My Little Bombshell - Short Story

Part 4: The Parade

We found a spot right across the street from the Sears Tower on South Wacker Drive. You could hear little kids all around asking "Where's daddy?!" Waiting for their fathers to pass by. There were American flags waving everywhere. The barricades in front of the sidewalks had red white and blue banners hanging across them with the message "Welcome home, soldiers!" in red.

A few minutes later, we heard the marching band play, as the band turned the corner of Randolph and North Upper Wacker Drive. The crowd started cheering and showing their support, while waiting for the floats to pass by. They had all different designs and colors for their floats, which I found interesting, considering some floats weren't as patriotic as others. They had soldiers on green dragon floats, biker floats with bikers riding around the float, floats designed as pirate ships and floats designed as tanks.

About 20 minutes later, Chase was standing on his seat inside a jeep with the driver of his float heading towards us. His was a more patriotic red, white and blue float. He smiled at me from 100 feet away. I smiled back. He seemed to enjoy the sound of the crowd. He laughed when he looked around. When he got close to the Sears Tower, he grabbed his head, looked down and crouched over the windshield. I shouted out his name, hoping he would tell me he was okay. The driver stopped and checked on him, but he wasn't responding. Then he started staring at his hands, He stood up and his arms stuck straight out. His palms opened like an electronic door and his fingers folded back onto his arm. The driver proceeded to get up and tackle him when he fired two missiles into the Sears Tower, causing it to tumble, killing hundreds inside. As soon as the soldier speared Chase to the ground, a bomb set off inside of him. Metal shards, blood and body parts splattered everywhere, from both Chase and the soldier who drove. The explosion sent us flying back. My father caught a metal shard in his throat. My mother had a shard in her eye. I had a few in my arm. We were all sprayed with blood. It was horrific.

While I was in the hospital, the president claimed the enemy got a hold of Chase and planted a bomb inside of him without his knowledge. He said his medical records showed no signs of any device in his body. So it was possible the device hacked their machines. Even after that press conference, one side of the news claimed Chase was in on it all along, while the other side claimed he was cloned and that he was an android. I'd like to believe Chase died over there and this was his soul's way of saying goodbye to me, before all the chaos occurred. My father came in my room to visit. I was so happy to see him. Tears fell from my eyes as we embraced. I didn't get hurt much. Just had metal shards in my arm that they had to remove and I was in shock for a bit. He didn't talk much because of his throat injury, but he was alive. He said my mother survived too, she was just getting surgery for her eye.

I will miss Chase, he was my first love. I never met anyone who was so dedicated to making me smile.

After I got home from the hospital, I went to my room, shed a tear on the Forever Roses bouquet he got me and sprayed them with my rose perfume.