Free Falling into Forever by Tammy Turner Page B

a relaxing spin in the park. But Jack had sensed another big storm coming before Alexandra had even heard the first clap of thunder. His short bulldog legs were in full gallop by the time the first swift winds picked up. She ran behind him, his leash burning into her hand. Approaching the park’s exit, he reared to a stop as the concrete pathway spilled out to the busy intersection.
    While they waited for the traffic light, her gaze drifted up to her tenth-floor balcony, and the first drops of the afternoon shower splashed in her face. In the sky above, dark clouds rolled in quickly.
    â€œMom will be worried about us,” she told Jack, holding his leash tightly.
    Behind them, a crowd poured from the park to avoid the oncoming rain and gathered on the sidewalk, waiting for the light to change. While Jack panted impatiently at her feet, Alexandra listened to voices around her making dinner plans and movie dates. As the time passed, the crowd became a full-fledged throng of people. To avoid getting claustrophobic, she kept her eyes on the passing traffic.
    â€œThis light never takes this long to change,” she told Jack as he whined. Tossing a shy glance to the gathering crowd behind her, Alexandra’s eyes searched for the handsome guitar player.
    I guess this isn’t the best weather for a concert, she sighed to herself, unable to catch a glimpse of him.
    As she bent to soothe Jack’s head, a girl’s enraged voice from somewhere in the swarm behind her yelled, “That’s what you get, Bobby Higgins. I hate you!”
    Someone in the crowd must have stumbled into Alexandra, because she abruptly fell forward into the street. A car horn blared as she lurched helplessly into oncoming traffic. Tires squealed against the pavement. She winced as a sharp pain pierced her arm. A tight grip yanked her shoulder back and nearly out of its socket. Her heart pounded and roared in her ears, but a pleading voice echoed above the sound of her racing heartbeat.
    Be careful! a man’s voice said.
    Alexandra’s eyes opened wide and stared back at the shocked faces of the crowd gathered around her. “What happened?” she asked, sitting up. Jack jumped into her lap and licked her face sloppily from forehead to chin. She realized that she had let go of his leash.
    A chubby, towheaded toddler, squeezing his mother’s hand, looked at her and held his sippy cup up to her face. “A tall man grab you,” he said. “Want some juice?” he offered.
    â€œA man? Where did he go?” Alexandra asked.
    â€œThat way,” the boy pointed east down the sidewalk, his hair blowing furiously in the approaching storm.
    Alexandra raised herself to her wobbly legs and strained her eyes over the crowd. “I don’t see anyone,” she said.
    â€œMaybe he fly,” the boy suggested. His mother picked him up in her arms.
    â€œMaybe,” Alexandra nodded her head, noticing that her sunglasses had fallen to the road.
    â€œSay ’bye, Joshua,” the boy’s mother told him. “He can be silly sometimes,” she said, smiling warily at Alexandra.
    â€œBye, bye, bye,” said the boy as his mother walked with him across the intersection. Waving goodbye, Alexandra watched the boy flap his arms like wings as his mother carried him.
    Hours later, Alexandra’s heart was still racing as she tossed and turned, wide awake in bed. Jack was next to her on top of the blankets. The bold, red numbers lit up on her alarm clock warned her that it was already three in the morning. Only a few hours remained until dawn, the first morning of her senior year.
    She flicked on the bedside lamp. Jack, in response, buried his head under a pillow. Pulling her Uncle Joseph’s journal from the drawer in her bedside table, she flipped through the pages until she landed on a handwritten entry, the ink faded against the yellowing pages.
    October 20, 1944, 18:00
    Winter has set in early in