A Short Story
February 14th, 2006I recently wrote a short story for a contest hosted by my friend Molly, but sadly I did not win. That’s ok though… I still enjoyed writing the story. I thought I would post it up here incase anyone was interested in reading it. It started with a dream I had… but most of it I just made up and did my best to create a worthy ending, but I just came up with the following….. Let me know what you think.
I sat at the stoplight in a city foreign to me. A 3-story firehouse sat across the street to my left. I watched the firefighters scramble to their engine and ladder as the alarm sounded. Oblivious to the exiting fire truck a large oncoming semi took a right turn from the wrong lane cutting off another semi which swerved to avoid a collision. The offending truck pushed the other slowly over onto its side, crashing into the firehouse. The firehouse wall caved in causing the rest of the building to fall forward onto the semi and fire engines, completely obliterating them, and the other cars in traffic.
I scrambled to get help. Running down the road I was at a loss as to where to go for help as I knew nothing of the city I was in. I could not find any phones to dial for help so I made my way back to the disaster. As I made my way back a large storm started to brew. The clouds seemed not of this world. They contained colors from black to pink and lightning spiders throughout the storm encompassing the entire city. Gale force winds sent me crashing to the ground as I scrambled to safety.
I ran for my life and headed straight for an extremely large white building with hundreds of doors and rooms. I grabbed a fire extinguisher from an outer wall and used it to break a window to escape the onslaught of the storm. I found myself in a cold white room with nothing on the walls. The only door from this room held a glass window leading to another room just as cold and white. I knew I had to head to the middle of the building if I had any hope of surviving the coming storm. I found that the door was locked so I continued to use the fire extinguisher to break through the glass in my search for safety.
The storm grew stronger and the sound of the outer glass shattering was heard echoing throughout the empty building. I took cover in the corner of the room and covered my face as shards of glass flew into the room like missiles. The glass was lodged into my back and the wall surrounding me. After what seemed like an eternity I heard the winds die down and I made my way through the wreckage to the outside of this building.
I arose from the wreckage into the sunlight. I found the sky completely void of clouds. I looked across the field in front of me and saw the city at a standstill. I ventured to the intersection where I saw the accident where I found a startling scene. I found the cars exactly as they were before the accident. I found my Jeep running, but with no one inside. In fact, all the cars were running but there was not a person to be found. I hurried into the drivers set of my Jeep and began to search for any survivors. I looked in restaurants, coffeehouses, hospitals, schools, and houses but did not find a soul.
I started to panic as I sped through the city dodging idling vehicles. I found myself about to pass out from the shock of this frightening situation when I once again came to the intersection of the accident. I tried to stop but was traveling much too fast. I slammed head on into the truck that I had seen cause the accident. I felt my head crash through my windshield and everything went black. I woke up on the hood of my Jeep with my feet resting on the grill of the barely damaged truck. I laid frozen as paramedics worked on my injuries and secured my neck in a brace. They inspected my legs over as onlookers whispered back and forth. I was eventually helped to my feet and I surveyed the area. I looked to the place where I had sought shelter only to find an empty field. No white building with broken doors and shattered glass… Nothing.
As I sat in the back of the ambulance I pondered what had really happened. Did I really experience the supernatural storm and the broken glass? Did I get a second chance to prevent a tragedy with the hindsight of what really happened? Did I inadvertently stop the truck from being overturned and the building from being demolished? Or did I simply crash into the truck and imagine the rest of the bizarre event? I guess I’ll never know.