Shinsou Hitoshi

Stopping someone from committing suicide

You were standing at the edge of a tall building. You could see the city buzzing below you, all those people just living their lives. It wasn't the good side of town, and everything looked a bit disheveled. Like the top layer of the city had been torn off and it had revealed all the ugly that bubbled beneath the surface.

"Huh" you sighed.

You got distracted again. It seemed to happen so often nowadays. You just didn't really care enough to pay attention to much. Not school, not work not anything. All of it was such a mess. Your head was a mess, or at least it had been. Now it was weirdly quiet, like an eerie calm before the storm hits. A final moment of peace before there would be nothing at all.

No one was usually at the roof, this was the one place he had to himself, and now there was some random person standing on the edge of his roof. Was it someone who just like it up there or was it someone who was there on another more tragic cause? He had seen a few like you before. Jumpers. He had just forced them to walk back to the street level, and let them make their own decisions after that.

"Hey you" you heard a voice from behind you say.

"What the-?"

You felt yourself go weirdly blank.

"Walk down to the street with me" the boy said.

You had no control over your body, and you felt yourself move to follow him. You tried to stop yourself from walking down the fire escape, but your legs didn't do as you wanted them to. You just followed the purple haired boy, all the way down to the ground level. When your feet touched the ground, you felt in control again.

"What the heck was that?" you growled at the dude, not sure if you were angry or tired, or both.

"Can't have you jumping of my hanging spot"

"I wasn't going to" you argued, not knowing if that was really a lie or not.

"Well good then, if you have no need to go back up there, you can walk with me", he said surprising himself from the proposition.

"What? Why?" you questioned.

"Well it's better than standing on the edge of some tall buildings, right?"

This stranger seemed weird. He had tired eyes, much like your own at times no doupt, but his had a glimmer to them. Something you didn't remember seeing in your own eyes in a long time. He was faschinating in some way. He seemed, like a distraction.

"I guess, but let's end our walk here, at the same spot"

"Fine with me" he shrugged.

You walked with him. He didn't talk much, but he listened. He listened to you rambling on about little things, and things that mattered more. He didn't say much but what few words he said seemed sincere and oddly comforting.

You ended your walk at the same spot you had started at, the bottom of the fire escape.

"So, are you gonna climb bavk uo there?" he asked, pointing up towards the edge of the building.

Were you going to? You had been so sure about it before. You'd been sure it would end today, and then this stranger appeared. This stranger who just listened.

"Nah, I'm too tired to drag myself up those stairs again" you joked.

"Good then... Ya know, it might not change today or tomorrow, but one day it'll hurt a little less" he said as he turned away.

"Thank you" you said quietly.

The purple haired boy disappeared into the mass of people. It's not that he had made you feel much better, but he had helped a bit. That little bit stopped you from climbing back to that roof again, so for today, that little bit was enough.