So, here's a one-shot for my fiction writers workshop. I hope you like it!
Windows on the world
9:30
The first time I heard Fallin by Alicia keys I was sitting in a restaurant and I was counting. I was supposed to meet my old high school mate up here and show him around a bit, but he was late. So I spend the day counting, like I've done for the past couple of days. 35,36,37…38,39… and 40.
I was 12 days late. Pregnant. A bun in the oven.
It wasn't news, though. I knew since a week ago, when I stumbled onto an unused tampon, thrown off guard and not in the mood for surprises.
So I counted. Then I took a pregnancy test. Two, three, a lot.
All saying the same. My life is over.
A child. What was I supposed to do with a creature who eats and sleeps and shits?
There were enough people doing that already.
You will probably think that I have options. And I've thought about it, about all of them.
I even drove to the women's health clinic on Monday, but I just couldn't do it. Halfway through the door I turned around and sprinted away, feeling the glares burning my back.
In the end I just weren't able to get rid of something that is half Edward, you know?
Edward.
Who never wanted kids, but always loved them. Who always loved me, even when nobody else would.
Who had Huntington's disease. 50%. That were the odds on our child having it, too.
9:37
Looking out the windows, I saw the skyscrapers, and way down the cabs, cars and people trying to get through rush hour. What would all these people down there do? Keep it or not? Tell Edward or not? I felt like I was trying to get through a maze, but every way I turned I saw a dead end.
9:40
Beside me stood a business woman, looking out the windows. High ponytail and a grey suit. Me on any other day. What would she do? This girl working the same job I worked, living the same life I lived and probably loving a similar man I love. Will be or was probably pregnant.
Only difference? Her boyfriend won't be sick. At least not like Edward was.
I didn't want a baby, at least not now. A couple years from now, if Edward wasn't sick, I'd be overjoyed.
But that was the name difference.
9:42
Where was Alice? We were supposed to meet half an hour ago. I wanted to check my phone, but just looking at it made me edgy. This was the phone I was supposed to call Edward with and tell him, but I hadn't done it.
I had to tell him, of course. Especially after my stunt at the clinic. I needed his advice.
But I needed to make my mind up first.
We had the money. We could make the time. We had the love. Edward would be a brilliant father. As for me, I didn't know.
I liked babies, for an hour or so. Then they got tiring.
And what would his life be like? A father who detoriates before his own eyes, a mother who would be crushed after his fathers death? What would it be like?
I didn't fucking know.
While these thoughts raced through my head my double had been staring outside the windows.
What was she still doing here?
It was 9:45. Coffee break was over.
She was murmuring.
"That plane is flying awfully low."
I looked in the direction where her eyes were trained. A plane was flying over the city, would fly over us in about 30 seconds. But it looked like it would not make it, flying so low.
But I was always sketchy around planes.
"Why is it flying so low?" I wondered, stepping up to business me. It seemed to be under us height wise right now.
9:46.
My eyes widened.
"It will crash into us.", she whispered.
And 4 seconds later, it did.
10:02
When I regained consciousness everything was hot. Smoke was wafting up outside the windows and accumulating inside. I tried looking out the windows, but I couldn't.
What happened? On the other side of the restaurant, I heard voices. Business me was lying a couple meters away, unconscious or dead, I didn't know.
People saw me.
There was another plane. It crashed in the second tower.
This was no accident.
There was a gap in the 86th floor.
This was no accident.
The fire department is doing all they can to get us out.
Everyone was calling their loved ones, because we probably wouldn't.
This was no accident.
10:44
Someone did this on purpose.
Everything was in a haze.
My Rage. My fear.
Who did this?
And why would someone do that?
Fuck, I needed to call Edward.
10:52
I just could not dial. I was still looking at the screen, at Alice's message, telling me she would be in at 10. There were 5 others, probably asking where I was and if I got out.
I started sobbing.
10:57
Someone pulled me away from the smoke and to the other side of the room. I could see the south tower from here. I was still struggling with calling Edward.
And what about my baby?
10:59
There was a terrible sound and one moment I was looking at the south tower and then I wasn't, because it wasn't there anymore.
I could not comprehend this.
All these people, dead.
And then I could.
This would happen to me, too.
I didn't want to die like this.
I didn't even want to live like this, in a world, where this kind of thing happened.
And I sure as hell didn't want my child to live in that kind of world.
11:02
With steady hands, I dialed Edward's number. I told him I loved him while I went to a crushed window.
I didn't tell him about the baby.
The last time I heard Fallin from Alicia Keys was 9/11 and I was in the world trade center, wasting my last minutes counting.
So, did you like it? Please review!