Hazael of Avriam was not the most attentive person.
He’ll be the first to admit that any day. It was just a fault of his that whenever he found himself engaged with just about anything, he tended to zone the world out, giving whatever task at hand his full and undivided attention. Normally, this wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, being able to say that he was “focused” and “dedicated” had been great additions to the nineteen-year-old’s resume. But this trait wasn’t so great when he needed to pay attention to his surroundings.
That was what he needed to do now as he stood at the crosswalk at the corner of Kings Street and Anchor Lane. It was a busy intersection especially with cars zooming by at all hours of the day and a crosslight that flickered just a bit whenever the number 8 flashed. That coupled with the empty warehouses nearby and lack of the foot traffic that marked the downtown of Hazael’s home city made it a rather uneasy place to be even in the broad daylight. It just carried an air of danger about it and if Hazael could avoid it, he would even though he had lived this city all of his life.
However, this was the only way home and the boy had crossed the street here thousands of times before. His stomach may naturally be in knots, but deep down he knew that there really wasn’t anything to be worried about. Nothing would happen here just like it always did. So, right after pressing the button to change the light over on Kings Street, Hazael pulled out his phone to answer a few texts that he had received since leaving his job a little while ago. Very quickly, Hazael became so absorbed in the task of figuring out something witty to say back to his best friend that he didn’t notice that things had changed.
He didn’t see it, but over on Kings Street, a stranger walked up to the light and also pressed the button to cross.
Hazael, who had yet to notice this, was so used to exactly how long he would need to wait before being able to cross the empty street didn’t even look up as the red hand changed to a white crossing signal. He just trusted the routine and started to cross the street, his eyes never lifting from his phone. Also as he was normally the one to use this intersection at this time, he walked right down the middle of the street… and right into the man who was also crossing.
“Oh shit, sorry man.” Hazael said drawing to a pause in the center of the street, glancing at the man to make sure he hadn’t done some lawsuit worthy damage. “You alright?”
He’ll be the first to admit that any day. It was just a fault of his that whenever he found himself engaged with just about anything, he tended to zone the world out, giving whatever task at hand his full and undivided attention. Normally, this wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, being able to say that he was “focused” and “dedicated” had been great additions to the nineteen-year-old’s resume. But this trait wasn’t so great when he needed to pay attention to his surroundings.
That was what he needed to do now as he stood at the crosswalk at the corner of Kings Street and Anchor Lane. It was a busy intersection especially with cars zooming by at all hours of the day and a crosslight that flickered just a bit whenever the number 8 flashed. That coupled with the empty warehouses nearby and lack of the foot traffic that marked the downtown of Hazael’s home city made it a rather uneasy place to be even in the broad daylight. It just carried an air of danger about it and if Hazael could avoid it, he would even though he had lived this city all of his life.
However, this was the only way home and the boy had crossed the street here thousands of times before. His stomach may naturally be in knots, but deep down he knew that there really wasn’t anything to be worried about. Nothing would happen here just like it always did. So, right after pressing the button to change the light over on Kings Street, Hazael pulled out his phone to answer a few texts that he had received since leaving his job a little while ago. Very quickly, Hazael became so absorbed in the task of figuring out something witty to say back to his best friend that he didn’t notice that things had changed.
He didn’t see it, but over on Kings Street, a stranger walked up to the light and also pressed the button to cross.
Hazael, who had yet to notice this, was so used to exactly how long he would need to wait before being able to cross the empty street didn’t even look up as the red hand changed to a white crossing signal. He just trusted the routine and started to cross the street, his eyes never lifting from his phone. Also as he was normally the one to use this intersection at this time, he walked right down the middle of the street… and right into the man who was also crossing.
“Oh shit, sorry man.” Hazael said drawing to a pause in the center of the street, glancing at the man to make sure he hadn’t done some lawsuit worthy damage. “You alright?”