Beep Beep Beep Beep

The sound of his digital alarm went off.

On a dreary Saturday morning, he woke up with a massive pain in his right shoulder. As he rolled over to his stomach to reach his alarm, his shoulder popped, leaving him in pain. When he rolled back over, he heard the blinds by the far window of his room clash and rattle.

Maybe he just caught a draft.

As he sat upright, he rubbed his shoulder with his left palm in small circles with a good amount of pressure. After rubbing the crust out of his eyes and wiping away the saliva that had dripped out of his mouth during his slumber, he finally pushed his bedsheet to the side and rose to his feet. He clenched his teeth in pain when another random wave of pain hit his upper body.He slipped on his blue, plaid slippers and grudgingly walked towards his bathroom door, just to the right of his bed.

He lived in a simple, cottage house in the outskirts of Seattle. From the outside, you see white shackles stacked in neat rows with brown-framed windows placed symmetrically on all four walls. The lawn was always cut to perfection, always emitting a fresh, dewy aroma into the air. There was a neatly-lined, stone pathway leading up to the two steps that you had to climb in order to be on the porch of the house. And along the stones lay small bushes with flowers beginning to bud out of them. There was a white, shiny fencing around the house; however, the extra protection wasn’t needed.

His community was filled with houses such as his. There were about three houses per block, perfectly aligned, with an abundance of front and backyard space. Some people chose to put pools in their backyard, some chose patios for barbecues or parties. Some people chose both. But others, just like him, decided to leave the land as it was.

In the bathroom, he quickly washed his face with some soap and warm water and brushed his teeth with the green toothbrush he had bought not even a week ago. He stripped his clothes off, turned on the water in the shower to the hottest temperature and hissed and cursed when his feet began to sting as he stepped into the tub. Even though the water was boiling his skin, it did wonders for his shoulder. He tried moving it around, up and down, in circles, until his muscles were loosened and he no longer felt any strain. He grabbed his favorite shampoo, with an overpowering, manly scent, and used it to strip his hair of all of the dirt and oil that had built up from the previous day. He washed the rest of his body with a bar of soap and rinsed himself clean.

He got out of the shower and used a towel to dry himself off. He stepped into his connected closet and picked out a clean outfit that he could comfortably lounge in. He threw on some fuzzy socks and headed for the window that he had forgotten to close the previous night. As the blinds flowed and clattered with the breeze, he was hit with multiple drops of rain.

Ha, what a surprise; rain in Seattle. And of course on the worst day possible.

As he walked to his kitchen to make some oatmeal and a cup of coffee, he heard something buzzing on the marble counters behind him. When he turned around, he saw his digital wristwatch flash bright red.

This happened every single day at the exact same time, ten o’clock in the morning. It flashed ‘WARNING” in neon blue letters in front of a solid, red background; making it quite difficult to read. The watch had been a gift from his grandmother before she passed away. No one knew where she bought it from, and the fact that the watch seemed to be counting down to something made it all the more suspicious. No one knew what it was counting down to. He hoped that it might be the exact time he will win the Powerball lottery or find his true love or meet a famous person. Of course there were the negatives he could think about: the time of his death; him being robbed; his life going to hell. But as expected from a man like him, he only focused on the positive.

Yesterday, this watch read, “3 days, 8 hours, 55 minutes, 33 seconds,” and ticking down. However, today it read, “7 hours, 43 minutes, 23 seconds,” and counting. Every day it changes, almost like it has a mind of its own. He never thinks much of it.

After making his cup of Joe and throwing some blueberries and bananas in his oatmeal, he dragged his feet to his living room. He sat down, got comfortable, and soon enough ended up spending 3 hours of his time watching Friends on his T.V. He was so engrossed in the show that he didn’t feel the vibrations from or see the 11 notifications on his phone, all from his long-time friend. Four missed calls, two voicemails, and five text messages.

When he skimmed through the texts and listened to the voicemails, he realized that he was late for a once-in-a-lifetime meeting with a very important person; someone who could change his life for the better. He quickly got up and put his empty dishes in his sink, ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth again and threw on some formal attire.

He stood in the mirror and made sure he looked professional. His hair was combed to the right, but tousled to look a bit more playful and laidback. His navy suit fit him like a glove and allowed for the slight appearance of his muscles. The suit also made his eyes an icier shade of blue than normal and nicely complimented his brown leather dress shoes. With a quick check of his breath and the grasp of his keys, wallet and his briefcase, he was out the door in a blink of an eye and on his way to the nearest bus stop.

He got in a car crash about two weeks ago but didn’t have the means of getting it repaired. Only his bumper was damaged, but he was more interested in providing for his family than fixing his car. So instead, whenever he needed to go somewhere, he’d either carpool with any available friend, walk or take the bus. The stop was only about two blocks away from the house and there was a new bus waiting for passengers every 20 minutes.

As he was checking his emails, he quickly glanced up and felt the breeze of a public bus drive by him and yield to a stop a block away from him. He began to jog to the bus, watching about fifteen people climb the steps onto the bus and begin to fill the seats. As the doors were closing, he stuck his hand in and prevented the doors from shutting. Out of breath, he got onto the bus and looked for an empty seat.

The bus was packed today but he saw an empty seat next to a woman wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. As he walked towards her seat, she absentmindedly took her glasses and hat off and shook her hair down from the ponytail it was in.
His breath hitched in his throat. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life. Her auburn hair fell just below her shoulders in silky waves. Her piercing green eyes looked like they could kill and her smile was almost too bright to look at. She was wearing a cream-colored sweater with a maroon, thick scarf around her neck and black jeans that were hugging her body under some knee-high brown leather boots. When he sat down, he cleared his throat and threw her a shy smile.

She smiled back and complimented his outfit. With no embarrassment, he told her that she was very beautiful. Turning pink, she looked down at her lap and laughed.

Soon enough, they both engaged in a deep conversation. First, they started talking about their lives and their pasts. Then they talked about their favorite shows, what they do for entertainment, their occupations; you know, “adult” stuff.

After twenty minutes of flirting and many seconds of staring into her eyes, he had to get off of the bus because he had reached his destination. He picked up his things, winked a goodbye, and got out.

While he adjusted his suit, he felt the breeze of the bus flow behind him and his head shot up.

He forgot to get her contact information.
He will never see her again.
He fell in love and now she’s gone

Heartbroken and suddenly feeling empty, he began pulling on his hair and clenching his teeth. Once he had collected himself, he walked into the massive building in front of him and ignored all greetings given to him.

The building had to have had at least 100 floors, with a width of almost the entire block. He walked through the main lobby, pushed the elevator button so hard that it cracked his thumb, and stepped inside. He pressed which floor he needed to go on and was so into space that he didn’t realize he was in a chair in the meeting room until he heard a very low, male voice behind him.

Throughout the whole meeting, he was not himself and he wasn’t paying attention. He didn’t speak, and the other 20 men didn’t bother to talk to him because he seemed uninterested. His absence in reality had gotten so bad that at the end of the meeting, when it was time to leave, the same man with the deep voice he heard earlier told him that he was ineligible for the offer.
This only added to his grief. He nodded his head, shook the man’s hand, and was out of the building before he even knew it.

He didn’t notice that it stopped raining earlier when he got off of the bus. He looked up at the sky and what once was dark and ominous was now bright and cheerful.

He sat down on a bench and aimlessly went through his phone. He knew that he was exaggerating but he really did like this girl. She was something different and unique, and he had never met a girl like her before. She was kind, caring and had such a soothing voice; it could calm down the biggest of hurricanes. Her laugh was as pretty as the sound of birds chirping in the morning and the way she easily turned crimson made him was to squeeze her cheeks just so he could embarrass her even more. 

When the bus arrived 15 minutes later, he picked up his briefcase and boarded on. He found an empty seat and sat down. He began to become so distracted with his phone that he stopped looking at who was and who wasn’t on the bus. He had no idea where he was and where he was going. He felt a body sit down next to him, but he paid no mind to them. Two stops later, the person got off the bus and he felt a coldness on his shoulder. He finally looked up and noticed that he was a lot farther from his house than he wanted to be. He got off at the next stop and waited for a bus that went towards his house, the opposite direction he had just been going.

He sat on the curb of the street and stared at what was in front of him. He took a few minutes to relax and admire the tall trees in his view and the way many birds were flying in flocks around him. He looked at the pigeons roaming the sidewalks, the children laughing with their siblings and their friends, and even the elderly couples that still have the same love in their eyes that they did when they still met.

He looked at his rippling reflection in the puddle of water below him. He noticed a line of color above him and looked up to see a beautiful rainbow. From red to green to indigo, he closed his eyes and made sure that everything he had just seen stayed in his mind; engraved forever.

The world had stopped spinning for him. Everything was motionless.There was nothing in his ears but the sound of his blood rushing through his body and the steady beat of his heart. His body became numb to his surroundings. He felt invisible. He was a soul walking on earth. His fears were gone. His doubts, his dreams, his insecurities, his passions. He was calm. Serine. In touch with the world. He had wanted nothing more.

With his head now in his hands, he felt another warmth next to him. Finally, he looked over and immediately saw a pair of piercing green eyes and soft, auburn tresses. She put his head on his shoulder and her sweet, vanilla smell wrapped his body from head to toe.

Suddenly, his vision went black.

He felt cold.

Alone.

Beep Beep Beep Beep

The sound of his digital alarm went off.

On a dreary Saturday morning, he woke up with a massive pain in his right shoulder. As he rolled over to his stomach to reach his alarm. . .