Now seventeen, she stared up at the tall glass buildings. Beautiful white clouds and the blue sky reflected against them.
Her eyes took in the beauty of the buildings, the architecture, and the different people.
"If you want, you can look around for a few hours," Kim said walking towards their hotel. "We're going to get checked in. Keep your cell phone on. We'll call you and we'll all meet up for dinner! There is a place in the mall with GREAT French onion soup! Have fun, but don't get lost, okay?"
Ashley smiled and gave her mom a hug before taking off towards the blinking lights of time square.
People crowded the sidewalks, horns honked, steam came from the vents below, and delicious smells came from food stands. It was a whole new world for Ashley, seeing she only lived in a small town with only one grocery store and only 4,000 occupants.
She walked and walked, taking in the buildings and stores until it became dark. The sky was painted red, yellow and orange as the sun set. She began to walk back to the hotel, when all of a sudden, her cell began to ring. Before she could answer, her new world began to turn to ruin.
Explosions set the city to fire. Screams and sirens filled the air. Bodies littered the ground. Ashley stood shocked. It was happening before her too fast for it all to make sense. An explosion made her fall to the ground. Rubble rained down onto her, making her cry out in pain as it fell onto her back and head. She stood, but just fell right back down again. People ran past her, stepping on her hands and feet, kicking her. Bodies flew into the air as explosion after explosion went off.
Somewhere far off, she heard buildings collapsing while black smoke filled the air around her.
Somehow she had the strength to push herself up off the ground. She stumbled through the crowds, slowly making her way back to her hotel. Nonstop explosions kept going off, bits of rubble and severed bodies rained down all around her.
" Ashley!" She looked to her left, where the voice came from. She turned and saw there, standing in an open Starbucks door, was her parents.
Smiling, happy her parents were safe, she began running towards them. Kim held her arms out to her, joyful tears falling from her mother's face. Suddenly a bright light appeared, and a loud roaring sound made Ashley cover her ears.
She flew backwards and landed with a thud on her side. The air left her lungs and she coughed.
Her ears rung and she slowly sat up, her muscles screaming in pain. She looked over in horror at the building her parents were in. It was now in a crumpled heap.
Ashley stood hastily and limped over, "Mom? Dad?" She began to scream as she started looking into the pile of rubble.
Without a single reply, she became frantic and began digging into the fallen building. She was digging so much that her fingernails began to break on the rocks and other debris in the pile of the old Starbucks building.
"MOMMY! DADDY!!! Where are you?!? Don't leave me!"
Tears the color of blood streamed down her face as she cried for the first time. Blackness overcame her and she felt as if she was becoming as light as a feather, almost as though she was flying.
No comments:
Post a Comment