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(Dream) Why I hate tall buildings (Graphic content)

by Aaron Howard


I’m at a high rise opening hotel party.. I’m wearing a tux, as with most of the men...I walk past the invitation desk, straightening my lapels as I pass through the double doors leading up to the duel curved staircases.. Black and gray marble, with brass banisters.. Looking down from the top of the stairs I see that everyone is dressed in extravagant clothes. I continue up the stairs, looking up at the ceiling painted with pictures of stars, constellations and angels circling the ceiling.. Looking around as I enter the massive room I see that the room is fully decked out.. It’s probably 1000 feet square surrounded by an unfettered view of the surrounding city.. You can see the skyline in almost any direction you look… On every side there is a huge center window with a crescent design… and the letter of the direction… North, south, east and west embroidered about the glass in gold letters… Looking down, you can see the carpet bearing the design of a huge old style map.. as a dance floor, complete with Sirens, Sea creatures and unexplored area’s… surrounding the dance floor are white linen top tables filling the room.. the ceiling is vaulted, probably 40 or 50 feet from the floor…
As I enter, I can see that everyone is looking northward, and I can see a committee table preparing a toast to this magnificent restaurant.. I grab a glass of champagne off a passing tray a white suited waiter is carrying around… He continues walking like nothing happened.. I sip the champagne, the good stuff, I think to myself. I look over the room for the bar and anyone I might know…
The mayor is introduced and everyone sets their glass down to clap for the politician and the men and women who made this fabulous place.. In mid sentence, a shudder is felt throughout the room.. Like a tremor.. nothing massive.. but it does get a few gasps out of the room and the mayor pauses.. he quickly catches himself, and makes a joke about groundbreaking being revisited and then goes onto a joke about his wife parking his car as he quickly ends his speech… The room waits a few seconds with held breath and slowly relaxes as no more tremors are felt… The room quickly forgets about the shimmy and you can hear drunken voices slowly taking back over the background noise.. people laughing, yelling and telling jokes…
I find the bar over by the north window and tell the keep to make it a double on the rocks.. I quickly gulp down the drink and overhear some men talking next to me about construction and the possibility of problems… I eavesdrop until the turn and look at me.. I try to fake a smile out of my face as the tender drops me another cube and pours another double that I haven’t even let go of yet… I ask them, It’s safe, right? They chuckle and bluntly reply.. Well how safe would you say living is?’ I reply ‘Not very’
They chuckle and say, I wouldn’t be here unless the mayor was here, He’s promised me a photo op with him all term… I sip this drink a little slower as it’s slowly sinking in… then what was that shudder I think to myself… I can hear some people arguing in the background… something about wanting to leave…
I can hear the change of mood in the room.. spreading like a brushfire.. I hear whispers, high tones and footsteps on the dance floor.. I look around… I hear someone mention that the elevators have stopped working and that we’re going to have to take the stairs down 200 floors… a man tries to assure the woman who’s complaining and saying she’d rather just rent a helicopter than walk down 200 flights of stairs in high-heels… Ahh the rich…
I already know what’s going to happen from here… deep down, I already know.. and I feel it again.. a slight shudder.. nothing massive, just something that makes the champagne glasses ‘ting’ as they tap together from the slight shudder of the building… the you hear a fanatic rise in the voices as a bigger shrug is felt by the building.. Enough to jar people and send glasses and dishes falling off tables onto the hardwood floors… I walk over to the north window and look down.. everything looks normal, but I can see the building leaning to the north… I get a very bad feeling looking down 200 stories. I start making my way to the elevators and stairwell.. climbing down 200 flights of stairs seems futile by this point.. besides.. if anything was going to happen, I’d rather see it… so I manage my way up to the tier facing the north window… a shock wave is felt through the whole room, as you can feel the building leaning more towards north.. enough in fact, now you can see glasses rolling on the floor by gravity’s power.. and by looking out over the horizon, you can tell the lean is about 10 to 15 degree’s and degrading fast… in about 5 seconds, tables are already sliding on the hardwood floors.. and panic has already spread.. I can hear the people screaming and yelling, but it’s not what I’m focused on… I’m starting to feel the pull now from the angle of gravity, I grab onto the banister in front of me as I see tables sliding into the window.. knowing it’s only a matter of time… people start sliding on the floor, I look up and see the chandelier leaning towards our fall.
I hear the sound I was waiting for.. the sound of cracking glass… I can see the spider-web all through the crescent picturesque window in front of me.. the mayor and all his kiss asses pinned against the window from all the tables and people sliding onto their side of the floor.. The glass shatters mere seconds and sends a sea of humanity and furniture out into open air… by this point I can see buildings closer and closer to the base.. I’m trying to brace myself with the banister, but I know deep down what’s going to happen to me no matter what I do… So I let go. By the point I could see the street below.. well, what you know is the street when you look down something as massive as 200 stories..
I let my sweaty grip loose of the banister and jump over the railing in one last yahoo… I fall off kilter and end up falling towards an unbroken window.. I didn’t want to be stuck inside with the rest of the screaming masses.. I wanted the rush of air to hide that pain… luckily for me, I straighten my legs right before I smack into the thick paned glass and shatter it into a million pieces as I make my escape.. I feel the rush of air over my hair, face and hands as I enter free fall.. My legs hurt like hell, but that’s an afterthought. I can hear the lapels of my coat smacking me as the wind takes control… I look up and I can see the top 25 stories or so, breaking off the building and beginning to fall behind me.. I can see specks, which I suspect are people rolling out of the window and yet being gobbled back up as the building breaks free and enters freefall… Rocks, tables and other people are all around me as I fall.. I can see the base of the building, a rectangle with a flat roof racing to approach me…

At this point, my dream takes another perspective and stops falling and shows the view behind me as I fade into the distance. Then followed by the mammoth piece of building… then flashes to a street level where you see chunks of rock bounding off the base of the building, which is about 25 stories tall in itself. I don’t see where I land.. I only get to see the carnage of dust and smoke as the top half collides with the base and destroys both and then causes the rest of the building to crumble behind it.

09/22/2003

Posted on 09/22/2003
Copyright © 2024 Aaron Howard

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