The Collapse

Albert woke up to the sound of his ringtone blaring. He slowly opened his eyes to check his phone, and lo and behold, it was Lana calling him. "Hello?" he answers groggily.

"Are you at the airport? Please tell me you're there, I cannot have you being late again!" Albert winces at the volume of her voice. She seriously needs some anger management.

"Uhh, no... I just woke up. Wait, is it time for me to leave already?! That was today?!" His eyes widened at the realization.

"Are you serious?! I thought we talked about this last night! What were you even doing up so late?!" Her tone shifts from bewildered to accusing.

He remembers what he was doing up so late. He was playing Pro Skater with his best friend, Jake. He remembers the way his voice squeaked when he laughed. How his eyes crinkled when he smiled. His chest feels warm thinking about it. He snaps himself out of his reverie.

"Um, I was hanging out with Jake!" he hurries out. Lana lets out a huff.

"So you're prioritizing your friend over your literal girlfriend?" Albert hears the muffled sound of a man's voice in the background. "Wait, who was-"

"SHUT UP! It was nothing." Lana scolds him before he can even finish his sentence. "Just hurry up and get to the airport already!" Before Albert gets to question her any further, she hangs up, and he sighs. He doesn't know if it's from disappointment or genuine relief, ever since she moved across the country her personality has drastically changed. What was then a caring girlfriend is now a manipulative shell of her previous self.

Dejectedly, he gets up and starts preparing for the airport. However, he forgets to look at the time... and little does he know, he's about to avoid an American tragedy.

He swings his bag over his shoulder, and just as he places his hand on the doorknob, he looks at the TV. And his blood runs cold.

"Kim, just a few moments ago, what appears to be an airplane crashed into the South tower of the World Trade Center," a news reporter frantically announces.

Suddenly, everything goes silent. He feels a ringing in his ears. He's all too aware of his hand on the doorknob. His mouth hangs open, chest swelling at the realization of what just happened. That could have been me. His breaths go shallow. Almost instinctively, he reaches for his phone and dials the one person closest to him. Jake.

The phone rings for a few seconds, but to Albert, it feels like hours. Finally, he answers. "Hey, Albert, did you see what happened?" Albert feels ever so slightly consoled by the sound of his best friend's voice. "Y-Yeah..." He breathes out. "I... I was-" He's cut off by the sudden laughter of his friend. That sound he used to love so much, suddenly turned disturbing. "Dude, that's crazy! Haha, I can't believe how serious everyone's acting about it..." It hurts to hear him sound so happy about this. And the worst part is, he knows that Jake's smiling in that way that makes his eyes crinkle. He can feel his heart breaking.

"Jake..." He says, voice shaking.

"Hilarious, right?" Jake says over the phone.

Albert feels his body tense up. He knows he can't let him keep acting like this. It simply hurts too much.

"Jake... I was supposed to be on that flight." He says, voice stern, yet quiet.

The call is silent for a minute. Albert can hear his heart pounding out of his chest. For a second, he thinks that maybe he hung up, but no. It's just that quiet.

"Dude, I... I'm sorry, man... I... fuck... I didn't... I didn't know."

"So you only care now? You don't care about all the lives lost just now?" He bites back.

"No, it's not like that... I just-" He can hear the anxiety rising in his voice.

"You just WHAT?!" He yells, and he doesn't even realize he's crying until a tear drop falls onto his phone. "This isn't a joke. This is a real tragedy. Don't talk to me until you've grown up..."

"Albert, please." Jake pleads.

It hurts Albert to do this to Jake, but he knows that it hurts way more to hear him joke about all the poor victims. "Goodbye, Jake."

With that, he hangs up. And he stops holding his tears back. He starts sobbing into his hands, unable to control his grief. As he wipes away a tear, a string of words heard from the television freeze him in place. A second plane has hit the towers. Albert's gaze flits to the screen, holding onto each word that spills out of the news reporter. A part of him hopes, prays, that this is all a joke. Some kind of sick prank. Yet the footage keeps rolling and smoke keeps streaming from the now flaming buildings. Nauseous and knowing he can't talk to Jake about this, he dials Lana as a last resort. The phone rings and rings, and just as he's lost hope, she answers. Over some indiscernible noise, Albert hears Lana's shouting. But she isn't shouting at him.

"Goddamn it! He probably couldn't get on the plane in time, and we can only plan so many terrorist attacks! Do you think he snuck onto the other plane in time?" Albert's heart sinks to his stomach. She was plotting this all along? His train of thought is interrupted by more clamoring. "Osama! Are you even listening to me right now?!" He feels sick. His girlfriend is cheating on him with the founder of al Qaeda?! Albert feels alone. Two of the people he loved most have just betrayed him, he feels he can't trust anyone.

Jake's POV

For the past half hour, Jake has been pacing around his home looking for ways to repair his most valued friendship. Gifts are pretty much out the window at a time like this, nevermind a cake. Albert talked about wanting to play Counter Strike in the past, but it seems in bad taste considering. You know.

He tries dialing Albert, but his finger falters everytime he attempts to press the call button. Was what happened really that bad? Is Albert overreacting? He shakes his head, as if to expel these thoughts from his mind. Maybe Jake should hear him out for a moment. He rushes to his bathroom and looks in the mirror. You can do this, Jake. It's just the World Trade Center. He steadies his breath and finishes up his peptalk. You have to fix this.

He reluctantly takes out his phone and begins typing out Albert's phone number. Again. It's engrained into his mind at this point. Ring. Ring. Ring.

"What do you want." Albert deadpans.

"I want to apologize."

TO BE CONTINUED...