Soul Path

chapter 1

When your eyes finally snap open, all you see around you is clear blue skies and something flapping against your chest. Looking down, you see a seagull.

Checking the situation, you see you are basically freefalling at mach speed, and you notice the ground is getting oddly close.

Grabbing the bird, you slap it a few times across the beak, trying to get it to fly; unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work as you both continue hurtling toward the ground. Both of you are desperately hugging each other, and you continue your rapid descent.

"Goddammit, Jessi-!"

Before you can finish your sentence, you smash onto a metal balcony and then another and then another, and just for good measure, you land in a metal bin filled to the brim with trash.

You try to catch your breath, but it's hard to do when you just fell 20 stories.

After laying in the waste for a good minute or two gathering your thoughts, you get out of the bin and look around, and before you is a street bustling with people pushing and shoving each other with no regard, yellow cabs honking, and Italians shouting.

"New York...dammit, why New York!?, why not Atlanta or even Florida for peets sake, something better than the Chinese knock of London? I hate this town; it's always so goddamn crowded." After you say that, and after smacking your head against a wall for what felt like an hour, you finally walk out onto the busy New York City Street.

Looking around, you have no idea where to go. Looking down at your hand, you remember the injection from earlier. You try and pull it up, but unfortunately it shows fuck all, so its up to luck.

You look left and right, trying to decide which direction would be the most entertaining to venture down.

Eventually, you just shrug it off and head right to the crosswalk. As you walk along the road, images of people are shown through their windows.

you see families of all types At that moment, you are reminded of 707's words, "I love humans; they are all so unique and lovely."

As the words wander around your mind, your eyes are glued to the window inside. You see an old couple in chairs holding each other's hands and a young couple cooking together.

"Especially the children." As the thought enters your mind, in one of the windows, you see three kids, all playing and having fun. The sight makes you stop in your tracks as your head is enveloped in a pain you thought unimaginable, but through the pain, you hear a faint voice: "Come on, Hail! Let's go to the river!"

Some of the words are distorted, but once you snap them out and shake your head vigorously, everything seems to be okay, but you are uncertain about one thing: who the hell was that? As that was not your voice.

You try giving the moment more thought, but suddenly you start hearing soft sirens in the distance, and looking up, you see the flashing red and blue lights bouncing off the glass building.

After you walk three blocks with your head filled to the brim with thoughts while staring down at the pavement, you feel like turning back and heading home, even if it meant facing Jessica.

You make your way toward the sound and find five police cruisers and two ambulances in front of what seems like a bank.

dozens of officers are either in their cars or on the street working with the paramedics. Of course, without noticing you, some officers even run through you as they rush in and out of the bank doors. With a sigh, you shove your hands in your pockets and walk through the main doors and make your way through the bank.

As you walk up the stairs and get closer to the front desk, you hear a man angrily screaming. Walking towards the sound, you can hear it even more clearly when you finally spot the culprit; it looks like a man in his early 40s.