Ground Zero

I can't see.

The sky is grey and I am a ghost to the people on the outside.

I cannot breath.

The smoke and dust chains my throat.

I walk around looking at the objects around me.

It is nothing that I witnessed before.

It is ground zero.

And I am part of it.

I don't remember what happened here. I don't remember how Chicago ended up like this. All I know is that a bomb hit the city and eradicated everything in its path. What is going on here? Where is Julie? Where is the one I love and is she okay? My name is Jake and I'm caught up in the Chicago Bombings of 2012. And my fiance' is trapped somewhere. Where is she? Why isn't she here with me? She called me before the bombs fell, that was an hour ago, saying that she'd meet me at the ice cream parlor on 6th Street. I don't know where I am, my cell phone doesn't work and I can't see nothing but smoke, debris and buildings. I walk along a street and see the street sign marked 6th Street. Oh, god. And what a nightmare it is that I see. The ice cream parlor is in ruins, like the rest of this damned city. It's nothing but smoke and mirrors. Mirrors of broken buildings and injured civilians. And no one knows who is behind all of this.

"Julia! Julia, where are you?", I scream at the top of my lungs.

My words just echo throughout the street. But a faint voice cries out.

"Julia?", I ask aloud.

To my shock, the voice is coming from under the parlor. No! Why? I run towards the debris. I try to pull away the remnants of the parlor that is crushing my fiance. But it is too heavy to lift. And then I stop and cry.

"This is all my fault." I cry.

I stand up and look down at what I cannot see in front of me. My fiance is trapped underneath this debris and I cannot save her. No one is around to help. No one can hear my cries for help. No one seems to be alive in this city. I am the only one here to yell at the sky above. I cannot bring her back. I cannot stop what has already destroyed the city. I cannot save even myself.

"I'm sorry, Julia.", I start saying. "But I hope you're in a better place."

I look back one last time and walk on. On to the next street, looking for survivors. It's all I could do. It's what I want to do.