Beneath the Soul

"NO!" My screech was a dozen octaves higher than my normal voice. "NO!" was all I could scream at the top of my lungs. I felt my knees hit the ground and then soon after that two hard, strong hands were gripping my arms tightly. "BENJAMIN!" I continued to scream. "NO!" tears were rapidly pouring from my eyes and down my cheeks.

The strong hands began to pull, but I was barely aware of my body being dragged away from the window, or the loud voice yelling, "Call 911! " over and over again while other minor screams of panic sounded off. No. I was only aware of what my eyes were still taking in...the violent explosion in the sky.

"Benjamin..." I whispered as another broken sob escaped my lips.

And then all I saw was black.

Katie... I turned my head to the voice. Katie... I couldn't see anything. It was as if there was a fire, only I was trapped in the thick black smoke, not the flames.

Was I dead? I supposed it didn't really matter anymore. I didn't feel like living right now.

Yes, she will be useful... the voice whispered again. I moved around, trying to find where it was coming from. But I only recovered nothing. What a silly girl she is...

I gasped and opened my eyes. For a wild second I expected to wake up in a hospital, blinded by the white light. But instead, I only saw a police standing above me. I didn't register what he looked like. I only stared without looking.

"Hey, lady," he said, "are you alright?"

No. Definitely not that. But if I told him that, he would call an ambulance or someone else for help. I wasn't going to say yes though. I just didn't answer him.

I felt footsteps passing by me quickly as people rushed around in chaos.

The police shook my shoulders. "Hey! I'm talking to you. Answer me."

I saw the strangest thing then. As I looked past him I thought I saw some kind of a fog. My vision must have been blurry with tears though, I thought. With great effort, I sat up and then slowly got to my feet.

"I don't need any help," I said to him as I walked away. My voice sounded odd to myself. I ran out of the airport to my car. It was close to impossible to do so though. There were ambulances everywhere, police cars, and news reporters setting up. As I passed crowds of people I noticed the same blurry dark fog that the police had behind him. I wiped the tears out of my eyes and tried to see sense. Like that would ever happen.

I don't know how, but somehow I actually managed to get myself together and out of the airport parking lot.

I didn't know where I was going, and right at that moment I really didn't care where I ended up.