Short Story // Last Chance

Last Chance

They were standing there. Watching me. For hours. I could see them through the window. They made me feel uncomfortable. Insecure. Vulnerable.

I started work at 11am, he arrived at 12pm and stood outside for 6 hours. He hadn't moved or looked away. The closest he had come to that is twitching their head from time to time. His clothing consisted of a dark grey trench coat which was unbuttoned; drifting open in the shallow breeze, revealing a shaded blazer which was fully buttoned and paired with a striped tie. He wore plain black trousers which finished neatly just above the rim of his smart shoes. In his left hand was a small leather brief case and in the other a small object that glinted silver when the light hit it. On his head was a black fedora which shadowed and concealed his pale face.

I had, had plenty of time to examine his attire through irregular glances during quiet hours. It was 6:30pm. Meaning it was the end of my shift. I was one of the only people left in the café. My manager and I had to close and clean up the shop.

'Are you okay today? You seem a little...' She paused momentarily, 'Distracted.'

' Yes, yes I'm just a little tired, that's all.' I lied. As I was saying that, my eyes drifted to the window again, but the man seemed to have left. I sighed in relief as a fair deal of discomfort had just been lifted from me. We got back to work with closing the shop and then went to the changing room before heading home our separate ways. I wouldn't lie to myself that I felt uneasy about the journey that was to come.

I wrapped my scarf around my neck securely and put on my winter coat along with my leather gloves. When I stepped outside, I noticed a sudden chill in the air. I waited for my manager to follow me out the building. As she locked the door, she shivered loudly followed by muttering something like, 'It's a little chilly tonight, feels like snow is coming.' I agreed by nodding and bid my good bye.

During my walk to the bus stop, a few flakes of snow fell from the sky and drifted by me. As it was Christmas eve there was no one around and, as the snow set it became all the more magical. I began to realize how grateful I was to have such a comfortable life, although not the most wealthy, by far not the worst off. I looked around myself and saw nobody. My feelings then began to contradict with themselves and my contempt state of mind began to realize how alone I am in the world.

The snow on the ground was gathering faster and would be slippery for any vehicle to attempt to conquer. I reached the bus stop but there was still nobody around. I was all alone. I walked around the barrier to get some shelter from the harsh icy wind. I noticed that there was a report coming across a screen. It read 'BUS XXX CANCELLED DUE TO CONDITIONS'  I sighed deeply, releasing a cloud of vapour from my mouth. It spiralled and danced through the air until I disrupted it up in my passing, as I began my journey home on foot. Before crossing the road I looked in both directions, out of habit, just in case of traffic, although there was none.

And there he was. Again. Watching, just watching. He was in the direction I would have to take and there was no other way unless I wanted to add an extra 40 minutes to my freezing journey. Besides, who am I to judge a person I hardly know. I crossed the road hurriedly and restarted on my way home.

As I got closer towards the person my heartrate increased, as did my walking pace. I was close to a small jog before passing the man. As I did he whispered something to me. I couldn't hear it at first over my accelerated heartbeat and unsteady breathing. But the snow stopped, frozen in the air. My feet also, stopped dead in their tracks and my breathing hitched. As if my body heard but my brain did not. In the silence of the moment all I could hear was his pocket watch ticking away in his hand. Suddenly, I heard it. What he had said hit me. Hit me hard. Like a bus.

'You have to choose to wake up or not.' My face distorted itself it pure shock. I realised that this whole day had not been real. This world is not real. I'm not really here. My heels turned me towards the man. He removed his hat, allowing the snow to settle down on his slightly wavy black hair. He took an audible breath outwards but it was not visible in the cold air. He then went on, ' You're not here. You're still in the hospital. This is your last chance.' His voice was harsh yet soothing, unfamiliar yet familiar. I couldn't help but feel as though I had met this man before somewhere.

'Last Chance?' I queried. He slowly blinked his deathly dark eyes. 'Are you going to let yourself live once more, or pass in your sleep.' I was astonished by his bluntness. I stuttered out 'D-die?' he nodded his head, reached out his cold hand and as he placed it on mine, his pale lips muttered 'That's the right choice...'

I was tricked by death. We had met me before. Twice. Each time I had chosen life. But my confusion of the scene had lead me to leave everything. The moment his hand touched mine I recalled everything. All of my memories. Each encounter with death, my graduation, my wedding, my promotion, the day my child died, my husband and I divorced, my parents dying. The accident. The hospital. The heart monitor. I looked into deaths eyes as the flat line rang in my ears and the last thing I heard was his voice.

It was nice meeting you, again.