A loud, piercing scream. Suddenly I’ve regained consciousness. Looking around with slightly blurred vision, I try to recall what just happened.

Fire. Smoke. Blood. Everywhere I turn I am forced to witness devastation. Everything that was happening around me was muffled to the point where the sounds were unrecognizable. People were mounds on the ground. Like roadkill on the side of a busy interstate. Some bodies didn’t look human. The people that were alive either fled the area immediately or are grieving over the body of someone they love. And then I remembered.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I started the day like I would any normal Saturday. I got out of bed, took my pills, and had a cup of coffee while I read the paper; making sure I check the obituaries as I do everyday. I’ve always had an unhealthy relationship with death. I don’t believe in a god, sometimes I don’t even think anything happens to us after we die. Our brains stop functioning, our body decays, and this unknown entity people call their “spirit”, don’t even get me started on that. So, with that ideology in practice, death is terrifying to me. After we decay, we are left to nothing but bones and after a while, not even a trace of DNA. We cease to exist.

After I read the paper, I undressed and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Today is my only day off in months and I wanted to take advantage of that as much as possible.

I go to reach for my towel, only to find that I left it in my room. on my way to my room, the doorbell rings, making me flinch. I am completely nude so I run to my room and wrap the towel around my waist.

Looking through the peep hole I see my colleague, detective Fisher. I open up the door, only slightly, and smile awkwardly. Fisher is over six feet tall, built, with a sharp jawline and deep green eyes. He was dressed in the blue button up I’ve always liked and dress pants that hugged his body a little too much. He must have just left work.

“Hey Fish, what can I do for you?”, I manage to say with an awkward laugh attached.

“Hey…”, he laughs, “is… this a bad time?”

I look down and say, “Oh, no I was just about to take a shower. But what’s up?”, as I open the door slightly more, smiling.

“So, boss wanted me to ask if you could come in…seems to be a lot going on down there today.”, he said. “but, I told him that you weren’t gonna be happy since this is your first day off in a while…” he says smiling. “I told him that I would take on some extra cases today to help out so you don’t have to come into the office.”

Trying to hold back the urge to kiss him right on his mouth I say, “oh jeez thank you so much Fish. I really needed a break”, I smile, “I really appreciate you man.”

Fisher looks down and smiles back, “Anytime, detective Cooper. See you Monday.” He looked down at my towel one more time before he walked back to his motorcycle.

After my shower, I headed downtown to run a few errands and shop, if my bank account allowed it. Being a death investigator and hating death is an internal conflict that I struggle with daily. I mean, I see people die in the craziest of ways everyday. As I’m walking on the sidewalk through the city, I’m not thinking about what I’m gonna buy or window shopping. My brain is coming up with a million ways that I could be killed, right now. Of course none of them have ever happened. Yet.

I got all of my shopping done relatively quickly and started to head back to my car. That’s when the first attack happened.

It was at exactly 11:30 a.m. when the bomb exploded. It sounded like it was above the ground, so I look up at the tall building.

Suddenly, a woman lets out a bloodcurdling scream and says, “Look out!”

I quickly turn my head back toward the sky, and a huge piece of the building is hurdling towards the earth. I watch it fall down onto an unsuspecting vehicle, crushing it instantly. This event sparked the chaos.

And then four more explosions happened. This was the day my life changed.