HISTORY OF THE END OF THE WORLD

SiTU ACADMY (introduction 3)

Laura's work started at ten and she had found a nice room in a beautiful, medieval merchanthouse. On her way to work, she passed several small shops, with cheap art, clothing, jewelty, records and books. At this time of day, the streets were quiet and she could take all the time, she wanted to shop with her eyes. She was standing in front of an antiqueshop, where they sold mostly African art, when suddenly the world seemed to explode.Laura was hit by the blast, which knocked her to the ground. When it became silent and the dust settled, Laura saw that a bomb had destroyed the front of a leftwing bookshop. Books and papers lay all over the street. What was left of the doorway suddenly burst open and a man, dressed in black, stumbled out and looked around with bewildered eyes. In a split second he made a decision and started to run in her direction. Instinctively she hoped he would make it, but seconds after he started running a uniformed guy ran out of the bookshop and started shooting.

The fugitive got hit in the shoulder and fell down. All of this happened right in front of her eyes.

When the victim hit the ground, his eyes locked with hers. It couldn't have been more, than a split of a second, but Laura felt that he was giving her a message. A new round of gunshots broke the spell. The wounded guy stumbled to his feet and disappeared into a small alleyway.

Laura lifted her face from the ground and she only heard the sound of multiple footsteps pursuing the stranger. When all seems quiet, she got up to brush the dirt from her clothes. She had to hurry, to open the coffeeshop in time to welcome her first customers. She looked at the place, where the fugitive had fallen. Next to some traces of blood lay a wallet. Nobody seemed to pay any attention, when she picked up the wallet and put it in her purse.