One Thing After Another

Wake up. Get ready. Go to work. Sleep. Repeat.

Mabel’s day never changed. She lived a mediocre life with nothing to look forward to. She didn’t have a boyfriend. She was too tired after work to hang out with friends, so she lost touch with them. And she didn’t have any living family. She was alone in every sense of the word, doing the same thing with each given day.

Today was different.

Today, Mabel woke up, and instead of leaving her bed right away, she lingered. Her head was flat against the pillow; her brown eyes peered at her bland ceiling, watching the fan blades spin around.

Mabel had a dream.

In this dream, she was lying down, eyes closed, and arms crossed over her chest. She looked like she was sleeping, which she was, but this was an eternal slumber.

Mabel was dead.

She was unfazed by her death, but the thin crowd honoring her final farewell made her feel pathetic.

Her palms slapped her face.

“What am I doing with my life?” she asked herself, dragging her fingers down her cheeks.

She shot up and watched the alarm that was about to go off; the nine-minute snooze was ticking down.

Within the last thirty seconds of the timer, Mabel made a decision.

She dialed up her boss, pressing the phone to her face.

“Hey, Mabel!” Her nepo boss cheered through the receiver. “I was just about to call you. Francine can’t make it to the office today. There’s something wrong with her kid. A stomach bug or something. She’ll be out for a few days. So, I’ll need you to present the product to the Hoffman’s.”

Mabel waited as he ranted, which he tended to do.

“Rick. I’m-”

“I don’t need to remind you how important this deal is to the company.”

“Rick!” she shouted, and he shut up. “I’m not coming in today.”

“…What?! You can’t just not come in?”

“Francine can.”

“Francine has a sick kid.”

“Uh…I have a sick cat. He’s projectile vomiting everywhere. I need to take him to the vet.”

Rick paused. “You don’t have a cat.”

Mabel rolled her eyes. “I haven’t taken a week, let alone a day off, in nearly three years. I’m overdue for a break.”

He grumbled. “Who’s going to go over the presentation with the Hoffman’s?”

“Oh, I don’t know. How about you?”

“Ugh. I’ll reschedule it for tomorrow. That way you can do it.”

This lazy son of a…

“Did I forget to mention I’m taking a week off?”

“Mabel! You can’t do this to me!”

“Rick. You’re the boss, you get paid to handle situations like these. Starting effective immediately, I’m on PTO. Don’t call me.”

She hung up as he was yelling through the speaker. She blocked his number before he could blow up her phone.

“Well, since I have a week off, I might as well enjoy it.”

Mabel looked up flights.

“Hmm…do I want Florida tropics or Colorado mountains?”

After eyeing her ghost-white skin, she picked the tropics.

“Let’s start packing!” She leaped out of bed, fists planted on her hips like a superhero pose. “I hope my bathing suit still fits.”

She dug through her closet and pulled out the suitcase she buried in the back. She tossed it onto her bed and started throwing clothes inside, shaking her curves as she screeched out a song that was stuck in her head.

Ring!

Mabel’s doorbell went off.

“Who could that be?” She pondered. “If it’s Rick, I’m going to sue for harassment.”

She slid on her kitty slippers and peered through the peephole. A man dressed in a plain, white shirt and pants stood at her door, box in hand.

He’s cute.

She opened the door. “Can I help you?”

“Morning, ma’am.” He had a smile that could blind someone. “I have your pizza delivery here.”

“It’s eight in the morning. I didn’t order a pizza.”

“Huh.” He chuckled, glancing into her house. “This is the address. It’s already paid for. Do you want it? I could bring it inside for you.”

What an odd thing to offer.

“I’m getting ready to leave for a trip. It’ll go to waste. You should keep it for yourself.”

Blue eyes stared her down. “What trip?”

His smile disappeared, and with it her ease.

Mabel began to close the door. “I gotta get going. Have a nice day.”

“Wait. You can’t-”

The door slammed shut, and she flipped her deadbolt. She squinted through the peephole, waiting for him to leave.

He rubbed the back of his head, disheveling his blonde hair. He pulled out a notepad from his back pocket, reading through it and checking his watch. His eyes shot up, and Mabel flinched, worried he could see her, but knowing he couldn’t. She didn’t breathe until he walked away, throwing the pizza box into the garbage bin.

Feeling dirty, she opted to take a shower. She dried herself off, got dressed, and finished packing up.

“Where is my bathing suit?!”

A tornado was released within her bedroom. Garments were flying about, and her dresser drawers hung halfway out, but there was no evidence that Mabel ever owned a bathing suit.

She scratched her head. “I could’ve sworn I had one. Oh well, I’ll buy one at the airport.”

Her suitcase rolled behind her as she locked up her house and walked to her car.

“What the hell?!”

Mabel jogged to her car and examined her flat tire.

“How’d that happen?” She poked at the flattened rubber. She lacked the knowledge to change a tire and didn’t have the time to fix it now.

That’s a problem for later.

“Taxi it is.”

She phoned the taxi service, and they sent someone right away with an estimated arrival time of ten minutes.

Mabel waited outside, soaking up as much vitamin D as she could, since she’d been deprived of it for years, locked behind the prison walls of her corporate job.

She sat on her porch steps, tapping her nails against her lip.

The lid to her garbage bin was left open. She found herself continuing to look at it as she waited.

I wonder…

She walked down her driveway. She fished the pizza box out of the garbage bin and opened the lid.

Mabel’s chest went hollow.

“It’s…empty.” Her hands shook.

Why would he deliver an empty pizza box?!

She searched her surroundings, craning her neck to see beyond the corner. She stilled her movements for something tall and white appeared in her peripheral vision. Her head eased to the left, to look at it dead on, praying it wasn’t what she thought it was.

Honk!

“AH!” she screamed. The pizza box sprouted wings and went soaring across the street.

“You ordered a taxi?” the driver asked after rolling down his window.

“Yes. Yes, I did.” She clutched her chest, seeing if her heart was still there, and she didn’t crap it out. “Let me grab my stuff.”

She ran to her suitcase and back to the taxi. That’s the most exercise she’d gotten since high school.

“Where are you off to, young lady?”

“Florida.” She perked up. “I’m hoping to find myself a cute, rich husband over there.”

“I heard half of Florida’s population is retirees. You could find yourself a sugar daddy.” His chunky belly jiggled at his joke.

“Ha. Ha.” Mabel distracted herself with her phone, hoping he’d take the hint.

I don’t go to work for one day, and the weirdos flock to me!

It’d been a while since the taxi moved. Mabel glanced up and saw a horde of cars surrounding her; all at a standstill.

“What’s going on?” she inquired.

He tapped on the GPS. “Looks like there was an accident. Delaying your arrival by an hour.”

“An hour?! I’ll miss my flight!”

“Sorry, lady. There isn’t anything I can do.”

Mabel checked her phone to see if there were later departures. There was one a few hours from now, but it came with an upcharge.

Nothing is going to stop me from going on my vacation!

She pressed the confirm button and accumulated the additional cost.

On the plus side, Rick must be drenched in sweat, struggling to sell the product to the Hoffman’s. Sucks to suck, Rick.

An hour later, she was at the airport.

“Thank you.” She paid the taxi driver and hopped through the sliding doors.

With the strange luck she’d been having today, Mabel wanted to check in her suitcase and get through security sooner rather than later. She’d prefer not to miss her flight again if she had the choice.

Mabel breathed a sigh of relief.

Her bag was on its way to the plane, and she got her pat-down over with. Now all she had to do was wait.

“I have thirty minutes to spare. Should be plenty of time to find a bathing suit.”

She skipped through the airport until she came across a shop that sold beach attire.

She flipped through hangers and jumped to different parts of the store. Her cheery attitude soured the longer she looked around.

“How do they not have my size?”

The store had every size that there could be…besides hers.

Mabel shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe I lost some weight.”

She picked a size smaller than her usual and went to the dressing room to try it on. After a minute, she ripped the curtain back with her upper lip curled and ready to burn the world.

There’s nothing more humbling than trying on something that’s too small for you.

“General boarding for Flight 323 to Miami, Florida, will now begin.” The overhead announcement went off.

“That’s me!”

Mabel sprinted out of the shop, weaving between a mom and her daughter.

“Sorry,” she called over her shoulder, receiving glares in return.

Her shoelaces untied, the knot falling loose with each step she took, until one of those steps caught her lace and she went tumbling down like a stack of dominoes.

“Ow.” Her knee broke her fall.

Mabel flipped over to witness the waterfall of blood gushing from her wound.

“Are you okay?” an older lady asked her.

“Yeah. It’s just a scratch.”

“That’s more than a scratch. Let me get someone to clean you up.”

“No. That’s fine. My flig-”

She flagged down a medic who was just so happening to walk nearby. “Over here. We need your assistance.”

Mabel fidgeted, checking the clock.

The medic carried over the first-aid bag and examined her wound.

“It’s not deep enough for stitches, but it’s a large laceration. I recommend you take it easy for a few days.”

Not happening. I paid good money for this trip. I’m going to enjoy it even if I have to gimp myself down the beach!

“This is the final boarding call for Flight 323 to Miami, Florida. All passengers must proceed to the gate.”

Aaahhh!

The medic was a sloth, slow in his movements. The amount of time it took to disinfect her wound and bandage her up, she could’ve run a mile. When he was done, she zoomed to her gate.

Her hands slammed on the desk, and she hunched over, heaving.

“I’m here!” She showed her boarding pass.

They scanned her boarding pass and handed it back to her.

“Ma’am. This ticket is invalid. This flight left three hours ago.”

“What?! No, there must be a mistake. I bought a new ticket for this flight.”

The flight attendant was used to people yelling at her. She had a stone-cold expression. “Do you have the confirmation code?”

“Yes, I do.” Mabel searched through her phone, but came up with nothing.

This is not happening?!

“I paid extra to change my flight. They took my suitcase. It’s on the plane!”

“Without a ticket, you can’t board. And at this time, boarding has ended. You’ll have to go to baggage check to file a claim.”

The flight attendant closed the gate, sealing her fate.

Mabel banged her head on the desk. “I should’ve gone to work.”

She stood up and turned, but stopped halfway.

In the distance, there was a man dressed in white standing in the middle of the walkway. He flipped his notepad closed, eyes pinched in crescent slits from his wide grin.

You’d think he won a gold medal with that stupid smirk.

Hobbling from her bad knee, she pulled herself toward him. At her wits’ end, Mabel shoved his shoulder.

“Why are you stalking me?”

He tilted his head. “Stalking? I wouldn’t call it that.”

Her lid twitched. “What do you call following someone? You were at my house. You were watching me while I waited for the taxi, and now you’re here. I’m going to get security.”

“That won’t do you any good,” he sounded sure of himself.

“And why’s that?”

His smile returned. “Because you’re the only one who can see me.”

Mabel’s double chin made an appearance when she reeled her head back.

He can’t be serious.

She laughed at the absurdity of it, but the humor died out when she saw the odd looks people were giving her.

She caught the wrist of a stranger passing by. “Can you see this man?”

“Get off me, you loon!” They ripped their hand free, running away from the crazy lady.

“Ho-how am I the only one who can see you?”

He checked his watch.

“It’s best to show you.” He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around.

“What am I looking at?”

The moment she finished her sentence, the quake reached the airport, shaking the building and vibrating the glass windows.

Outside, a plane exploded. A puff of smoke scarred the sky as debris rained down on the street.

“That was Flight 323,” he said.

Mabel, wide-eyed, gawked at him. “Ho-how-”

“How’d I know the plane was going to explode? Simple. I’m your guardian angel.” He held his arms out, imitating wings, and bowed.

Everyone was scurrying around the airport, hollering and screaming, while Mabel knotted her hair in her hands.

“So…all the inconveniences I had were because of you?”

“Precisely. I couldn’t have you dying yet. It’ll mess up my quota. You had me concerned when you deviated from your usual schedule. I feared that you’d passed prematurely, hence why I stopped by as a pizza delivery boy.”

Mabel swallowed. “Do you know when I die?”

He pulled out his notepad and read. “Your punch out of life isn’t due until next week.”

Her eyes dried out as she forgot to blink. “Next week!?”

“Yep. Seven days.” He tapped her forehead with a freezing finger. “You got yourself a nasty aneurysm, rummaging around in there. And don’t think you can treat it with surgery, it’s inoperable.”

His cold touch froze her to the spot.

“Count your blessings. At least you go out while you’re sleeping. Not everyone is so lucky. Look at the people on Flight 323, for instance.”