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Note: This is the first story I wrote
that was half decent and got an ‘A’ for… I am so grateful to my English
teacher who helped me find a new avenue of self expression.
“Hey Agnes” yelled a sixteen year old
Julie across the elegant expanse of the Queen Victoria Building.
“Hmmm?” answered a half attentive Agnes.
“Huh? Sorry? What’d you say?” turning around to ask her friend, her green
eyes mocked with exaggerated curiosity.
“You weren’t even listening!” Julie commented, miffed with her friend.
“Sorry- what were you saying?”
“You see that woman with the blue pram over there?” Julie said, jerking her
finger to a young woman with curly blonde hair, clutching the padded bar
of a baby blue pram. She looked tired, as though she had been up all night.
“That pram is going to roll down that ramp any second now” Julie predicted
without hesitation, her finger indicating the
area with the side stores, leading to Town Hall train station.
“As if” Agnes scoffed, her eyes rolling up toward the sky; “Anyway,
how-“ she was cut off by an ear piercing scream.
Agnes turned just in time to see her friend streak through the crowd of Saturday
afternoon shoppers toward the steep slope of the train station.
Julie ran like she never did before; her legs felt as though they had a life of
their own. She didn’t know how she predicted it, but all she knew was that it
was a sign- a sign that it was her responsibility to save the baby. Just as the
pram was about to approach the wall, she caught the handle bar,
jolting it backward. In that split second though, Julie was temporarily
blinded by unnaturally bright light of blue, green, yellow, magenta and violet;
but as she tried to focus in on the source, it suddenly vanished.
The air was unnaturally cold. From up
above, the world seemed small and fragile. The plane spun around and around, as
though it had no control; the engine suddenly died, and the plane began to dive
nose first at fifty miles an hour
toward the soft brown earth beneath them. Some screamed for dear life; others
sobbed uncontrollably; the rest just screamed insanity.
Five Years Later
“No”
she screamed.
Delicate drops of sweat trickled down her
spine, as she sat up on her double bed in her apartment, situated in the Sydney
suburb of Mosman. She checked the digital clock beside her bed.
3:00am
it read.
“Thank god it was only a dream” Julie muttered to herself, swinging her legs
out of bed to close the large bay window, just as a plane flew overhead.
Julie walked back toward her bed, and
climbed back in. She lay awake and stared at the ceiling, but no matter what she
did, there was no stopping her mind from reeling. Finally, she
got out and pulled her blue and white uniform on, grabbed her keys and
closed the door to her apartment.
Julie looked out the café window, just
as the sun peaked from behind the harbour. From behind the glass, Julie felt
safe, away from anything, which might remotely harm her. The day looked sunny
and faultless, promising a new beginning for all, as the sun’s rays poured out
to embrace the Sydney Harbour Bridge as well as the Sydney Opera House.
Julie stared into the picturesque sunrise and stirred her coffee absentmindedly,
as she wondered how a world so perfect could have so many uncertainties,
especially about life. She had been at the café since six am, beforehand
walking through Hyde Park to clear her thoughts. Julie drank the rest of the
coffee and left the money for the drink, but as she turned, she bumped into a
tall young man with dark hair in a long black coat who was coming in the door.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there” stammered Julie, embarrassed for being so
clumsy. She peered up to meet a set of vaguely familiar blue eyes, but as Julie
studied the face closely, she concluded it wasn’t anyone she knew. Suddenly,
she saw another flash infront of her eyes, similar to the one she saw when she
was sixteen. This time though, she saw two glistening horns, placed majestically
upon the head of a pure white horse, just like a unicorn.
“Are you okay?” the young man asked, concerned as he helped her up from the
floor.
“Er… I think I’ll be fine” Julie stuttered, refocusing on her surroundings.
“Thanks" she added, before she turned and left the café, the
young man’s eyes fixed upon her.
The
lights flashed on and off as the plane continued to intersect the earth at fifty
miles and hour. Yellow air bags were clutched by every person on the plane as
their only chance of survival. People continued to scream as their bags fell out
of the luggage compartment, through the smashed windows, impacted by the force
of the streaking speed, into the vast expanse of the universe.
One
Year Later
“Where’s the veil? Where are the combs?” panicked an
erratic, yet excited Julie as she searched through her belongings on the bed
like a crazed maniac.
“Look, here’re your combs” Agnes replied, pressing a pair of white combs
into Julie’s outstretched hand ”And here is your veil” she added as she
placed the veil on top of Julie’s head, securing it with white combs.
“You’re so lucky to have John” Agnes exclaimed with a sigh, but Julie only
gave her a forced smile “Yeah, I know”
“What’s wrong?”
“Well…” Julie started. “I had a dream last night… actually, I’ve had
this dream before, but it’s broken up in parts- every time I dream it, it’s
different, but I know it’s the same dream”
“So? What’re you afraid of? It’s only a dream… What’s it about
anyway?”
“Yeah, but it’s your wedding day, be happy!”
The gap between the earth and the plane
edged closer, as each mile closed in after the next. There was only the
atmosphere separating them now; the screaming had stopped as the passengers
realized it was no use. There was no turning back now; it was all downhill from
here. They clutched onto each other for dear life. One by one, as the passengers
were exposed to the chilling air, it silenced one more life. The plane continued
to speed down.
Julie awoke, glancing over at the digital clock beside the king
size bed she shared with John.
She sighed, and got up. John murmured, jolted by her sudden movements. She
looked down fondly at him, wishing she could freeze this frame forever. John was
so sweet to her; marrying him made her the happiest person alive, especially
since he loved her so much. She knew she would love him always, no matter where
she was, whatever she was doing- her love would continue no matter what. As she
put on her blue and white uniform, tears welled up in her eyes; she tried to
choke them back, but it was no use. Just before she was about to leave the
bedroom, she leaned over John and whispered “Bye, see you soon” bravely as
she kissed his lips for the last time.
Before she closed the door to the room, she whispered, “I love
you” and ran out of the apartment, not daring to look back.
As Julie arrived at the airport, she felt a wave of dizziness
intercepted this time by a more graphical picture of the unicorn, flying
majestically through the air, his head, held up high in superiority above all
other creatures. It really is beautiful, Julie thought, her eyes moist
with fresh tears. But I don’t want to leave; not now, when
everything is so perfect. The Julie remembered the conversation she had with
Agnes, just before her wedding “I feel really fulfilled now… I have
everything I could possibly need, more than I could possibly want. I’m doing
what I’ve always wanted to do, and I’m marrying the man I love… I guess if
I’d be gone tomorrow, I’d be happy- ‘cos I knew I lived my life the way
that I wanted…and I know all my dreams had come true”
With that she turned and boarded the plane.
The plane was beginning to close into the earth. There was only a
few thousand kilometers to the end. There were very few people on board now, and
plane was stripped bare, all that was left was the nose of the plane. Only five
hundred kilometres… The plane exploded into a million different shades of red,
all combining to form the most powerful fault ever created. Out of the wreckage
emerged two majestic horns, and eventually the snow-white unicorn, with a young
woman sitting proudly on it’s back, the unicorn flying towards the heavens.