One Plus One Plus One... (655 words)

One stick of dynamite was the primer that would key the explosion; the bomb itself was about the size of just one empty soda can. That was all it took when you dealt with antimatter; just a few specks of the stuff and the dynamite to break the containment container it was housed in. But that's not important. In today's world things get blown up all the time and only the reasons matter afterwards. Sometimes its to make a political statement; other times its just some sicko following the off time beat of the song in their broken heads. Sometimes you can't pull the curtain aside and even come up with a reason at all but Ava had her own very personal reasons she wanted to see that damn tower fall.

It had been about two years since her old life had died. Since anything and everything she'd ever cared about was taken from her and all she had left was one bloodied baby's sock. Two long nightmare years since her baby died and she'd spent every night crying herself to sleep while the word why seared itself into her being.

It strange how life can do that to you, to any of us. She had been pushing her newborn in his stroller on a walk to the park at the end of the street when it happened. Out of nowhere one of those fancy new autocar's had ran the intersection and hit them. Well hit him, her poor baby, god in his infinite wisdom hadn't done her the favor of taking her too.

In the whirlwind that followed she discovered the driver had been the drunk playboy son of the billionaire owner of NovaCorp based right there in downtown in a giant glistening pyramid of glass and steel that rose so high it seemed to touch the stars themselves while it casts it's dark shadow over her gray days and nights.

Then to make matters worse her grief blossomed into white hot rage as over the next year high priced lawyers and spigots of money got that bastard who destroyed her life off with probation and even tried to cast blame for the accident on her. Really there was only so much she could take, that anyone could take. It took another year to put all the pieces in place. She'd seen and done things over that time that the old her would never have believed possible, nor even condoned for that matter. In fact if they could have met for a moment she doubted they would even recognized each other if they passed on the street. But all that was water under the bridge now so to speak. Today was the day that bastard and his cruel heartless father would pay. Today was the day that they were both in town for business. Both of them locked in their dark tower thinking that their money and power would protect them from anything and everything even from responsibility. Maybe it would most days but not today and never again.

Taking a deep breath she cinched her leather jacket closer and walked thru the rotating door into the atrium of the tower. She could feel the hard cool lump of the containment container pressing into her side. She could feel the soft lump of Darren's sock in the left pocket of her old jeans. She could feel the hard plastic of the detonator in her hand. She steeled her nerves as the hard echoes of her old shoes reverberated off the marble floor. Then as she approached the scanners and guards she smiled, a single tear of joy glistened in her weary hazel eyes. Taking a deep breath she pushed the detonator and as the explosion took her she pictured how that damn tower would buckle like one crushed up piece of aluminum foil and how even if nobody knew why it wouldn't matter anymore.