The sky is falling

NINA’S POV

Have you ever met someone who just seems to have the worst luck in the world? They would walk on an even pathway and trip over absolutely nothing. They would lose one of their earrings and throw the other one away, only to then find the one they have lost. This is me. I am this person with the worst luck in the world.

I have gotten so used to being the one with the bad hair day, or the one with the odd shoes. I am usually the one who messes up in stead of helping anyone. When assignments are assigned to members of a group, I am usually the last person they ask.

I have long since given up trying to work in groups. I have opened up my own little antique shop and spend most of my time finding old treasures and restoring them without compromising their worth. This is about the only thing I am good at. I like the time I spend alone, in silence with my antique items. I feel their history and it excites me.

I have also gotten a degree in antique evaluations and I sometimes give advice on what items are worth when other evaluators have trouble finding the right era or timeframe for a piece. I love my job. Just sometimes it gets lonely, and today is one of those days.

I walk slowly past the row of windows in the large shopping mall. I like to come to busy places whenever I feel low. I hold my handbag in front of me and let my thoughts wander as I stroll past the large windows with all its beautiful things inside. Once in a while my eye would catch something shiny and I would look at the item. The last one was a beautiful mirror mosaic lamp. It was truly something I would have liked to put in my apartment, but my first thought after seeing it was, “That is going to break within a week.”

Somehow, I knew today wasn’t going to be the best day. I chose to wear black work pants with a short-heeled sandal. I paired it with a grey blouse and tied my hair into a bun. Thinking about my outfit, I planned it in dark colours in case I fell down today. If I wore dark colours, I may be able to pretend nothing happened afterwards.

I come to stand to the side of a very large pillar on the side of the pathway. I lean my back against the pillar and let out a very depressing sigh. My eyes wander across the crowd. The little bistro that is set to my right has a few small tables that are placed slightly in the walkway. At one of the tables four men are sitting, casually talking and enjoying their drinks.

A woman comes rushing past me and my eyes follow her as she heads down the walkway. She is clutching a small boy’s hand and telling him that they are going to be so late. The small boy is trying his best to run by her side but her pace is a bit quick for him. I feel sorry for the boy. Kids don’t always understand why their parents have so little patience.

I take my glasses off my eyes and clean the lenses with a special wipe. It is not that I cannot see without them, I just cannot see very far without them. I place them back on my eyes and as the view comes into focus, I can see one of the men at the table staring intently at me.

When I looked at them the first time, I noticed that the four of them are very attractive. They also bare a resemblance to one another. I thought they may be brothers. I keep my eyes focussed on the man staring at me. For some reason, I do not want to look away first. It feels a bit like a power struggle. If this man only knew what an accident-prone person I am, he wouldn’t even enter into a tiny battle of wills with me.

I take in as much of him as I can. It is a kind of game I started playing while I was a young child. The exercise was to teach your mind to be more observant. I would focus on what I saw and I would describe what I saw to myself in specific words. Not just remembering the image but the description of what I saw also.

Attractive man, thick dark hair, square jawline. Piercing green eyes, manly lips. Slight stubble on his cheeks and chin. Top button of his shirt is undone. Black tailor maid jacket fits perfectly. My eyes wander back to his lips and for a second my mind betrays me. I have a flashing image of what it would be like to gently press my slightly parted lips against those beautiful lips of his. To touch the tip of my tongue on his lips to invite him gently to kiss me deeply.

The man to his left touches his arm, he turns his head to the man and I am suddenly very aware of how hot and bothered I am feeling. I use this small distraction on his part to slip around the large pillar and make my way away from this devastatingly beautiful stranger.

I take the first pathway to the left that leads away from Mr Piercing stare. I keep a fast pace while walking, forgetting the reason why I came here in the first place. As I make my way away from him as quick as I can, I cross a grid in the floor. I am not sure what the reason for it is, but I have tripped over it before, even though it is level with the floor. The fine blocks are no obstacle for any other woman to cross it ever. For some reason, I fall down when I cross it. I make sure to take my steps carefully even though I do not slow my pace down. I do not want it to appear that I am afraid of crossing the grid section. I make sure to plant my feet firmly on the ground with each step.

As I reach the middle of the grid, I feel my ankle wobble and quickly steady myself by placing my other foot next to the wobbling ankle. This forces me to come to a complete stand still in the middle of the grid. I take a deep breath and prepare myself to continue walking, making sure that I have my balance now.

As I slowly try to move my one foot in front of the other, I realise that my heel is stuck in the grid. I roll my eyes at myself. This is so typical. I contemplate at what would be the most gracious way to remove my heel from the grid. Do I take the shoe off or do I bend down and pull it free?

I am still thinking about it when I hear a low rumble coming from the other side of the shopping mall. As the rumbling gets louder, I feel a tremble coming from the ground. I look around me to see what other people are directing their attention to. Some people have already grabbed their kids by the arms and are running towards any exit. Others are walking slowly towards the rumbling sound.

A loud crack sounds and everything turns into chaos from then on. Everyone who was still standing around is now running towards the exits. Some leaving their shopping behind, others still trying to salvage whatever they can. The sound came from above. I turn my head upward to see what is happening. There is a large crack forming in the roof of the mall. It runs a few meters and then stops.

My heart starts pounding in my chest. I bend down to untie the strap around my ankle. It doesn’t have to be done graciously anymore. I just need to get free. The loud crack sounds again and I do not even have to look up to know that it is now directly above me. I struggle to get the strap undone. I am still bent over trying to free myself when the whole world went silent.

I feel something hard hit my body and I am forced into motion. A darkness comes over me and I struggle to breathe with the amount of dust that is now in the air. I can taste dirt whenever I try to take a breath. I feel the warmth of another body close to mine. I try to calm my mind so I can focus on my immediate surroundings. It is difficult when you have trouble breathing.

I pull my blouse over my mouth, the material blocks most of the dust, allowing me to take a few breaths. I wipe over my eyes with the sleeve of my blouse. I open my eyes slowly as the dust starts to settle around me. I am backed into a corner between a pillar and a solid wall. I do not know how I got here since I was in the middle of the floor, stuck on a grid.

My ears are ringing. I look up to see a man towering over me. He has his hands pinned to the wall on both sides of me, shielding me with his body from the chaos outside. I look up to find his piercing green eyes staring down at me.