Not the City You Knew

I had been walking. I could've sworn that I was walking along the Hudson River. I could've sworn that the sun was setting over my right shoulder, disappearing into the mist that hovered over Hoboken, leaving a lone clocktower silhouetted against a dirty horizon. I could've sworn I'd turned off the music I'd been blasting, to give my mind more space to wander. I could have sworn I was there, I knew I had just been there. 

Then how can I be here? 

I was still in the city, I knew that much, I was lucky enough to recognize the intersection of 55th and Lex. I sat huddled up next to a corner of an old synagogue… but it was dark out? Dark enough to be late at night, way darker than it should've been on a summer evening. What the hell? I pressed the heels of my hands against my face and my eyes darted back and forth as if they could help my mind see how all this happened. But there was nothing. It was just a dark night. And I was alone.

Alone and probably looking pretty crazy, sitting on a street corner damp with the warm night's humidity. I must've been resting there for just a few minutes, but nevertheless it had been long enough to start getting some suspicious looks from the few passersby on the nearly empty street. 

What time is it exactly? How many hours could've passed in my lapse of memory? I looked around me again feeling lost even though I was sitting in my city, and only five feet away from the street sign that told me exactly where I was.

Priorities. I reminded myself. Figure out what happened. I gathered myself as I stood up, a bit wobbly, but no worse for wear, and started walking west towards 5th ave as that was my usual safety route when it was late and I wanted to get home. As I walked, I took a mental check on what I had on me, wondering if it could clue me in on what was happening. I was still wearing the same clothes that I had been before: denim shorts and a white shirt that I had tied at my waist. I knew definitively that I was still wearing the wedges that set my ankles high above the street as I stumbled on the uneven pavement. I also still wore my favorite necklace, a simple, small lightning bolt on a thing gold chain, and I still felt the comforting rectangle of my phone in my back pocket, so I was confident enough to assume that I hadn't gotten in to too much trouble.

It took a moment for the realization to dawn on me, but as soon as the gears shifted inside my strange and weary brain, an impulse I can't name sent my hand flying towards my back pocket.I whipped out my phone and furiously typed in my passcode as I prepared myself for the slew of missed phone calls and caps lock texts that I was sure awaited me. But as I stared at the screen of my phone I was met with a suspicious lack of red alerts. In fact, there wasn't a single text from my parents since I had let my mom know that I was going for a walk and she told me to "Have fun and be safe". That was at seven o'clock. I looked at the time on the top of my screen. 1 AM. 

So that was five hours ago. 

Before I was worried. Now I'm just scared. 

I dialed the home phone number, but I only hear the empty call tone signaling that my phone can't find the number I'm looking for. I called my mom, frantic at this point, but there's no answer. I call my dad, my brothers, I leave texts begging someone to respond to me, but nothing is getting through. All my calls "cannot find server." All my texts are "undelivered". I start to walk a little faster down the street, fighting to hold back tears, hoping I could find someone to help me once I got to a more populated area. 

I keep walking, concentrating on staying as calm and collected as I could when my entire world seemed to have abandoned me, when I heard footsteps behind me. I'm not afraid, it's a big city, it's not like I'm never going to have to share the street, but I put on my game face nonetheless. It's late. I'm alone. I can't afford trouble.

"Hey baby, why you walking so fast?"

Fuck. I harden myself against the gaze that I can feel against the back of my legs and keep walking.

"Hey, I'm talking to you."

And I'm ignoring you.

"Come on beautiful, how about a smile?"

No.

"Just a little sumthin' babe…"

The second I feel his hand brush against the hem of my shorts, my entire body goes into red alert. I don't even bother to look at his face as my left hand grabs his wrist and I turn myself around to deliver a sharp blow to his sternum with the heel of my right palm. It's what I was taught to do. It's how I was told to defend myself. This kind of attention was normal. It was commonplace. It was expected. What wasn't expected, however, was the jolt of electricity that ran down my arm and through his chest as my hand came into contact with his sweat streaked shirt. 

Suddenly, he went flying backward, his expression as shocked as his body had been. And he landed firmly on his well tailored ass, his hair sticking up at all angles, about ten feet up the block. Our eyes met for a second and a half before we both ran like hell away from each other. 

Truth be told, I don't know who was more scared in that moment. I ran until I reached Park avenue where I let myself crumple against the corner of a white building. My eyes were too wide to paint any tears down my dropped jaw and my chest was heaving from the surprising amount of energy it had taken to run the two and a half blocks. I stared at my hands in horror. Panic gripped my chest as my heart beat faster and faster, the fear raising from the soles of my shoes. This stuff doesn't happen, I remind myself. This cannot be happening to me, how could this be happening? This stuff only happens in stories, in— in pretend!

I rested the back on my head against the building behind me, relying on it's support as my mind reeled. And that's when I see it. I'm surprised I didn't notice it when I first rounded the corner. A tower just barely taller than those around it. A tower that was NOT supposed to be there. A tower that did NOT belong in my city, but a tower I had seen before. A tower with a single shining A on top. And the single horrifying realization shook the fear and panic from my bones, only to replace it with complete and utter shock.

This stuff only happens in movies.

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The world around me seemed to spin. I didn't know how this could be possible. I searched for a justification. Could the fans really be this crazy? Has it actually gotten to the point where they can build the FREAKING AVENGERS TOWER overnight? 

"Excuse me ma'am, are you alright?" The doorman from the apartment building a few yards away brushed the top of my shoulder to steady me as I slid down the base of the concrete building. His question lingered in the air between his worried gaze and my dizzy one. 

"Ma'am?"

I tried to shake myself from the sirens in my ears. I shook my head slightly to hide my misting eyes and scratched a grin across my cheeks. I laughed lightly, trying to sound more like a tired teenager than someone who was currently debating the state of their sanity.

"I'm alright sir, I was just a bit dizzy from running" I tried to reassure him.

"You were running ma'am?" He asked me, the worry that had disappeared from his face for the briefest of seconds had returned with a vengeance. He gripped my elbow to help support me against the wall. Apparently running at this time of night in heels and cutoffs didn't imply "hearty workout" but instead "probably being chased". I winced. I had to be more careful.

"Oh yes, see I was just worried that I was out too late and my… uh…" I didn't think it would help him to know that I was only seventeen, trying to get home to my parents. "My roommate might be worried! So I was trying to hurry back home."

"Oh," he relaxed a bit. " Would you like me to call you a cab? Get you home faster?"

"Um," I hesitated. If no one was answering the home phone and there is suddenly a brand new tower in the middle of my city, how could I know that anyone would be at home? There seemed to be no guarantee about anything at this point.  Maybe I should ask him for help? "I think I'm fine for now actually. Now that I'm on Park, I'm only a few blocks away. Thanks so much for your help though!" I added with a winning smile as I got to my feet. Going home would mean being at least an hour walk past the Avenger's Tower, but it was doable. Not to mention the fact that I didn't have any money on me to pay for a cab. 

"Alright, ma'am, have a good night" he tipped his hat and turned to return to his station under the navy blue awning next to the gilded double doors.

I got to my feet, taking an extra second to balance myself on top of my shoes, and started walking south, down Park, towards that shining tower. I gave the helpful doorman a polite nod and wave as I passed him, and he replied with a slightly confused, but comforting smile. But as I turned my head to face the tower once more, I could just catch him shaking his head, his eyebrows knitting together with an air of incredulity set on his face. I raised my chin, walking with manufactured confidence as I put him and the awkward encounter behind me.

The AvengersTower stood before me exactly as it had in the movies, tall and proud, framed by the rows of buildings lining Park, in exactly the place that the Met building had occupied in my memory. It sat in the center of the avenue, with two tunnels running through either side of its base. 

It's taller than I thought it would be. 

As I walked, I tried to asses possible theories to explain my current situation. The most reasonable at the moment was that this was a parallel universe. A bit of a cop out, sure, but there wasn't really anything else to make of the situation. Although the "multiverse" concept had always seemed believable to me, its reality was hard to wrap my mind around, but who was I to go against Neil deGras Tyson and Stephen Hawking? Besides, any other ideas seemed equally— if not more insane. Obsessed fangirls building a skyscraper in the middle of manhattan in a number of hours with no press coverage? Not likely. Not to mention the fact that I could now produce lightning from the palms of my hands. They didn't exactly cover that in biology. Not at the high school level at least. You picked up your pace, only two blocks away. So I'm in a parallel universe. Without my family. At least I think. My feet slowed for a second. How could I be sure that my family wasn't sitting in their apartment waiting for me? Maybe my phone just stopped working. Stupid! How could I just assume that I wouldn't be able to find them because I couldn't text them? I thought. I whipped out my phone again— this time searching for the number for my building. I read it and then read it again, muttering it under my breath like a prayer. I scanned the street for the nearest doorway, letting my eyes linger on the Avenger's tower for an extra second, entranced by its existence. It will still be there when I get back. I think.

I scurried into the nearest building, the Waldorf Astoria, and launched myself through the golden doorway. I walked with as much calmness as I could muster towards the information desk, and smiled politely at the middle-aged lady behind the slab of marble.

"Excuse me miss, could I please make a call?" 

"Of course," She lifted the phone over the counter before giving me a quizzical look, "Is everything alright miss?"

"Oh yes, everything's fine, my phone just died."

"Alright, miss," she said, the creases of confusion smoothed over by a calmer, happier expression. She pressed a button in the lower right hand corner of the phone, "You may dial the number now."

I dialed furiously fast, my finger flying over the numbers. The fingers of my left hand tapped aggressively against my thigh in nervousness as I waited for the phone to stop ringing. I fought to keep the rest of my body as calm as possible, not wanting to alarm the lady at the desk again. 

"Hello, 24 5th avenue" I almost cried with relief as the familiar accent of my doorman rang through the speakers of the phone. 

"Hello, could you please put me in touch with the residents in apartment 4C? Mr and Ms (YLN)? They aren't answering my calls."

"4C?" His accent was laced with confusion.

My heart sank. "Yes. Apartment 4C?"

"I'm sorry miss but that apartment's been empty for the last few months. Its last resident moved out a few months ago. A lovely woman, her grandchildren bought her a condo down in Florida."

I felt my heart pour into my stomach.

"Oh, how nice," I tried to keep my voice from shaking as the brief hope I had held out filtered through his last words. "Well thank you very much for your time, have a good night sir."

"Goodnight miss."

I handed the phone back to the receptionist with a shaky smile and a shaky hand. She regarded me with a similar expression, her smile racked with concern at my less than successful sounding call.

"Are you finished with your call miss?"

"Yes, all done, thank you"

"Would you like to call anyone else?"

"No thank you ma'am, I heard everything I needed to."

"Alright then."

"Thank you ma'am. Have a goodnight."

"Are you sure you're alright miss?"

"Yes"

No.