deals and because of that I am going to have to let you go."

"Sir, I couldn't help that my car broke down today." He replied.

"I'm afraid this is viewed as not keeping proper maintenance on your vehicle. You were warned yesterday that another mishap would not be tolerated under any circumstances. I expect your office to be cleaned out within the hour. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir! I'll go remove my things." Raven said with a sigh.


Word count 711