All Of Me

Chapter 16: Explosion

I stood in my bedroom, staring at my reflection, and sighed. I wasn't supermodel pretty, not even close, but I wasn't hideous. I was short, slightly overweight, with curly brown hair. I knew there must somebody out there who would want me, someone who would find me beautiful, but I couldn't help but wonder why Sal didn't want me. My heart clenched at the thought of him and shook my head. I decided then and there that I wasn't going to dwell on him anymore. If he didn't want me then he didn't want me. Today was the day that I got back on my feet.

I walked into the bookstore where I worked and smiled at my co-worker and best friend, Sarah. She hadn't even noticed that I had come, probably thinking I was just a customer. I walked behind the counter and looked over at the book that she had been reading.

"Whatcha doing?!" I exclaimed rather loudly in her ear.

She jumped up, dropping the book and turned to look at me. She glared at me and then gave me a hug.

"It's good to see you out of bed," Sarah said.

"Well, I didn't want to get fired," I replied and put my bag away. "And I decided that I was done moping about Sal. I need to move on."

My heart tightened in my throat. I didn't want to move on but I knew that I needed to. She smiled at me and soon we got to work. It was our lunch break when I smelled something funky, that was the first sign that something was wrong.

"Do you smell that?" Sarah asked as she sat neck to me in the breakroom.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what that-" I was interupted.

A loud explosion filled my ears and I felt myself being thrown back. My whole skin was on fire and so was the rest of the room. I could hear Sarah calling my name but my vision was starting to fade. I had two thoughts before my world turned black: I was going to die and I would never see Sal again. Sal. Sal.

The darkness of death is like the evening twilight; it makes all objects appear more lovely to the dying.