The sky is grey, but it's not truly grey. The sky is clear and like so many things reflect what's around it. It's reflecting grey today, but it's been like that awhile. I'm not sure how long. Days? A week? It's been cloudy almost since the day it started, but it still hasn't rained.
It all started with a rhyme, a silly little thing--just words. I was on my way to some place, that you might have called important. Work or school – But I can't remember now. Memories have started to slip away, things that used to seem so important now lost and forgotten. I was waiting for a bus, it was grey just like today, and then I received a text. Giving the street one more look, to make sure the bus wasn't nearby, I checked my phone.
The number was unknown, so I clicked the sleep mode and forgot about it. I ignored it and got on the bus. The bus was full, or close enough for me to want to stand but I wasn't standing for long. With a sudden squeal, the bus lurched, and I was on the floor. A few fellow passengers helped me to my feet, but the majority were more concerned with what was going on outside on the street.
Drawn by curiosity, I tried to find a place in between the crowd to see what could warrant such a stir. An accident? Some sort of robbery or – Before I finish my thought, I caught a glimpse between the passengers – Red. Red on the pavement and I looked away before my brain could piece anymore of the image together. I didn't need it, I knew what it was. A body, once a person now just a pile on the sidewalk.
It was shocking, nauseating even, but only for the remainder of my trip. After transferring to another bus and getting on my way, I'd almost forgotten about it all. By lunchtime, I had, more important things to occupy my mind. But when I walked back into my apartment, there was a cool stillness that hung in the empty grey room, and that flash of red remerged in my mind. My father was late getting home, or maybe it was my mother. I turned on the TV, and the news was on, but it wasn't supposed to be, so I watched it.
They said that mass suicides had occurred all over the city and somehow, I knew that's what had happened earlier. My phone buzzed, and for a moment I thought it was mom or dad, but it was just unknown again. Annoyed I silenced it and continued watching. I watched until my eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep.
The next morning, the TV was still on, and I was still alone. I wasn't worried, more confused. They said that more suicides were coming in and that all of them left the same rhyme behind. Some on paper, some on walls, some on themselves.
"Get high in the sky and don't be afraid to die..."
My stomach hit the floor as I stared at those words scrolling across the news feed, and then the TV went black my apartment went silent. The hum from the refrigerator, gone. The lights on the cable box, gone. The low drone from the Air conditioner, gone. The only light was from the grey and the only sound from the wind.
My stomach dropped to the floor as my pocket buzzed. It was someone I knew, it was someone with answers. Yes, they must have been trying to warn me all day. I drew the cell out of my pocket and opened it up. It was Unknown again, but this time I take a moment to read.
"Get High ..." 7:14 AM
"In the Sky ..." 7:14 PM
"Don't be afraid..." 7:14 AM
The phone falls away from me, into the grey it plummets racing out of sight towards the street below. The wind is louder now, blowing in my ears and chilling my skin. I'm not sure when or how I got up here and waver on the roof top's edge only inches from the sea of grey. I suppose it doesn't matter now. I can't even remember those things that were once so important--Or maybe they never were. Maybe their importance was just an illusion and everything I'd built my tiny reality around was nothing more than a memory. I can see it so clearly now, without those memories to cloud my vision, like a fog lifting. I don't look away. I take a step and the wind grows even louder, howling around me. I'm not afraid.
"To die ..." 7:14 PM
