After glow

After glow - Short story

Water pooled in my eyes, it was getting hard to see, I was never very good at staring competitions, but I was not letting that stop me from staring at my watch until the hands hit 5:30pm – that's when I finished work. It was a perfect day, clear skies, no rain, and no fog! Clear skies forecast for the whole day meant that a breathtakingly beautiful sunset was scheduled for approximately 6pm. The problem was, I worked at an office on the top floor of a 40-story building in the middle of San Francisco, and getting all the way across the extremely busy city to the beach in time to see this very special sunset was going to be a hard and slow process.

I jumped about a foot when my alarm went off next to me – it was 5:29pm, I got out of my office in a matter of seconds having this moment planned out in advanced. I sprinted to the elevators and ran straight into the down button, knowing this was the quickest way without dropping all the stuff I held precariously in my arms.

"Hurry up!" I yelled irritated at the elevators and like they heard me the closest one arrived. To my disgust the building's cleaners had used up the whole lift, and I couldn't squeeze in.

"Arhhhhh!" very aggravated now I dropped my unnecessary belongings on the ground in the middle of the walkway with a loud thump and burst open the fire escape door. I sprinted down the stairwell taking two steps at a time, hoping that my bad coordination skills wouldn't let me down. After about 7 flights of stairs, I was so exhausted that I collapsed onto the cold concrete, trying hard to catch my breath. My ears pricked like a dog when I heard a ding, the elevator had stopped on the floor I was currently on. I scrambled awkwardly to my feet and pushed open the fire escape door, out into the 33rd floor office.

"Wait! Hold the lift doors!" I yelled across the room startling many employees in the process. I reached the elevator and smiled with delight when I was safely in and resting against the handles, that was until I saw basically all the floors had been lit up on the elevator panel.

"You've got to be kidding me" I huffed and slid down the glass, landing uncomfortably on the dirty elevator floor, I put my head to my knees and closed my eyes for a second trying not to scream. I took a glance at my watch not wanting at all to know what the time was, but I had to know. My heart immediately sunk like a rock being thrown into a pond, I was too late, I wasn't going to make it. This sunset was special, exactly a year ago from today my fiancé proposed to me just as the sun was dipping. My need to see this particular sunset was heightened as my fiancé was currently overseas working abroad for months and I was missing him terribly, the thought of seeing our sunset was what kept me going. I couldn't believe I was going to miss it.

No. This isn't me. I don't give up; I fight until the very end. It was in that moment that I decided to keep going even though I had a very slim chance of making it in time. Extremely determined now, I stood up just in time for the elevator to reach ground level, I marched out of that building like I owned it.

A blast of frosty winter air greeted me the second I stepped out into the chaotic city, my hair whipped angrily across my cold face. The smell of hot chocolate and waffles drifted through the air, tingled my nose, and instantly made me close my eyes. My boots echoed as I stepped steadily down the sidewalk, I wrapped my coat tighter around my waist while shivering uncontrollably.

After I had ran for as long as I could, caught the cable cars for a few miles, then jumped on a ferry across the river, I was finally only a block away from the beach. Happiness started to rise inside of me, and a large smile spread across my face.

I walked around the last building only to find the sun gone beneath the horizon, I can't explain the sadness that fully engulfed me. After all of that, the sunset was gone.

"Did you come to see the sunset?" a middle-aged lady with sunglasses and dark brown hair asked me.

"Yeah, last year my partner and I watched it together and just as the sun dipped over the horizon, he proposed to me. That was the best and most magical moment of my life." I told her, my voice was full of pain.

"That's too bad, it was truly spectacular." She gloated and I couldn't stand talking to her anymore, so I walked up closer to the beach and rested on the railing where the pathway met the sand. The large crowd that had gathered to see the sunset was slowly disappearing and soon enough I was the only person still standing there. The sadness from before had gone leaving nothing but an empty pit in my stomach. I turned to leave and start the walk back home when an unexpected blaze lit up the sky, I looked up confused but in that second my emotions came flooding back. I was laughing now; pure happiness overcame me and nothing else mattered. Deep rich red, smooth silky orange and a soft supple yellow swirled together in an unbelievably gorgeous picture-perfect after sunset glow.