What if?

Chapter One

~January 9, 1999~

"Have a good night, Sir." The bartender offered a plastered grin in his direction. He made an effort to nod back and trudged toward the door. While he was inside, the rain had picked up to a light sprinkling. He groaned softly under his breath. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he nudged the door open and stepped out into the rain. He walked several yards down the road, all the time muttering Gina's name and a string of witchcraft spells he'd learned while "researching" for one of his books. It was her idea to have him write this book. She had been the one to suggest going down to lower Manhattan. He glanced at his watch and realized on a normal day he'd be home right now tucking in his precious little angel. He stifled a chuckle, knowing she'd want him to read a bed time story and, even though she was only in kindergarten, she'd pick a higher level book for kids three or four grades up.

"Are you sure you want THESE books? Will you understand them?" He had questioned when she gleefully raced back to him on her stout little legs one day while on their routine trips to the library.

"Yes, Daddy. Yes!" She squealed in delight.

Rick now let out his laughter, but quickly recollected himself, seeing two thick-muscled men glaring at him. He cleared his throat and briskly kept walking. He kicked an old soda can further down the road and saw a pile of overflowing trash three yards away. He lined it up and gave the can a nice boot in the direction of the trash. It clattered over to the pile and nestled itself between two garbage bags.

'Let's see,' he thought to himself. 'Research, study the area and the people in it...'

Maybe he'd make one of his characters have to come down here and get into a bar fight.

'Study, study, study...'

An elderly lady walked alone with her groceries on the opposite side of the road. He debated going over to help her, but thought she might think he was trying to rob her.

'Plus she can probably punch better then I can.'

Two stringy looking teens sat hitched against the wall smoking something Rick couldn't make out. He walked another yard and saw a gorgeous woman walking too. He then noticed a man seeming to walk straight for her. Rick paid no attention to the man at first, thinking maybe it was someone she knew. But it was when he saw the man unsheathe a knife from inside his long trench coat jacket that Rick started running at him.

Rick watched in horror as he realized there was no way he could get to the man and stop him. He surged forward, trying to reach the woman, trying to call out to her- to warn her.

"Behind you! Behind you! Watch out!" Rick spit out, pointing frantically like a madman. The woman saw him and turned. She threw her arms up defensively as the man plunged his knife deep in her kidneys and twisted it. The woman fell limply against a wall and a dumpster as the man jerked the knife out of her.

Rick raced up to the man and threw a running punch clumsily at him as he was about to stab the woman again. Rick, carried by momentum, pitched forward and fell on his knees and hands. He made sure to make his ghostly self come back and haunt Gina for making him research here. The man with the knife regained himself and towered over Rick. A thought seemed to cross the knife man's mind and he pulled a hat further down over his face and fled in the opposite direction.

Rick, gasping for air like a fish out of water, remembered the woman and clambered over to her.

"Ma'am? Ma'am?"

She lay crumpled, leaning against both the dumpster and wall, clutching her abdomen. Blood seeped out between her fingers and stained her sky blue blouse. Rick's stomach churned at the sight of all the blood.