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Picture your typical street. It doesn’t have to go very far, you just need to see the shops and the road and the pavement and all those things. It’s full of people, all of them looking like little ants scattered about, running from one place to another in a packed little area. Among these people is woman. Do you see her? She’s got sunglasses on and a yellow bandana that covered her neck. Confidence radiates from her, and you watch as she struts on the pavement in these impossibly tall heels. Zoom into her. Doesn’t have to be nice and slow, a crash zoom will do you just fine. You got that? Okay, good.
Before I continue, there’s something you need to know. Whatever happened wasn’t my fault. I mean it. I just happened to be there to witness it.
Now, pan the camera a little behind her. That’s me, the short guy with the brown jacket, pushing and shoving through the crowd of people. I can’t tell you what I was in a rush for, I can hardly remember. All I know is that I put my hand on her shoulder and shoved right on past the woman without so much as an “excuse me.”
Then, I turned my head around, back towards the woman. I don’t know what possessed me to do it, I just did.
It’s hard to describe the next few moments. I’ve played them over and over in my head, trying to make sense of it, but I can’t put the words together to make you see what I saw. Whatever I write will not be what happened.
The simplest way I can put it is this: the ground opens up and swallows the woman whole.
You might think that I’m talking about a sinkhole here, and you’d be wrong. Sinkholes don’t open up as fast. They don’t close back up within seconds either. Sinkholes leave traces, destruction, chaos, whatever you want to call it. She was completely gone, and the sidewalk is the same as it had always been. She didn’t even produce so much as a squeak as she fell. She was there, then she wasn’t.
It wasn’t even like the pavement came alive. There were no teeth or tongue to which to swallow her with.
The worst part I think was the non-reaction from the surrounding crowd. No heads were turned, no one had even batted an eye. A few people even walked over the very area where the pavement split.
I think I stood there and stared at that little spot for what felt like ages. The event itself wasn’t even frightening at that moment. I was confused more than anything else. It was like my brain couldn’t quite process the way that cement had shifted.
I don’t remember what came in the moments after. I don’t think I want to keep remembering this. Please don’t make me repeat myself.