The Outfit

“It was the Chicago skyline. No doubt about that. Looking out over the city to the lake it was easy to recognize it. The time I had to take in the view was short. It was a first person view; I was over a building of some sort. My vision panned in on the top of the building, and then through it. I passed through multiple floors that flew by quickly. I would say I got about half way through the building when I saw the bomb.

It was big, built into the wall, and I could see wires running both up and down from it, most likely leading to other floors where more explosives would trigger and go off. I only had a few seconds to glimpse it before the explosion enveloped my vision.

I swear I could feel the heat of it. I was zoomed out, and as I did, I witnessed death. Not death like you see in movies; quick, special effects like death. This was agony. In any other situation it’d be considered torture, but the building had no soul, and bent to no one’s will except for the will of gravity.

3 things really stuck with me from all the deaths I saw. One was a little girl, it must have been bring your daughter to work day. The force of the explosion shot her out the window, 40 stories up. I followed her as she fell, all the way down, and the whole way I had to watch her face as she cried in anguish and fear as the air was ripped from her lungs as she screamed for her mother.

When I approached the ground, I prayed, begged, to be veered off, but whatever force was having me witness this wanted no censorship, and I watched as the little girl hit the cement, head splitting open, jaw coming unhinged and hanging as a tear mixed with the blood pouring from every orifice in her body.

I was slowly brought back up to the building where I saw the second of three people. A man, late 30s, pinned to the ground. Fire had just reached his foot and he began to burn. I was forced to watch this for what seemed like hours, long after his screams ceased to exist. The smell....it can’t even be described.

The third and final interaction took place outside. I was pushed back out the window to follow an I-beam that was sheared in half, fall towards the ground. My view point switched to the person who was watching it fall, in shock.

The metal reached her faster than she could react and it cut her in half. Her blue jeans were quickly darkened and soaked with her blood, and the beautiful green polka dot dress that she loved so much was reduced to nothing more than a blood rag for her body. I zoomed out slowly, to see the look of shock on her face begin to fade, and I watched as the last bit of life faded from her eyes...faded from your eyes.”

I sniffled softly and rubbed a tear from my eyes as I finished my story. I couldn’t talk to her about it this morning because it was just too much to deal with first thing, but like the good wife she was, she called just before she got to work to check on me.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry, I knew something was bothering you, I just didn’t know it was something so....dark. We can talk more when I get home, but I really need to get to work.” She frowned and looked down at her green dress, “After you telling me this story though, I really wish you would have told me this morning, I would have chosen a different outfit.”

The man laughed with his wife and smiled, feeling much better having discussed it. “I love you sweetheart, I’ll see you tonight.”

“I love you too, bye hun.”

Just as the phone cut out, the man heard the explosion rip through the air.