One Second

I’ve been chewing on this one for about a year.

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One Second

Blood drips from the sewer up the manhole cover. It flows up the street into a huge red puddle with a body lying in it. The puddle begins to shrink as the blood goes up Alan’s nose, down his throat and into his ears. The crowd of people standing around him begin to run away as a car approaches, its speed increasing. It runs over Alan’s lifeless body as several people on the sidewalk start screaming. He gets up on his feet immediately after. One of the women that had been in the crowd yells out to Alan: “Watch out!” But Alan doesn’t hear her.

Everyone turns their attention back to whatever they were doing and Alan begins walking home with a smile on his face. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, puts it to his ear and says “I love you, too.” His fiance had called to wish him luck on his first day. A few moments later, he says hello and puts the phone back in his pocket as it starts to ring. Nearing his apartment building, he sees his next door neighbor. “Thank you, you too, Mrs. Halloway.” She proceeds to wish him a good day.

He enters the building and goes up the stairs and to his door, which he unlocks. He pulls out the key and puts it on the ground before him. “Damn it!”