Googleplex. Stars. Floor 110.
Publication Date: 4/12/22
Author: Alina Hussain
A perspective based off the novel; Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close written by Jonathan Safran Foster capturing a tragic nine year old boy’s life after his father perished from 9/11.
Melted Bodies. Metal Sinking. Floor 110.
Shards spewn, melted bodies plastered to the white walls.
Walls, that are now black.
Maroon liquid was sticking to my head, but the liquid isn’t mine.
Letters written in blood surfaced along the lines of my palm to the 3 wrinkles on my face.
A face that didn’t belong to me, was reflected and engrained in the metal shard.
My once blue irises, now tinted red.
Wrinkles etched in black smears.
Swaying like a slug, I swung my foot on the cement brick.
The cement brick, it was oddly still clear and unfazed, the only perfection inside these white, I mean black walls.
Red wind swirled around me tainting red everywhere.
To my right were jagged triangle shapes, they depicted stars.
It was broad daylight, but those were stars nonetheless.
The tips of my fingers reached out towards the stars.
My lips pursed in vain as I stared at the stars, letters drowning my thought.
What was his name?
Os-
Ka-
My feet gave out beneath me and buckled, my fragile figure swung off the podium, escaping the pain, but my body felt heavy as the red wind beneath captured me.
A lady..her face imprinted with red paint cried out to someone.
Me?
The edge of my spine became level to 110, my hands were about to grasp the yellow light.
I was so close.
My body sunk into the depths of the red, my hand grasping nothing but wind.
My body flipped and my head cocked towards the stars.
The counts of my breath, ticked within my chest:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Slowing down to;
1, 2, 3, 4
3 more breaths left.
My eyes blinked in rythm of the stars exploding above me.
Metal shards flew downwards, framing my figure.
“Googleplex”
My mind relayed.
Googleplex?
The stars shone back at me, as my head spiraled towards the Earth.
Os-
Ka-
R.
