The Atrium

Sadie looked around the ruins of the Winter Garden Atrium in the financial district of downtown Manhattan. She remembered as a child her father would take her there for shopping or a bite to eat. Now…it had been only a shadow of itself. There was an eerie feel to it, as if it would come alive and the metal framing of the greenhouse like dome would become tentacles, coming down, reaching for her. It had a waterfront view. Tall palm trees in the center if it all. She often questioned how palm trees could grow there.

‘Dad said this is just a giant greenhouse if you think about it.’ She felt Dorian walking around nervously. It was then, after an hour of walking about that he spoke, “This makes no sense…why would your father want to come here if not to meet someone? And maybe that person is dead…just like everything else around here.” His hands balled up into fists as he paced then unraveled his fist, stretching his fingers wide as he continued to pace, “Makes no sense…none of this does…Sadie are you listening?”

There was a sinking feeling as she watched him. She nodded slowly as she said, “Yeah…I heard you.”

Sadie looked down at her feet. They were booted with Doc Martens…beat up, dirty and still functional. She moved her foot and noticed the marble tiles on the floor that use to look so pretty and shiny were now shattered, lifted, discarded and she could feel…soil.

‘This must have been where the palm trees were.’ She thought as she had been standing in the center of the atrium. No palm trees stood. From what she could tell through the dirty mask was they hadn’t stood for some time. It had been years since anyone had seen a living plant. She began to think about everything unraveled and led her to this point. The world fell apart and she honestly did not know what caused it all. She just remembered being rushed by her parents. She figured they had a game plan.

“What did your Dad say to do here?” asked Dorian as he looked around them. Feeling uncomfortable with how quiet everything was, and that no one noticed they were there.

“He didn’t…” She saw Dorian snap his neck in her direction. She swallowed the lump in her throat, “I don’t know what the key is for.”

“Are you serious?” he close the gap between them as he stared into her eyes hoping she had been joking with him. But her silence, and that look she had on her face told him that she actually wasn’t kidding. She didn’t know what the next step was. “All the running…dodging bullets…almost getting ourselves killed to get here and you don’t know what that key goes to or what the hell to do now that we are here!?”

Sadie could see the disappointment in his expression. But she exhaled when he turned around and sat on one of the steps leading to the abandoned stores. They had been walking for hours. Her legs throbbed as she removed her backpack and let it hit the ground. She slid down, her back against one of the broken columns. It felt good to sit. She stared at her sweatpants, she thought for a quick second to take off her faded Hofstra University sweatshirt, but it was still pretty cold out. But her mind, her heart was in a whirlwind of emotional turmoil. Did her mom or sister know what to do once they got there? Or did her father fail to tell them? Maybe he didn’t have time to tell them. Everything happened so fast.

“Dad said he had an idea to make things right. He said he knew people that would help. From day one we were to get in the car and head over here. “Sadie paused as she took a deep breathe. We were in the range rover when shots were fired. Jasmine and I were sitting in the back, Mom and Dad up front. Dad was hit but he kept driving. As Mom screamed and cried he said he had to get us to the bridge, there we could run across, get to our spot…he would stay behind to keep them busy.”

Dorian looked up. Her voice was still muffled by the mask. But he knew what she had said. He wasn’t sure if he was up for hearing about any of it. He had met her family before when they dated. This was hard to hear. He was still trying to figure out why they were there…and how dangerous was it for them to stay there.

“He gave my mother the necklace and said it was up to her to get it here. That’s when more shots were fired…that sound…of the glass…of it hitting him…he didn’t move. I stood there…unable to cry…unable to make a sound…For a moment…I thought I had gone deaf…my Mom pulled me out…she pulled Jasmine out…we hid here and there…but as you know we were by the Barclay Center when you came to our rescue.”

“A lot of good that did…your mother was beaten to death and your sister stabbed. I didn’t do anything.” Muttered Dorian.

Sadie furrowed her eyes. “Mom defended us…if not for you…Jasmine would have gotten the same raw deal my Mom did. You at least gave me and my sister time…to say goodbye. I didn’t get that with Mom or Dad.”

Dorian shook his head, “She bled out…she gave you the necklace…we are here…all for nothing.”

“Then thanks for nothing.” She replied bitterly,” And why did you do it? Why did you come with me?” asked Sadie.

“What? What do you mean?” he asked puzzled by her question, “To help you of course!”

“Was it really to help me Dorian?”

“Of course, it was!”

She nodded as if not believing him. He heard a slight chuckle as she slowly slid the mask off her face. “So your constant nagging about the necklace…you didn’t decide to tag along to see when it was a good time to take it from me?”

He had a look of surprise on his face, whether it was because of what she said of removing her mask was unclear. Dorian shook his head, “Sadie you’re talking crazy…you’ve been through a lot…you are paranoid! But your mask on before you get sick!”

“Am I? Am I paranoid? Oh right the mask…what’s the point…we don’t even know if the filter is good on these masks. ”

“Don’t make me tell you again!” sneered Dorian. His thin lips pursed together as his jaw flexed as he held his jaw tight. Sadie tilted her head like a dog hearing a high pitched sound. Was he…threatening her? She laughed and this seemed to anger him more. He rose from his seat on the stairs and rushed towards her. She immediately stopped smiling. She rose from her spot in time to meet his charge which slammed her hard against the column.

There was a gasp from both of them their eyes wide, fear present in them both. His mouth hung open and his labored breathing had begun to fog the mask. As he began to slump to the floor he looked down at the knife Sadie had imbedded in his stomach.

“Oh My God…” she muttered. He had this look of disbelief in his eyes. She was horrified, “I didn’t mean to…it was…reflex…I…Dorian.” She slumped down with him as he slid the mask off his face so he could try to breathe better.

“You stabbed me…I just…wa…wanted you…to put…on your mask.”

“I know that now…you came at me…I thought you were out to hurt me. I’m so sorry!” She rushed to her backpack looking for something to try and help him. Dorian groaned as he now pulled the knife out crying in pain. She rushed back to him as she had a spare shirt in her hand. She lifted his bloodied hoodie and could see his baby blue T-shirt was stained in blood, when she lifted the T-shirt a perfect puncture wound had been oozing blood at a steady pace. She pressed the shirt against the wound with some pressure which caused him to fold in a fetal position in pain.

She kept pressure on the wound but stared at him speechless. She did not intent to stab him. She knew the wound was bad, if you didn’t die from a wound you would die from infection. The world had dwindled down to bones and rubble.

“Damn…that’s cold…I help you get here…the least you could do is tell me what the key is for.” Stuttered Dorian.

“I told you…I don’t know…” Sadie just shook her head slowly, “…Jasmine told me to take the necklace to the Winter Garden Atrium. What she did know was the necklace…the locket belonged to my grandmother… it had been in our family forever…but no mention of the key was made.”

“I’m gonna die…and you can’t be upfront with me.”

“Forgive me…I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”

Dorian coughed as tears streamed down his face, “I know something Sadie…” be smirked as he cringed at the pain in his abdomen. He motioned for her to get closer. She leaned in while whispering in her ear, “You will die a lot quicker than I will.”

Dorian suddenly impaled Sadie with the same knife in the stomach. Except now he tried to drag the blade up her abdomen. She screamed so loud that she now began punching at his stomach, reaching frantically to find his wound and sink her finger into it. He whaled for a few seconds before letting the knife go. She kicked herself away from him as he turned on his other side, weeping and moaning from the pain.

She tried to get to her feet but the searing pain kept her from doing so. She crawled away from him as far as she could before she lay a few feet away where she dropped her backpack. She pulled out the knife and kept in in her hand, if Dorian tried to attack her she at least had a small chance at defending herself. She rested her head on the backpack while watching Dorian whom didn’t move.

Never could she imagine an ending such as this. She could feel blood spilling down her side. There was a silence around her that made her think of her father. She would be dead soon. She would find her father, Mother and Sister on the other side. She reached for the chain hidden underneath her shirt. The silver heart locket ‘clinked’ against the key.

She now looked at the heart shaped locket. Up until this point, she never thought to open it. The idea of finding a picture of her mom, dad and sister excited her. Her bloodied hands gently opened the locket. Out fell seeds. She looked confused. There were two compartments on each side, for two pictures, yet there was none. Only seeds of various sizes. Her left hand-picked up the bigger ones, her right hand picked up the smaller ones. “They died…for seeds.” She muttered as tears streamed down her face. She tossed the seeds out of her hand; they didn’t land far.

The Atrium was silent. Sadie felt betrayed, guilty, alone…and afraid. The pain was becoming a numbing sensation. Her thoughts slowly faded with fond memories of her family. Of how the world once was.

1 Year Later…

“Dad…DAD! Look!” a boy motioned for his father to head his direction. He tried to be careful over the rubble that had piled up against all of the walls. “Matthew...Wait be careful!” said the salt and peppered haired man that followed his son into the Winter Garden Atrium. He stopped in his place, mouth hung open as he saw a real life garden, practically glistening from the sun above. The boy pulled a tomato from one of the vines that had been growing around one of the columns.