It's a typical day in my life; or is it?
It was an early morning, in fact earlier than I would normally like to start. I knew I had the business meeting in the metropolitan center for 10:00 am. Traffic around that area would be brutal so I had decided to take the subway. It was both an economic and common sense decision. If I drove; I would be using gas, taking more time, paying for parking and worrying about wear and tear and accidents. The subway would cost about one tenth the total driving cost and I would have the freedom of relaxing and of arriving literally on the doorstep. Simple economics and common sense.
Shower, shampoo, makeup and dressing were all completed in record time for me. I really wanted to have time to enjoy my coffee. MMMM - one coffee and a small cream cheesed bagel down and ready for the second cup of delight.
I was doing good until I started the second coffee. Then that cold shiver passed over me. Some say it's when someone has walked over your grave. Now, I ask you, how can one have a grave when they are still alive? Yet it was a perfect choice of words to describe the feeling.
Immediately after the shiver I felt a pressure on my shoulder. As if a hand were grasping my shoulder. I shuddered and twitched my shoulder away. I finished my coffee, rinsed the dishes and dried my hands. I grabbed my tote bag, my purse, my jacket and my keys.
When my hand touched the door knob I felt the presence of a cold hand on top of mind, making me draw back. This occurred three times before I was able to grab and turn the knob and leave the condominium.
I made my way to the subway which was about two blocks away. I still had that uneasy feeling. Not quite a fearful or queasy feeling; but more like an erie uncertain feeling. My train pulled into the station within minutes. I really disliked having a gray day feeling on a bright sunny day. I settled in my seat and decided to read while my mind clicked away the stops. I knew I had twenty-seven. Most people read or even napped.
I glanced up as we pulled out of number twenty-five. I couldn't shake the idea of getting off at twenty-six. I kept thinking that I could get off and grab a coffee for take-out and walk the short distance to the center. I glanced at my watch and knew that I had more than enough time. But did I really want coffee. I had had the second cup at home, did I need a third. My mind rationalized that although coffee would be served it would not be as delicious as the one I could pick up. As we pulled into Twenty-six I felt as if I was pushed and pulled out of my seat and to the door. I felt harsh cold hands pushing and pulling. So for my peace of mind I departed.
I entered the coffee shop at the top of the escalator and placed and paid for my order. I had put my elbow on the door to push outward when I felt a wall of cold. It was a wall I could walk through and if felt like it was pushing me backwards from the door. I bumped into the man behind me and I turned to apologize.
Immediately I felt the door shake; in fact, the store front shook. A dark cloud ascended the escalator and stairs from the station below. People were scrambling. People were screaming.
I learned a few minutes later via a news broadcast that station twenty-seven had slightly collapsed and the fallen concrete had caused the train to derail. About a dozen passengers had died and hundreds were injured.
I could have been in those numbers if not for my ghostly guardian angels.