Fall
2/9/12
Henrietta Johanssen stood atop one of the taller buildings in downtown Lawndale. Her bright, floral-patterned muu muu fluttered in the wind and as she watched, a small crowd began to gather on the sidewalk below.
Her deep-set eyes were flat and uninterested, expression bland. Her lank hair stuck to her forehead and cheeks, still wet with the sweat of spent effort. Some people were snapping pictures, and the faintest spark of amusement lit in the depths of her mind.
Perhaps today should have been the day to wear underwear.
The wind blew harder, and Henrietta swayed. A deep breath was drawn and expelled as she looked back on her life, and found herself dissatisfied.
She had been pretty, once. Pretty and young and happy. She had fallen in love and married a handsome young man, and given him a daughter. Life was perfect, then.
But that life had been taken away.
After her husband's death, her daughter had drawn away, become secluded and combative. When it came time to leave for college, the girl had gone without a glance back. Henrietta had not seen her since.
A congratulations card had come in the mail a few years before, from Henrietta's mother-in-law. It had been a pink card with a picture of a stork stenciled on the front.
Congratulations on Your Bundle of Joy!
And handwritten at the bottom in blue ink that practically dripped smugness were the words "It's a beautiful baby."
A pink card. A granddaughter?
Henrietta shook her head ponderously, dismissing the memory, and found her audience had grown. The peppering of pedestrians she had first noticed had multiplied until there were only the smallest gaps in the crowd. A siren cut the afternoon bustle as a police car and firetruck pulled up to the curb.
It was getting late. She should get going.
She managed to kick off her shoes with effort and, huffing mightily, climbed up onto the ledge of the building she stood upon. Crows cawed in the sky above her, anticipating a fresh meal. She smiled at them, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.
Her husband and daughter smiled at her as she let herself fall.
The sound of wind in her ears was almost gentle, a peaceful vacuum that drowned out the screams of the onlookers below. At the last second, she opened her eyes.
A young woman held a baby, both of them perfectly calm. As Henrietta neared the ground, the baby's face came into view, the green eyes and black hair stark against her pale skin. The baby reached for her, and Henrietta smiled.
The last thing she saw was a small, blonde boy with large blue eyes directly below her as a dark-haired woman reached for him. His lips moved as she descended.
Holy sh-
She had just time enough to recognize him as the strange little boy who had been protesting in the candy section of the Super Food Lord. Then she hit, and knew no more.