Droplets the size of silver dollars flew from the sky and smacked into the dark pavement, a rolling rumble in the distance. Nina clasped the collar of her jacket to her neck as she sped through the sea of umbrellas. But no rain instrument for Nina. She almost enjoyed this sort of weather, even if she was perfectly soaked for her meeting with Mother. She would simply have to deal with Nina’s disheveled appearance. Her elbows jutted out like oars, helping her glide through the mobile throng of people. It was a cool spring afternoon and it did not seem like she was going to make it on time—and Mother would not be pleased. Then again, she’d deal with it. Two blocks away, her footsteps quickened. The subway was the only way for her to make it to lunch relatively on time. She crossed her fingers for extra luck, hoping that the subway system was running on schedule today. After a settling breath, she saw the sign for the subway in the near distance. She approached the stairwell, now out of the rainfall, and relaxed her collar. It was while she was padding down the puddled stairs that she lost her footing and slipped down a few until she reached the bottom landing. Nina took that moment to recover and raise her head, expecting to assure a concerned citizen that she was more than fine. But when she did, she realized that the whole place was empty. It was totally strange for the subway to be devoid of all people in the middle of the day. Finding the platform barren at midnight was rare enough, so this was a peculiar sight. As she scanned the surrounding area, she retracted her arms into her body. Something felt very wrong. Then, out of nowhere, a man completely draggled came up to her with blood staining his once-white dress shirt. He seemed in a hurry and rather paranoid. If it weren’t for his horrific appearance, Nina would have assumed he was a typical drunkard. But this was a strange hour to even find a drunkard. Turning to her in desperation, he asked, “Excuse me, miss. Have you seen a black overcoat anywhere? It has these gray buttons with gold thread.” He demonstrated the positioning of the buttons with clammy hands. His motion seemed frantic. “I really need to find it.” He appeared to be in his early thirties. Nina took an involuntary step back from the close proximity of the strange, bloody man. “I’m very sorry, but I haven’t seen it…” She sunk into herself and stood awkwardly until the man finally thanked her and turned away, rushing off to the stairwell. Warily, she walked towards the closer portion of the platform and waited for the next subway car to approach. After a couple of minutes, it arrived and she boarded it. She sat down at a double seat and tried to shake off the last few minutes, but relief never came. The empty environment was too odd; it made her uncomfortable. After a minute or so, she emerged from the peculiar haze of confusion and wariness and noticed something off. It struck her in a very strange way. Across from her seat, crumpled on the seat in front her, was a black overcoat. Hesitantly, she leaned forward to further examine it. The buttons were gray and the threading was gold. Just as the bloody man had said. Looking around the subway car, she noticed that she was completely alone—except for the black overcoat.
Nina pushed her hand through the pocket of the forgotten overcoat in an attempt to find any information which might identify its owner. The pocket was empty, with exception to a small silver container which was embroidered with a layer of fine gold. On the box’s front face, was a heart shaped hole to which a key could fit; Nina lifted it from the pocket and nervously turned to examine the remaining train cart, it was empty, she had been left alone. She tucked the box into the pocket of her MTA uniform and exited off the train, leaving the overcoat behind on the seat. She continued to finish up her remaining duties, shutting down and clearing the train which was to be rested until it was needed once again. After doing so, she made her way up to the main offices, towards her locker. When she arrived there she took notice to Frank Sigler, the district manager, who stood by her footlocker talking on his phone; she nervously cupped her pocket, where the box was stashed, disregarded her previous intentions, and continued past him, smiling along the way to nullify any suspicion. She exited out into the active city streets where a couple dozen people strolled to and fro. Nina titled her head and started down the street to her nearby apartment. Along the way, rain began to pour from the sky, subsequently, her uniform became soaked. Shortly after, she arrived at her apartment complex in downtown Astoria; she stepped up to her door and fished into her pocket for the house key, instead, her hands met the box from earlier, a tear rolled from her eye and down her cheek. Nina took a step back from the door and fished out a scrap of paper from her pocket, she then retrieved a pen. Using the apartment wall as leverage, she wrote, “I’m sorry, I’ll pay the rent, it’ll be here tomorrow. Please, I have nowhere to go. I’m sorry.” She folded the letter and placed it into the mailbox of her neighbor’s apartment.
Nina had just left a letter in her new neighbor’s mailbox. It turns out that her long lost love, Jason, from high school had just moved into town and he is living two houses down from her. When she noticed him getting into his car one morning, all of the feelings that she had for him in high school were suddenly rushing back to her. So in the letter, she explained who she was so he would remember. She also told him that she wanted to go out one night for a few drinks and was hoping he would agree. She told him to meet her at Mickey’s Bar and Pub a few blocks down at 8 on Saturday night. Nina was afraid to talk to him so when she dropped off the letter; she rang the doorbell, threw the letter in his mailbox and scurried back to her house before he could see her. The rest of the week Nina worried about seeing Jason again and how he would react or how she would feel. She was afraid that her feelings would not be the same as they were 20 years ago; then again she was afraid that they would be the same. A lot has changed since then, as well as themselves. Nina was also scared that he would not show up or that he would not remember her. Either way, she put her worries aside and just relaxed. Saturday night rolled around and Nina was getting ready and she suddenly became very anxious and was not feeling good. She debated on whether or not she should still go, but she brought herself to go anyways. It was just about 8 o’clock and Nina was alone at a table. She gave Jason some time because maybe he was running a little late. Then it got later and was now 8:45, she was still alone. By 9:15 she had lost hope and decided to start drinking because of how upset she was. At around 10:20, Nina was passed out and the bar was suddenly abandoned.
“I have to stop doing this,” Nina had thought to herself as she began to stretch. She had slept in the booth of the abandoned bar. She had been back in town for two weeks and already the memories where weighing on her. Nina only roughly remembered her childhood because she tried to erase most of it. Her most vivid memory was what drove her back to the bar every night. Nina’s mother would put her to sleep when she was little, saying daddy was busy at work. She knew she was lying though, because she woke up to him stumbling inside at four in the morning. As she got older she found the bar where her dad spent his whole time, missing out on her youth. Nina recalled the humiliation she faced one day when she went inside to beg her father to come home. His inebriation made him unable to recognize his own daughter. Rather, he flirted with one of the servers in front of her face and laughed as the men around them began to tease her. Although the experience had traumatized her, she at times would guilt herself for having given up so quickly. The loss of her father had made her overlook the man he had been and had brought her back home. At four a.m. Nina had woken up with the disturbing memories, that were more like nightmares. She had begun to believe that there was a deeper attraction bringing her back to the bar. All throughout her life she had felt something missing, but today, Nina had felt herself closer to the answers she needed. Looking around the bar she examined the remains carefully. There were barely any traces of the men that spent their whole lives here. Apart from empty bottles and dust, Nina found nothing of use. After realizing that she was thinking insanely, she headed toward the back exit of the bar, about to head to her old friend’s house where she was staying. Quickly, Nina ran into her friend’s room and gathered her belongings. The bar made her realize she wasn’t only unhappy with her past, she was unhappy with herself now. Uncertain of what it was that she had to do, she began to walk with her large box of belongings. When someone walked by she slyly covered the box, not wanting anyone to see what she carried. Nina came across the cathedral in her neighborhood. She felt compelled to go inside. At first, feeling a sense of remorse, she was hesitant to go inside, but finally opening the doors, her guilt washed away. Nina walked up silently in the empty hall, up to the seats where she had sat many years before. She waited patiently, searching for the right words, then slowly got up and carried her large box, headed toward the back exit of the cathedral.
Nina opened the heavy door to the cathedral with troubles. The box was too big and it was hard to hold it with one hand. When she did open the door, she heard the screeching sounds of the city around her. She walked around, trying not to seem too suspicious. Carrying around a huge box, around a city, and barely being able to see, is not the best situation. Too bad this is how she had to spend her day. It shouldn’t be weird, considering so many people do so many stupid things in the city, but still, it felt awkward to her. She walked a long time, until the noise of the city died down. She looked to the left and saw that decent sized school, PS 125. It was a nice school. Not too big, not too small, just right. She lets out a sigh, then struggles, yet again, in trying to get the door open. She didn’t want to put the box down; it could be stolen, considering this is a city. The box rocked back and forth in her hands. “Ah!” she yelled as the box almost fell out of her hands. Before it actually fell out of her hands, the door to the school opened and she smiled as it regained its balance in her arms. “Thanks,” she said and walked into the school as the person who held the door nodded. “Now,” she said to herself, but trailed at the end of her sentence. She started walking around and found the main office. She put the box down on a bench next to the main office and was about to open the door, but she heard someone coming. Instead of taking a chance, she grabbed the box and ran into the janitor’s closet. It smelled of chlorine, which isn’t the worst smell in the world, but still was overwhelming. After the feet passed, she slowly walked out and went into a nearby room. She sighed and placed the box on the top shelf in the back of the room. Then she climbed up to the top of the room on the shelf, opened on of the drop ceiling panels, and pulled herself up. She grabbed the box and brought it up with her. Finally, she thought.
Nina collided into what she thought would be her end but to her surprise, she fell right through. Her all of sudden heavy body must have destroyed the drop ceiling of the room; she felt a burning sensation in the front of her hands since she used her hands like a shield to protect her face. Thankfully, Nina had landed on a blue couch. The couch might have broken apart, but lucky for Nina—she didn’t. She looked around, thankful for her life and observed the room she was in. She was surrounded by the dust of a destroyed ceiling, and the smell of cold coffee and lilac air freshener. There were some tables and chairs and a dirty old microwave; knowing where she was at, she said to herself, “Lucky for these lazy teachers, there’s like 3 other faculty rooms.”
Still feeling a great amount of pain from her impacting fall, Nina began to look for some pain relievers. Once she found them and drank them, she walked outside to look at the room number she was in. Outside the door, the sign read PS 125. Her destination was 2 flights of stairs away. It took everything in her to head towards the stairwell—the pain relievers were obviously not working so well. Nina started going down the stairs, wishing that the old public school had a working elevator for the sake of getting rid of the burning sensation in her legs. Once she arrived to the desired floor, she headed to the classroom she was looking for. Upon entering the room, she found what she was looking for. She began to read the notecard on the completely empty desk—“68250” she read out loud.
The fire crackled and the paper was consumed in the flames. As Nina watched it burn she could just barely read the numbers printed on it. But she did not need to reread the numbers; she had them committed to memory. 68250. Charlotte, North Carolina. She packed her belongings swiftly. She knew she needed to do one more thing before she left. She needed to go to the post office to collect the package from her PO box. She left the remainder of the month’s rent in an envelope on the counter and left. Her furniture would be collected and shipped to her in a week. She wasn’t worried, but she had not been expecting the assignment so soon. When she arrived at the post office she took a key out from a private pocket in her purse. Once the key was removed, her employers would know that she had received her mission. When she opened the box she found a small cardboard box. She went back to her car and opened it up there. Inside was a doll, her next clue. She placed the doll on her passenger’s seat. It was just about time to leave but she had to stop at one more place. As she walked into the dinner she saw the person she was looking for. She knew this should take a lot of courage but instead she was calm. Bang. The job was done. As she drove towards the “you are now leaving Astoria, Queens” sign she thought about how she would never look back.
• #1
ReplyDeleteDroplets the size of silver dollars flew from the sky and smacked into the dark pavement, a rolling rumble in the distance. Nina clasped the collar of her jacket to her neck as she sped through the sea of umbrellas.
But no rain instrument for Nina. She almost enjoyed this sort of weather, even if she was perfectly soaked for her meeting with Mother. She would simply have to deal with Nina’s disheveled appearance.
Her elbows jutted out like oars, helping her glide through the mobile throng of people. It was a cool spring afternoon and it did not seem like she was going to make it on time—and Mother would not be pleased. Then again, she’d deal with it.
Two blocks away, her footsteps quickened. The subway was the only way for her to make it to lunch relatively on time. She crossed her fingers for extra luck, hoping that the subway system was running on schedule today.
After a settling breath, she saw the sign for the subway in the near distance. She approached the stairwell, now out of the rainfall, and relaxed her collar.
It was while she was padding down the puddled stairs that she lost her footing and slipped down a few until she reached the bottom landing. Nina took that moment to recover and raise her head, expecting to assure a concerned citizen that she was more than fine. But when she did, she realized that the whole place was empty. It was totally strange for the subway to be devoid of all people in the middle of the day. Finding the platform barren at midnight was rare enough, so this was a peculiar sight.
As she scanned the surrounding area, she retracted her arms into her body. Something felt very wrong.
Then, out of nowhere, a man completely draggled came up to her with blood staining his once-white dress shirt. He seemed in a hurry and rather paranoid. If it weren’t for his horrific appearance, Nina would have assumed he was a typical drunkard. But this was a strange hour to even find a drunkard.
Turning to her in desperation, he asked, “Excuse me, miss. Have you seen a black overcoat anywhere? It has these gray buttons with gold thread.” He demonstrated the positioning of the buttons with clammy hands. His motion seemed frantic. “I really need to find it.” He appeared to be in his early thirties.
Nina took an involuntary step back from the close proximity of the strange, bloody man. “I’m very sorry, but I haven’t seen it…” She sunk into herself and stood awkwardly until the man finally thanked her and turned away, rushing off to the stairwell.
Warily, she walked towards the closer portion of the platform and waited for the next subway car to approach. After a couple of minutes, it arrived and she boarded it. She sat down at a double seat and tried to shake off the last few minutes, but relief never came. The empty environment was too odd; it made her uncomfortable.
After a minute or so, she emerged from the peculiar haze of confusion and wariness and noticed something off. It struck her in a very strange way.
Across from her seat, crumpled on the seat in front her, was a black overcoat. Hesitantly, she leaned forward to further examine it. The buttons were gray and the threading was gold. Just as the bloody man had said.
Looking around the subway car, she noticed that she was completely alone—except for the black overcoat.
Nina pushed her hand through the pocket of the forgotten overcoat in an attempt to find any information which might identify its owner. The pocket was empty, with exception to a small silver container which was embroidered with a layer of fine gold. On the box’s front face, was a heart shaped hole to which a key could fit; Nina lifted it from the pocket and nervously turned to examine the remaining train cart, it was empty, she had been left alone. She tucked the box into the pocket of her MTA uniform and exited off the train, leaving the overcoat behind on the seat. She continued to finish up her remaining duties, shutting down and clearing the train which was to be rested until it was needed once again. After doing so, she made her way up to the main offices, towards her locker. When she arrived there she took notice to Frank Sigler, the district manager, who stood by her footlocker talking on his phone; she nervously cupped her pocket, where the box was stashed, disregarded her previous intentions, and continued past him, smiling along the way to nullify any suspicion. She exited out into the active city streets where a couple dozen people strolled to and fro. Nina titled her head and started down the street to her nearby apartment. Along the way, rain began to pour from the sky, subsequently, her uniform became soaked. Shortly after, she arrived at her apartment complex in downtown Astoria; she stepped up to her door and fished into her pocket for the house key, instead, her hands met the box from earlier, a tear rolled from her eye and down her cheek. Nina took a step back from the door and fished out a scrap of paper from her pocket, she then retrieved a pen. Using the apartment wall as leverage, she wrote, “I’m sorry, I’ll pay the rent, it’ll be here tomorrow. Please, I have nowhere to go. I’m sorry.” She folded the letter and placed it into the mailbox of her neighbor’s apartment.
ReplyDeleteNina had just left a letter in her new neighbor’s mailbox. It turns out that her long lost love, Jason, from high school had just moved into town and he is living two houses down from her. When she noticed him getting into his car one morning, all of the feelings that she had for him in high school were suddenly rushing back to her. So in the letter, she explained who she was so he would remember. She also told him that she wanted to go out one night for a few drinks and was hoping he would agree. She told him to meet her at Mickey’s Bar and Pub a few blocks down at 8 on Saturday night. Nina was afraid to talk to him so when she dropped off the letter; she rang the doorbell, threw the letter in his mailbox and scurried back to her house before he could see her. The rest of the week Nina worried about seeing Jason again and how he would react or how she would feel. She was afraid that her feelings would not be the same as they were 20 years ago; then again she was afraid that they would be the same. A lot has changed since then, as well as themselves. Nina was also scared that he would not show up or that he would not remember her. Either way, she put her worries aside and just relaxed. Saturday night rolled around and Nina was getting ready and she suddenly became very anxious and was not feeling good. She debated on whether or not she should still go, but she brought herself to go anyways. It was just about 8 o’clock and Nina was alone at a table. She gave Jason some time because maybe he was running a little late. Then it got later and was now 8:45, she was still alone. By 9:15 she had lost hope and decided to start drinking because of how upset she was. At around 10:20, Nina was passed out and the bar was suddenly abandoned.
ReplyDelete“I have to stop doing this,” Nina had thought to herself as she began to stretch. She had slept in the booth of the abandoned bar. She had been back in town for two weeks and already the memories where weighing on her. Nina only roughly remembered her childhood because she tried to erase most of it. Her most vivid memory was what drove her back to the bar every night. Nina’s mother would put her to sleep when she was little, saying daddy was busy at work. She knew she was lying though, because she woke up to him stumbling inside at four in the morning. As she got older she found the bar where her dad spent his whole time, missing out on her youth.
ReplyDeleteNina recalled the humiliation she faced one day when she went inside to beg her father to come home. His inebriation made him unable to recognize his own daughter. Rather, he flirted with one of the servers in front of her face and laughed as the men around them began to tease her. Although the experience had traumatized her, she at times would guilt herself for having given up so quickly. The loss of her father had made her overlook the man he had been and had brought her back home.
At four a.m. Nina had woken up with the disturbing memories, that were more like nightmares. She had begun to believe that there was a deeper attraction bringing her back to the bar. All throughout her life she had felt something missing, but today, Nina had felt herself closer to the answers she needed. Looking around the bar she examined the remains carefully. There were barely any traces of the men that spent their whole lives here. Apart from empty bottles and dust, Nina found nothing of use. After realizing that she was thinking insanely, she headed toward the back exit of the bar, about to head to her old friend’s house where she was staying.
Quickly, Nina ran into her friend’s room and gathered her belongings. The bar made her realize she wasn’t only unhappy with her past, she was unhappy with herself now. Uncertain of what it was that she had to do, she began to walk with her large box of belongings. When someone walked by she slyly covered the box, not wanting anyone to see what she carried. Nina came across the cathedral in her neighborhood. She felt compelled to go inside. At first, feeling a sense of remorse, she was hesitant to go inside, but finally opening the doors, her guilt washed away. Nina walked up silently in the empty hall, up to the seats where she had sat many years before. She waited patiently, searching for the right words, then slowly got up and carried her large box, headed toward the back exit of the cathedral.
Nina opened the heavy door to the cathedral with troubles. The box was too big and it was hard to hold it with one hand. When she did open the door, she heard the screeching sounds of the city around her. She walked around, trying not to seem too suspicious. Carrying around a huge box, around a city, and barely being able to see, is not the best situation. Too bad this is how she had to spend her day. It shouldn’t be weird, considering so many people do so many stupid things in the city, but still, it felt awkward to her. She walked a long time, until the noise of the city died down. She looked to the left and saw that decent sized school, PS 125. It was a nice school. Not too big, not too small, just right. She lets out a sigh, then struggles, yet again, in trying to get the door open. She didn’t want to put the box down; it could be stolen, considering this is a city. The box rocked back and forth in her hands.
ReplyDelete“Ah!” she yelled as the box almost fell out of her hands. Before it actually fell out of her hands, the door to the school opened and she smiled as it regained its balance in her arms. “Thanks,” she said and walked into the school as the person who held the door nodded. “Now,” she said to herself, but trailed at the end of her sentence. She started walking around and found the main office. She put the box down on a bench next to the main office and was about to open the door, but she heard someone coming. Instead of taking a chance, she grabbed the box and ran into the janitor’s closet. It smelled of chlorine, which isn’t the worst smell in the world, but still was overwhelming. After the feet passed, she slowly walked out and went into a nearby room. She sighed and placed the box on the top shelf in the back of the room. Then she climbed up to the top of the room on the shelf, opened on of the drop ceiling panels, and pulled herself up. She grabbed the box and brought it up with her. Finally, she thought.
Nina collided into what she thought would be her end but to her surprise, she fell right through. Her all of sudden heavy body must have destroyed the drop ceiling of the room; she felt a burning sensation in the front of her hands since she used her hands like a shield to protect her face. Thankfully, Nina had landed on a blue couch. The couch might have broken apart, but lucky for Nina—she didn’t. She looked around, thankful for her life and observed the room she was in. She was surrounded by the dust of a destroyed ceiling, and the smell of cold coffee and lilac air freshener. There were some tables and chairs and a dirty old microwave; knowing where she was at, she said to herself, “Lucky for these lazy teachers, there’s like 3 other faculty rooms.”
ReplyDeleteStill feeling a great amount of pain from her impacting fall, Nina began to look for some pain relievers. Once she found them and drank them, she walked outside to look at the room number she was in. Outside the door, the sign read PS 125. Her destination was 2 flights of stairs away. It took everything in her to head towards the stairwell—the pain relievers were obviously not working so well. Nina started going down the stairs, wishing that the old public school had a working elevator for the sake of getting rid of the burning sensation in her legs. Once she arrived to the desired floor, she headed to the classroom she was looking for. Upon entering the room, she found what she was looking for. She began to read the notecard on the completely empty desk—“68250” she read out loud.
The fire crackled and the paper was consumed in the flames. As Nina watched it burn she could just barely read the numbers printed on it. But she did not need to reread the numbers; she had them committed to memory. 68250. Charlotte, North Carolina.
ReplyDeleteShe packed her belongings swiftly. She knew she needed to do one more thing before she left. She needed to go to the post office to collect the package from her PO box. She left the remainder of the month’s rent in an envelope on the counter and left. Her furniture would be collected and shipped to her in a week. She wasn’t worried, but she had not been expecting the assignment so soon.
When she arrived at the post office she took a key out from a private pocket in her purse. Once the key was removed, her employers would know that she had received her mission. When she opened the box she found a small cardboard box. She went back to her car and opened it up there. Inside was a doll, her next clue. She placed the doll on her passenger’s seat. It was just about time to leave but she had to stop at one more place.
As she walked into the dinner she saw the person she was looking for. She knew this should take a lot of courage but instead she was calm. Bang. The job was done.
As she drove towards the “you are now leaving Astoria, Queens” sign she thought about how she would never look back.