9/11/01

NYC

Where do we go after we die? Do we go to heaven, the religious option? Do we go to Hell if we're damned enough?

Or are both sides wrong, and we wake up reincarnated, in another time period all together?

I wake up, rubbing my head. Adam lies next to me, a trickle of blood leaving his mouth. "Adam. Hey! Adam, wake up!" I rush over and shake his chest. 

He sits up, rubbing his face. "Oww...what-"

He turns and sees me on top of him. "Liana! How are you still alive? I thought-"

"Yeah, I haven't told you everything." I sit back down, next to the trash bin opposite him, sighing.

It wasn't supposed to happen like this. He was supposed to stay in 2019, become famous, and forget about me. 

What am I supposed to do now?

"My name is Anne Hutcherson," I blow a lock of hair through my lips, "I first died in the Salem Witch Trails, in 1692. I was married to my husband William for five years before he left me for an older woman, who he happened to get pregnant. I should've been hung during the Witch Trials, but I survived and woke up in 1803."

I pause, and look over at Adam. His brown eyes refuse to meet mine. I take that as a cue to continue.

"I enchanted a man named Arthur, who fell in love with me. As soon as he did, I died of an illness that no doctor could diagnose. That was the day that I was claimed by Death for the first time."

"Soooo, you're from the past?" Adam asks, looking up at me.

"And I can't seem to die. I'm an immortal, making innocent men fall in love with me."

Adam opens his mouth again, but a massive crash! sounds from right outside the alleyway.

He runs out to the front of the alleyway, looking up at the sky.

Dust clouds stream over the top of the buildings. The Earth shakes and screams can be heard from all around the city.

"What's happening?" I shout, burying my head in my arms.

"9/11," Adam whispers. His face is ghastly pale as he turns back to me, "We're reliving the past."

"That's what has happened to me every time I've died." I stand next to him, not touching, yet wanting to touch him.

"Liana-"

"Anne." I say, looking up at him.

"Anne, this is not good," Adam looks as the first tower tumbles down, crushing the hopes and lives of so many, "This was the worst part of modern American history."

"So, let's get out of here." I tug at his hand, but he yanks it away. "Let's run away, and save our lives. We could start somewhere else!"

"Anne," Adam looks down at me, love and anger in his eyes, "I would love that, but we can't just leave these people to die."

I look up at the towers, taking in a sharp breath, "Fine. Then, let's go." I run out of the alleyway and into the street.

Chaos.

That would be the best way to describe it. 

The streets are filled with honking taxis, fleeing the danger ahead. People pound at the windows like animals, hoping desperately to go, to go anywhere before they meet their end. Dust clouds the blue New York City skyline, and fires burn.

Death has finally led me to hell, hasn't he?

"William! William! Where are you going?" I storm outside into the rainy Salem night.

William stands by his carriage, loading bags onto the back. He ignores me as I clutch his arm. "William, what's wrong?"

"You foul witch!" William slaps me and I fall into the mud, deep brown seeping on to my elegant blue dress. "Stay away from me, cretin!"

He hops onto the carriage and I stay in the dirt, feeling every bit like mud.

That was the worst day of my life.

"Anne? Anne, are you okay?" Adam calls. I turn around, realizing I was staring at the towers burning.

One has already fallen to the ground.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. What do we need to do to help these people?" I clear my throat, feeling as if dust has already gotten stuck in it.

"I don't think there's anything we can do, Anne," Adam leads me to the nearest bench, and we sit, looking at the towers.

"Adam, look around you. New York City is burning! And we're the only two people who can help, but you want to sit here and have a picnic? What the hell?" I stand, looking down the busy sidewalks. "You can play it safe, but I have nothing left to lose."

"You have me. Doesn't that count for something?" Adam says, as I turn, beginning to run down the sidewalk.

"And we'll be together for all eternity. Infinity. Forever! You're stuck with me. You can't be a writer, nobody will remember you, and I will be the only woman you ever love. So yes, that does count for something. It counts for the fact that you will be miserable with me!"

Tears brim in my eyes, but when he leans down to kiss me, they threaten to overflow.

"Anne, Liana, Mrs. Hutcherson. You're the only thing I will ever need." 

I shake my head, clearing out the tears. "You say that, but it means nothing to you. Every men I've ever enchanted has said those same things," I laugh bitterly, "You're not different. I don't want you here, and I don't want you near me ever again."

I run down the sidewalk, trying to leave behind my aching heart.

They say that being tough is the best medicine. But even the toughest of hearts can't resist a heartbreak.

𝒮𝒶𝓁𝑒𝓂 𝐹𝒶𝒸𝓉 #𝟪- 𝒥𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓃 𝒹𝒾𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝒶𝓁𝑒𝓂 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒸𝒽 𝓉𝓇𝒾𝒶𝓁𝓈 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒𝓁𝒾𝓃𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒜𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒽𝒾𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓇𝓎? 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝑔𝒶𝓃 𝒾𝓃 𝟣𝟨𝟫𝟤, 𝒶 𝒻𝓊𝓁𝓁 𝟩𝟥 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝓂𝑒𝓇𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝑅𝑒𝓋𝑜𝓁𝓊𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝟦𝟢 𝓎𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓈 𝒷𝑒𝒻𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝒢𝑒𝑜𝓇𝑔𝑒 𝒲𝒶𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓉𝑜𝓃 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓃 𝒷𝑜𝓇𝓃.