Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1

Chapter 2

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A new Tom Hanks movie has been released and it is playing in our cinema. I like Tom Hanks as an actor. He stole my heart with his role as Forest Gump in the movie that carries the same name. It’s a film that is timeless. I watch it every year.

His new movie is called Sully and it’s about a plane crash on the Hudson river. I watch the trailer on my phone. The movie is right up my ally. The reviews are great aswell.

In two years you can learn allot about a person and I know for sure that Bianca doesn’t like movies that make her feel too anxious. I’m not sure if she will like this one. I decide to do the right thing and ask her.

“Would you like to see the new Tom Hanks movie?” I said.

“What’s it about?”

“He plays the role of a pilot but the trailer is a bit vague about the story.” I said truthbendinglishly.

“But Clint Eastwood is the director!” I added quickly.

“Ow, I like both of them. What time does it start?”

“It starts at 19:00, so we can leave around 18:30.”

"Perfect! I'm already looking forward to it.”. She said. ‘’Now give me a kiss.’’

This went better than expected. I feel slightly guilty but then I remember she made me watch the Big Friendly Giant and I feel less bad. Worse movie of the year.

“Do you fancy doing anything else today?” I ask her.

“No, I just want to chill, I’m tired.”

“Great, then I can spend some time behind my computer relaxing as well.’’ I thought.

I sit down behind my computer in my office. It’s the place I probably spend the most time in. Not only for work but also for fun. I like to browse the web, watch movies and write in here.

I painted the room yesterday for the first time in 12 years and I can smell the paint that is barely dry. I always thought the room was perfectly white until I painted it. My mother used to smoke in this room and I never realized how yellow the walls had become. I should have painted it allot sooner.

The light that now enters from the window on my left seems much stronger than before. It bounces of every white surface. It makes the room feel bigger.

The computer is turned off. I bend down and press the big power button on the top of the case. The computer fills the room with a small buzzing noise.

The computer has one of those new SSD drives that makes it boot up insanely fast. The two big monitors in front of me show my desktop in under 10 seconds. I should put one in Bianca’s laptop I thought. She will love me for it. I make a small mental note.

I fire up Google Chrome and realize I cannot read the screen properly. The light in the room is too strong. I turn up the brightness of my monitors to counterbalance the light. It works.

Microsoft changed my starting page to MSN again and now I’m staring at pictures from 9/11 instead of Google. It takes me back instantly.

I can’t believe it’s been 15 years already. I still remember coming home from school. I must have been 16. I opened the front door and my sister is watching TV in the living room. This was weird because normally she is always in her room upstairs.

She screams: “Mark come here, you have to see this!”

I go to the TV and sit down on the couch. I recognized New York and the iconic World Trade Center. One of the towers seems to be on fire. Allot of smoke is rising from that tower. I have no idea what’s going on.

My sister explained that a plane has entered the building. It’s a huge accident.

Then the second plane hits the other tower not long after.

I never left that couch that day.

Seeing those images again after 15 years brings a shiver down my spine. Not only by the raw brutally and sheer horror of the images but also thinking about how much the world has changed in those 15 years. Allot of innocence was lost that day.

Below the main article is a story about the falling man. The picture is enough to grab my attention. Reading the story makes me sick. The sheer terror of being on top of that building with only two options, burning alive or jumping down. I think I would have jumped as well.

Suddenly my phone rings. I pick it up from the table and see that it’s a client, mister van Hoorn. I don’t like it when they call me one a Sunday. I pick up anyway.

“Hi is this Mark?”

“Yes, this is Mark”

“Hi Mark, this is mister van Hoorn, you know me, I live in the big red building near the shopping mall”

I know him. I have known him for 6 years. Every time he calls me he tells me that I know him. But this time, he sounds even more nervous than usual.

“Hi, mister van Hoorn, what can I do for you”?

“My computer is acting up. I don’t know what to do. I keep getting these warning messages and my mouse won’t work’’.

Mister van Hoorn is always stressed when something is wrong with his computer. Like the world is about to end. I don’t want to help him now. I worked the whole week. It sounds like it can wait till Monday.

“Don’t worry mister van Hoorn, I’ll come around tomorrow morning and we fix it together. Just turn the computer off for now. Hold the power button for 10 seconds”.

“I don’t want to turn it off it needs to fucking work!”

I don’t think I ever heard mister van Hoorn swear in all the years I have known him.

“Why can’t this wait till Monday”?

“I’ll pay triple your normal rate if you just come over here now, I need your help”. “NOW!”

“What do the warning messages say?”

“I can’t tell you over the phone, I’ll see you in 20 minutes”

He hangs up.

He knows I’m intrigued. He knows I can use the money. He knows I’m coming even though we didn’t confirm anything.

“I have to be careful with this one.” I think. “He is starting to know me too well.”

I left the house 10 minutes later…

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