Wednesday, December 14, 2016

I looked up from the People magazine i was reading and in front of me stood a man. Long dark hair with a few stray grey hairs, a freshly shaved face, a Led Zeppelin t-shirt with bleach stains around the collar and red converse. He began to open his mouth as if he was going to say something but instead he turned around with his jaw still dropped and walked away. I would have looked back to finish reading the article on Brad and Angelina's split but something had caught my eye. Something very familiar. Dangling out of his left back pocket through a rip at the bottom was a deep emerald green necklace. My mother had a necklace exactly like that one however it was in my closet the last time I had seen it, approximately 2 and a half months ago. There's no way that it is the same one, I thought.
As I walked in the door of my apartment, i went straight to my closet to grab the emerald necklace my mother gave me before i left her house and never returned about six years ago and to my surprise, it wasn't in sight.
Running through the park where I was earlier this morning felt different. Nothing looked the same. Nothing felt the same. I was there to find the man who had startled me a few hours ago but he was no where in sight so I sat back down on the same bench and before and prayed that he would come back and say what he would have said earlier. Half an hour goes by and there's no sign of him however where I'm sitting I typically cannot see the train tracks but as I look up I see the very end of the train and I see a figure standing at the back throwing something off the train onto the tracks. It was him.
Sprinting after the train, I look down and see a trail of orange peels; interesting, I thought. I followed the train and I noticed that the train had slowed down and soon after came to a complete stop but the mystery man was not where I had seen him before.
I hopped onto the stopped train and entered the first door I could find. As I walked in, a rush of smoke overcame me, so much that breathing was almost impossible. "Hey, you at the door" a voice called out. "yeah?" I managed to get out after a small cough attack. A arm reached through the smoke and grabbed me and pulled me forward about ten feet. "What is the reason for you being here Miss Cecelia?" the mystery man asked. "Sir Im sorry but how do you know my name? How?" I asked in a low voice as if I didn't want anyone to hear my question although I was almost certain we were alone. I recieved no response. I proceeded to ask another question hoping this one would get an answer, "Where's the necklace? I know you have it and I need it back. I will take it and leave and no more questions will be asked." He pulled me into the train car ahead of us through a sliding door. "I cannot give you the necklace until you tell me exactly how and where you got it. It belonged to me long long ago and I believe it should belong to me once again." My face began to drip with sweat and burn up. Who could this man be? He must know my mother, had she stolen it from him? Had she found it somewhere that he might have left it? The train julted and came to an immediate stop, slamming me against the wall of the train. I looked up, and again, the man was gone and with that so was the necklace. 

Monday, November 7, 2016

“So what exactly do you do everyday if you dont have a job?”
“Oh, well um.. I uh I read and uh I walk around the block about three times a day to get some sun. Oh! I like to uh cook sometimes.”
“How do you make money if you haven’t had a job for five whole years? You don’t look old enough to retire”
“Um. well, uh it’s kinda hard to explain”
“Ok, you dont have to tell me. Its just that i see you everyday at the same time and it’s early enough to go to work after having time to go on errands but you don’t look dressed up to go to work and there wouldn’t be time to go back to your house, get dressed and go to a job. Right? Sorry if that sounds a little weird but i have put some thought into this”
“Oh.. Well yeah haha I guess you’re right. Yeah i dont go to work but it was nice talking to you, I’ll uh haha i guess see you tomorrow?”
“Well yeah I guess so. Have a good day now”
“Yeah, uh, you too”


As i sat in my mother’s 53 year old red wooden chair looking out my window in the spare room, i noticed something unusual. I noticed that things were not the way that they normally were at this time of day. On a typical day, i wake up, shower, leave my apartment every morning at 8 am to run some type of errands and return to sit in this chair to eat my morning meal and watch the hundreds of people walk by however this morning there were close to no people… then all of a sudden I hear an awfully piercing shriek; a woman’s shriek. Being myself, i couldn't just sit back and act as though this is okay and that there isn’t a particular reason as to why there are almost no people walking by or noticing the 4 screams from an unknown person, i knew i had to do something. I’m not used to breaking away from my normal routine however this is of importance, i NEED answers. Reaching for the door to leave my house, again, I quiver with an uncomfortable kick in my stomach. My hands start to moisten. My knees wobble. My eyes twitch. Whatever happens next is out of my knowledge. This is not on my daily routine and my body seems to be rejecting whatever i am about to do but i cant go on with this day not knowing why in the hell a woman was left screaming with no one else being bothered by it.
As i finally build up the courage to reach for the doorknob, I hear a scream again however it was a different scream, it was not from the same person. I run back to the window in the room i was previously in and look out to see if i can see the mysterious person calling out for attention. I see no one. I walk back to the door but this time i skip the being scared and frantic part and open the door immediately and storm down the stairs as quick as i can. What have i gotten myself into??
I exit out the side door to my building and head in the direction where I think the screams were coming from. Of course now when I am outside and the screams have stopped the hundreds of people have returned but I pay no attention to the amount of people, that is not what’s important at this moment in time. I continue to walk in the direction i believe the noises were coming from but i see no signs of anyone in distress. I continually tell myself it’s probably nothing and if it is something they have already been helped or that it was all probably in my head and no one was screaming and then i see a woman. I see a woman and a small boy maybe 10 years old and they are crouched down on the street so that no one can see them. I dont even think twice to approach them and i then notice that the young boy’s face is covered in blood and the woman’s stomach is as well. I drop to my knees in front of them to ask them what had happened. The woman opens her mouth and says…
BAM BAM BAM

I sit up faster than i have ever have and look around. Damn, what a dream…

within three minutes of walking out of my apartment on the second floor, I'm overwhelmed with the eight am rush of tens of people off to their busy days of answering phone calls of annoying, bitter men complaining about the lack of service from their company, writing columns about yet another drunk teenager at Doug's or lecturing college students who don't care for the education their wealthy parents paid for. Luckily, I am off to my weekly pick up of green, sour, perfectly ripe apples which takes about four minutes to walk to and not off to a career of complete bull shit.