It was Monday, October 21, 2019. The yellow taxi cab screeched to a holt, and Destinee snatched her two bags for the day, one on each shoulder. She grabbed the taxi handles and pulled it towards her as fast and graceful as she possibly could, looking out the windows to check if the streets were cleared of any persons walking pass. She jumped down onto the grey and concrete, and into the fresh city grey air. The sun was hidden within the clouds and the sea of rushing individuals swayed unevenly as each person created a pathway to their destination. Suits, ties, blues, greys, whites, and browns left and right – like ants, getting their meal for the day. Destinee dodges all the oncoming traffic of humans, gracefully upright making her way to the office for the 9:30 am start. She arrives at the front of the 11 Wall Street building and pause to look up at the tan building almost scrapping along the sky. On the building was a brilliant set of colors – the red, white and blue cloth that saluted her as she walked in. It reassured her that there is a better, stronger future that lies ahead of her tedious hamster wheel job.

Katie took a deep breath as she stood in front her childhood home. She hadn’t been there for nearly a decade. After her parents passed away she sold the house. It was finally back on the market again and she had a change of heart. She was ready to start a family of her own and what better way to start it than beginning where she herself did. The house on the outside was just the same when she was a child. It was wooden and painted a pale blue which was chipping away. A little work and it would be good as new. Katie had reservations though. The neighborhood wasn’t the same as before. Just looking around gave her goosebumps. She hated how quiet the area was. Once filled with children laughing and playing outside she now had an eerie feeling. The neighborhood felt almost abandoned. The grass grew high not only in her home but the neighbors too. Katie wasn’t one for gardening, in fact she shivered at the thought of her even holding plow sheers. She belonged behind a desk.

She searched her bag for the key she collected from the old owners a day ago and proceeded to enter the house. The brown doors let out a creaking noise when she pushed it open. The pale, wooden floors copied the same sound when she stepped forward. She stood at the door to take a good look at the place. She was standing in the living room. It was dark and the air was dusty. She could tell not much living went on from the last owners. The house smelt like moth balls and bubblegum cotton candy. She walked over to the huge windows that faced the front yard and drew back the heavy beige curtains. The new light coming in made the room look even dustier. Katie looked around again now that she could see better. Although the previous owners had taken most of their furniture they left the things they didn’t want. For the first time Katie noticed the various paintings of sad clowns on the walls all around her. She quickly made her way out of the living and into the kitchen praying that the theme wasn’t a reoccurring one in any other part in the house.

The kitchen was probably the most best kept place in the house. It looked nothing like when she lived here as the previous owners had renovated it a couple years ago. The wooden counter tops were now white marble and the cupboards that were once green were white too. While it looked beautiful there was a part of her that wanted to revert the room back to its original way. As she stood there she started to remember the many times she sat on the counter top begging her mom to let her go to the mall or to some party that all her friends parents let them go to. But her mom never gave in ever.

After looking around the house Katie knew renovations were going to take some time but she really wanted to bring life to her old home. She was excited to begin but made a mental note to hire gardeners to fix the outside. She would not be stepping foot in the backyard until she could see her toes when she stepped onto the grass.

Just a regular day on the four train; or so I thought. The campus is between Bedford Park  and Kingsbridge Road train stations. My Monday classes however, are closer to Kingsbridge than Bedford. So as you can imagine, I’d get off there. Today, Id never wish I’d been further from somewhere in my life. As we pulled into the station, I heard a loud thump. “Did somebody drop a large item on the track?”, “Did somebody jump in front of the train?”, “Did someone fall in front of the train?”; All these questions raced through my mind as we awaited an announcement over the loud speaker. As everyone rushed off the train, I heard a woman yelling “one creep at a time  mamacita”. Who/What is she talking about? Looking over my shoulder, I saw a little girl creeping out slowly from under the train, and two men helping her come out safely. I found out that a man had jumped in front of train 4187 with his daughter. I’ve never hated Kingsbridge more than today. 

Making his way down 5th Avenue, towards Central Park, Dante felt meh. How could he have been so stupid as to fall for this again? When will he ever learn? 

He passes The Plaza, an enormous building that reeks of splendor and glamour. He watches the bellboys help a group of laughing, fur-clad women with their monogrammed suitcases. Men in suits stand scattered around the steps of the hotel, smoking cigarettes. Dante suddenly stops and just stares at all the activity. How different would life be if he was able to live that carefree and oblivious to struggle?  A sudden yelp from a very small and hairless dog awakens him from his dazed moment, and he abruptly continues to walk. 

Crossing the street and narrowly avoiding getting hit by a dingy, yellow cab, Dante walks briskly pass the many horses and hot dog carts lining the entrance to Central Park. Hot dogs. Those were Josh’s favorite BBQ food. What an asshole. Absolved to forget his troubles for a bit, Dante enters the park and sits on the first bench he can find. The wind has picked up, making the late afternoon colder than expected. Golden leaves begin to fall all around him, as pigeons coo in the hopes that some stragglers might divest themselves of food. Letting out a huge sigh, Dante takes a look around and notices all the different kinds of folks. You have your runners, with their bluetooth headphones on, running to the sound of the beat in their ears. The stroller clad mothers, probably heading to meet up with friends. The older gentleman, drink his coffee while walking his dogs, who weirdly look just like him. 

Dante closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and says to himself, “You’re gonna be just fine.” 

And for the first time in a while, he believed it.