away, I could visualize the vein on George’s neck bulging out further and further until it finally burst in a bloody mess. The thought of this made me shudder, prompting me to decide that the only way to get around my problem was to go through it.
“Excuse me, pardon me, coming through; girl on the move here.” I pushed my way through the mobs of holiday revelers. Crowds were just one more reason to hate the holidays-as if I really needed another one.
It’s funny how, when you’re in a hurry, time seems to stand still, making a simple trip to the restroom seem like a hike across the Yukon. Of course, knowing that George was growing closer to having a coronary by the second didn’t help matters. After what felt like half a century, the restroom came into view. In my elated rush to finally get there, I completely neglected to look where I was going, and it was only after I crashed to the floor that I saw the felled candy cane that had mysteriously managed to jumped out in front of me. Attempting to compose myself as I stood up in pain, I muttered some words that most certainly would have eradicated my name from the fat, jolly man’s “Good List”.
The fall managed to pop a cork of negativity in my mind, forcing me to realize that, even on an average day, the odds that my purse was still exactly where I’d forgotten it were pretty slim. Nonetheless, I knew if I were to come back empty-handed I would hear about it from George and Carol for at least the rest of the year, and Jake for a good six months. I let out a sigh preparing to meet my fate as I limped into the ladies room discovering, to my amazement, that the fates were smiling upon me after all. My purse was there in all its denim glory on the sink where I’d forgotten it. Now, whether or not my wallet was still in it, was probably a whole different story. I decided that I would worry about that later as the mere presence of the purse itself would be enough to appease George and Carol for the time being. Quickly, I snatched it by its faded, denim straps and made a bee line out of the restroom back into the mall.
My knee was throbbing from having been bashed against the linoleum floor. Great, I was probably the only person to have ever suffered a battle wound from a hard day of shopping. I hobbled along until I came to a bench that just so happened to be located next to the same candy cane of doom that had attempted to foil me. In pain, I rolled up my pant leg to inspect the damage. Already I could tell that my pasty skin was beginning to bruise around the point of impact, and it was noticeably beginning to swell. Disgusted with my lack of coordination, I pulled my jeans back down and headed back in the direction of the third floor parking ramp.
It’s amazing how life can change in just a mere matter of seconds. One moment you’re walking casually through a mall browsing for Christmas presents for your loved ones; and the next, everything goes black. Exactly two things happened before my world was quite literally ripped out from underneath me: First, there were a series of pops resembling those of an automatic firearm; then there was a flash of light so bright I swore the sun had crashed into the earth.
Amidst those thunderous blasts and that flash of light, life as I knew it came crashing to an end.
Chapter Four
The Ledge
I’d never been through an earthquake before, nor had I ever heard of one of this magnitude occurring on the East Coast. Therefore, in hindsight, an earthquake seemed like a fairly odd conclusion for me to have rendered as I felt the Earth shake beneath my feet and beheld the sky falling in around me.
In response to the chaos unfolding around me, I immediately attempted to steady myself against a railing separating the third floor from a sixty foot drop. Discernible screams of fear and shocked surprise erupted, breaking through the commotion. Intermingled with those screams were gruesome cries of anguish whose presence was
“Excuse me, pardon me, coming through; girl on the move here.” I pushed my way through the mobs of holiday revelers. Crowds were just one more reason to hate the holidays-as if I really needed another one.
It’s funny how, when you’re in a hurry, time seems to stand still, making a simple trip to the restroom seem like a hike across the Yukon. Of course, knowing that George was growing closer to having a coronary by the second didn’t help matters. After what felt like half a century, the restroom came into view. In my elated rush to finally get there, I completely neglected to look where I was going, and it was only after I crashed to the floor that I saw the felled candy cane that had mysteriously managed to jumped out in front of me. Attempting to compose myself as I stood up in pain, I muttered some words that most certainly would have eradicated my name from the fat, jolly man’s “Good List”.
The fall managed to pop a cork of negativity in my mind, forcing me to realize that, even on an average day, the odds that my purse was still exactly where I’d forgotten it were pretty slim. Nonetheless, I knew if I were to come back empty-handed I would hear about it from George and Carol for at least the rest of the year, and Jake for a good six months. I let out a sigh preparing to meet my fate as I limped into the ladies room discovering, to my amazement, that the fates were smiling upon me after all. My purse was there in all its denim glory on the sink where I’d forgotten it. Now, whether or not my wallet was still in it, was probably a whole different story. I decided that I would worry about that later as the mere presence of the purse itself would be enough to appease George and Carol for the time being. Quickly, I snatched it by its faded, denim straps and made a bee line out of the restroom back into the mall.
My knee was throbbing from having been bashed against the linoleum floor. Great, I was probably the only person to have ever suffered a battle wound from a hard day of shopping. I hobbled along until I came to a bench that just so happened to be located next to the same candy cane of doom that had attempted to foil me. In pain, I rolled up my pant leg to inspect the damage. Already I could tell that my pasty skin was beginning to bruise around the point of impact, and it was noticeably beginning to swell. Disgusted with my lack of coordination, I pulled my jeans back down and headed back in the direction of the third floor parking ramp.
It’s amazing how life can change in just a mere matter of seconds. One moment you’re walking casually through a mall browsing for Christmas presents for your loved ones; and the next, everything goes black. Exactly two things happened before my world was quite literally ripped out from underneath me: First, there were a series of pops resembling those of an automatic firearm; then there was a flash of light so bright I swore the sun had crashed into the earth.
Amidst those thunderous blasts and that flash of light, life as I knew it came crashing to an end.
Chapter Four
The Ledge
I’d never been through an earthquake before, nor had I ever heard of one of this magnitude occurring on the East Coast. Therefore, in hindsight, an earthquake seemed like a fairly odd conclusion for me to have rendered as I felt the Earth shake beneath my feet and beheld the sky falling in around me.
In response to the chaos unfolding around me, I immediately attempted to steady myself against a railing separating the third floor from a sixty foot drop. Discernible screams of fear and shocked surprise erupted, breaking through the commotion. Intermingled with those screams were gruesome cries of anguish whose presence was
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