The girl pulled away from the boy. It was sunny out, bright, but with that hard light the sun sometimes casts. The trees swayed in the wind, a few leaves falling to sprinkle the ground with their dying, bright colors. The air was warm, slowly turning crisp and cold with the coming season. Autumn.
The girl checked her watch. 11:57 am. Maybe if I left early this time…
She sighed. “Hey, Jared, I’m sorry, but I have to go. Maybe we can meet up later?”
The boy, Jared, smiled. “Hey, it’s no problem. I know you have, what was it? Housework to do, right?”
“Yeah,” she said, absentmindedly. She checked her watch. 11:59 am. I have to leave now…
“Well, see you later!” she said. As she stood up to leave, he grabbed her arm and gently pulled her down into one last kiss. She lingered, letting the feeling course through her body. One minute later, her alarm on her watch went off.
“Oh crap…” The girl abruptly turned and ran from the guy, jumped onto her bicycle, and peddled furiously away.


On the other side of town, the man, the mailman to be exact, had just skipped his last road, and instead turned towards the city. He passed some road kill in the street with recent flies buzzing around it. He gazed at it for a moment, then turned his attention back toward the road. A little girl was playing with chalk up ahead of him. He leaned his head out the window and shouted out to her.
“Hey! Watch out for that car!”
The little girl looked up at him, then noticed the car screaming down the side road to her left. She jumped back up to the sidewalk, and the car passed by, harmless. The mailman continued towards town. As he drove, an idle thought crossed his mind. I wonder if I will live today?


The girl checked her watch. 12:05 pm. Right about…now. She walked through the doors of the bank. Everyone was on the floor, their hands on their heads. The bank tellers were lined up, against the wall. One of them was missing. So were the bank robbers. The girl stepped over people in a practiced path, one that she could probably do with her eyes closed, now. She stepped over to a large potted plant, and crouched behind it. 12:06 pm, the robbers came back from the vault. A mail truck pulled up in front of the bank.


The guy sighed. How many more times will it take? He stuffed some random letters in his pocket, and grabbed a baseball. 12:07 pm. Showtime. Shouting came from inside the bank.


One of the robbers started yelling, something about not enough money. Is it ever enough? she wondered. He grabbed a bank teller, and threw them to the ground, pointing his gun at the teller.
“Five…four…three…two…one…” whispered the girl. “Here I go.”
She grabbed a handful of dirt from the plant, then sprinted over to the guy with the gun pointed at the teller. She punched him as hard as she could in the shoulder, spinning him around with the force of the blow. She then abruptly threw the dirt into his eyes, and dropped to the ground as a gunshot from another robber fired.


The mailman burst through the doors. The girl was on the ground, and next to her was the robber with dirt in his eyes. He’s lucky it isn’t Lysol this time…the mailman thought. He reached into his pocket just as a gunshot fired, and threw the baseball at the robber across the room. It hit him right between the eyes, and he went down with a thud. The mailman then walked quickly across the room, and jammed his letters into a door that led to the vault. It would only hold for 30 seconds. Behind him, the girl had grabbed the huge potted plant and was struggling to push it in front of the letter-jammed door. 15 seconds…The mailman ran over to the girl, lifted the pot, and planted it firmly in front of the door. From the other side came the shouts of men.


“We did it,” said the girl. The mailman was looking at the door, a smile on his face. The rest of the robbers were trapped behind it. “We actually did it this time!” She threw herself against the mailman, and he wrapped her up in a brotherly hug. They spun around a few times before stopping, and simply stood in an embrace. “I can go home today,” she whispered. The mailman tightened his grip, then sighed. “Sorry Crissa, it looks like not today.” The gunshot fired. A robber had come through the fire escape. He had been keeping watch in the ally. Both the girl and the mailman fell, the gunshot cutting through them both. She stared at the mailman, feeling her life quickly leave her. Then she sighed.
“I thought for sure I was going home today,” she whispered.
The mailman smiled. “Don’t worry, we’ll get it right.” He glanced at his watch. 12:13 pm. The farthest time they had ever made.
“See you in a few minutes,” she said. Then she closed her eyes.


The girl pulled away from the boy. It was sunny out, bright, but with that hard light the sun sometimes casts. The trees swayed in the wind, a few leaves falling to sprinkle the ground with their dying, bright colors. The air was warm, slowly turning crisp and cold with the coming season. Autumn.
The girl checked her watch. 11:57 pm. She stood abruptly. “Goodbye Jared,” she said to the boy, before dashing off to her bicycle, and peddling furiously away from his confused look.


On the other side of town the mailman had just skipped his last road, and instead turned towards the city. He passed some road kill in the street with recent flies buzzing around it. He gazed at it for a moment, then turned his attention back toward the road. A little girl was playing with chalk up ahead of him. He leaned his head out the window and shouted out to her.
“Get out of the damn road!”
She jumped back onto the sidewalk out of shock, and a car passed harmlessly by her. The mailman sighed. I wonder if I will live today?