Five Seconds

Static

Parker

One, two, three, four,

Five, six, seven, eight.

One... two...

Everything was in eights.

Eight steps. Count again. Another eight steps. Count again. Step. Step. Further away from home. Step. Step. Closer to the dumb hospital we had to bring this useless couple to.

Eight breaths. Eight lifeless breaths.

Eight was her favourite number.

Eight years I'd known her.

I stared at the ground. I didn't dare look at the collapsed buildings around me. Or the woman with a broken leg residing in a wagon. Or the idiot who stuck a knife against me. Or the defiler next to him who stopped me from going in that building to save her.

Another building collapsed beside us. The others stopped to watch. I kept going.

The reverberations created a path around me. Part of the building collapsed—just like the one that crushed Tessa, but I didn't feel it. I didn't think about the repercussions, the people that could've been buried in an unceremonious tomb.

I was stuck in a room of silence in a vegetative state and I couldn't find the door. The walls were closing in and the roof was crumbling down. It was unfair that the beautiful girl who had a way with words was lost to the world. And no one would know her name. No one even knew she was dead except for me.

And there was nothing to remember her with. I had no pictures, no clothing that smelled like her perfume. I didn't even have any friends to grieve over her with.

The others quickly caught up to me. My saunter wasn't a hard pace to match.

I looked down at the lady with the broken leg beside me. Her eyes were closed. I ran my tongue between my teeth. Her boyfriend was a lucky man to have Andy saving her. Lucky bastard he was.

What if I had been in that building when the earthquake struck, instead of dealing with a stupid girl that had a problem with bumping into others? Would I have been able to get her out in time, or would we both be buried beneath a thousand bricks? I looked down at my shoes that were once kept so diligently clean. Now they were covered in dust and blood.

So much death.

The lady lay motionless.

I bit my tongue. All life had escaped my body, and left me with an empty husk.

So much death.

So much destruction.

We made it to the hospital. Royal Columbian. New Westminster. Not Andy's house. Not my home. Not Tessa's arms. The guy and Andy shared a few quick words. They didn't break through my bubble of silence.

And then we were on our way again. The death was in my bones—I could feel it. It thumbed through my veins like thick black paint. I was so tired, I wanted to collapse right there. But my feet kept going. One... two... Andy spoke s few words. I didn't hear them.

The sun set a scarlet brush across the world. Everywhere was red. Red, like the blood on my shoes.

More muffled words. "Coquitlam... aftershock... ...perfectly fine."

Eight more steps.

~~~

It was dark now. There were no streetlights. No moon. No stars.

And then silence drained out of my ears like a bath full of water. The sound hit me with a harsh force.

"Parker!"