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Flash Story
He started his day the same as he did for the last 23 years. He waited for her to wake up in the morning and get ready for work, he made sure she didn’t slip in her way out of the bathroom or leave the stove on when she left the house. He knew she was clumsy and if It weren’t for him he would´ve lost his job years ago but this time he knew he couldn’t keep his job for much longer for she was sad and he could feel it.
She had lost contact with her parents for 5 months, reasons he did not know. She would barely get up in the morning and struggle to sleep in the night, she was restless and it showed by the way she carelessly went about her day. If he hadn’t stopped her the day before she would’ve passed the red light to work possibly risking the life of the mother who was just crossing the street with her kids.
Once she arrived to work it was another struggle, she hated it and he knew it. He could remember when she was young and her dreams were ice skating. He remembered how he would hold her arms when she sped through the ice, and remembered how he would practice all night so that in the morning he could keep up with her ever-increasing stunts. She was happy when she skated, he never forgot how she enjoyed herself on the ice. She almost made a career out of it. She almost went pro, a regret he could feel weighted on her to this day.
He relived the day her life changed every night, she was at the ice skating competition. 20 years old with so much promise and hope for her future so when they both took the stage it felt like the whole world was watching them, he could still recall the minute when she jumped and the second that she slipped through his fingers and fell.
He tried everything to lighten her days after that but in the end, he couldn´t stop the nights when she cried herself to sleep in the hospital. He regretted not being able to be with her for that moment. He knew he failed her but it pained him the most seeing, as even 3 years later, she was still injured in not only body but soul.
He would often sing to her in the nights when she cried hoping that she would listen but it never helped. The accident happened in the past but was ever present in her even today, he felt that when she slipped through his fingers she never stopped falling.
As her day went by in work, he thought of ways to talk to her, tell her what life really is. Explain to her how after she fell she should´ve picked herself up but he couldn’t risk it, he could lose his job and all of those years he spent would’ve been for nothing.
As the day ended he noticed she didn’t say goodbye to any of her coworkers and realized how she didn’t take her car as she began walking back home. He felt a sense of dread as he could feel what was going through her mind. He panicked. He tried his best to swerve her sight, shifted her course or even stop her in her tracks completely but it changed nothing.
His job has never been harder as that moment as he began brainstorming ways he could stop her without risking his job. But every step was a countdown and if it hit zero she would´ve slipped through his fingers one last time.
As she stopped in the middle of the Brooklyn bridge he knew he had his hands tied, he looked both ways searching for a passerby to help, but as she passed the railing, he broke his contract and grasped at her
