ives

I saw a man die no less than an hour ago.

Here in Long Beach, there are a bunch of residential high rises lining Ocean Blvd. One of these is, "The Galaxy Towers". It's about 20 stories and it's comprised of four towers ,sharing a core, making the shape of an X. I live right down the street so I always drive by Galaxy and it's become really something I dont even notice anymore.

Tonight, we went to George's, this really awesome Greek restaurant down in Belmont Shore. We had a great meal and after we were good to go, we headed on over to Blockbuster to get some movies for tonight. We were driving down Ocean back to our apt when we saw a barrage of fire trucks and police cars soon block our way. We stopped directly in front of Galaxy and through the sunroof I could see black smoke coming from the 18th floor of one of the sides.

I pulled over so that we werent in the middle of the street and we got out... as morbid curiosity quickly took over. At first, it was just a fire. From what I could see it was just a section of windows that were spewing out flames and embers. What gets to me is how even with smoke overhead, people on the lower floors were looking up! Like, get out! I was looking up at the building and I could hear the glass shattering and see flaming debris rain down. What looked like a small fire soon became so much more; the apt above started to catch fire and I could see the orange start to appear in the apt above. It was so strange to see all these empty apts with lights on, tvs flashing, and even some people still lingering about.

I, then, walked over to see another view and to my dismay there was a man standing on his balcony on the 18th floor. There really isnt anything to describe how this felt; it was so surreal to see a man screaming while everyone on the ground screamed back,

"Lie down! Lie down!"

It was so fast. He was standing there with smoke billowing behind him when the flames just shot out and all the glass exploded. He started to scream for help and three seconds later he threw himself over the balcony. It was agonizing to see him up there but when I realized that he was jumping....I screamed along with all the neighbors and everyone on the ground. He fell so fast and all I heard was a loud thump. At this point I became hysterical because I had just seen a man die. It is the most surreal thing because Ive seen people die in videos and things like that, but when it's there in front of you, it's beyong something you can quickly process. The panic in his voice and the screams that followed chilled me to the core. This poor man woke up today not knowing he was going to die.

How fucked up. It was the most horrible thing I could ever see. I broke down and called my mom because I didnt know what to do or say. Everyone on the street below was screaming and in complete shock. Soon after the apt started exploding glass and shooting more debris farther out in all directions. The street was swarming with emergency vehicles and soon they started moving us out and barricading the area. It was if the street was full of refugees; everyone in bath robes or Pjs staring up at this mess.

Anyway, the car was blocked in and we were unable to move it so I will have to deal with this in the morning. We live right down the street so we just walked home. It really hasnt sunk in so Im a little shocked right now. It's all over the news and it's just really sad. I feel so bad for that man that died; I dont even know what he must have been thinking but I hope, for his sake, that is was quick in the end.




Story

R.I.P.