The Switch {EarthMix}

23.

Earth accompanied the older outside, waving him before he turned around and scanned the small greenery in front of the apartment building. he had always liked living here, there being a dozen of trees around the building and a handful of stone benches placed halfway below the trees. Especially in the late afternoons or the weekends they were popular spots to study or do assignments there, many of the students living in the same apartment complex enjoying being actually outside while still having the comfort that living right there gave: If you were hungry or had to visit the bathroom, just walking inside the building to your apartment solved the problem completely, and when it suddenly started raining you did not have to worry whether you would get all your materials home safely.

But this had been the first time regretting to live there: due to the trees the area was a little difficult to observe... and it was already dark as well... How was he supposed to find Mix like this? Just walking through the neighbourhood and keeping his eye open for someone in university dress code? With there still being students on their way home and everyone dressed the same?

He let out a soft sigh and looked around a little more... thinking of the places he would come across depending on the direction he could choose to go. The small lounge-bar down the street was definitely a no, Mix not even liking being in loud and bustling environments when he was feeling good. Neither was the little book café they had once visited together, though the atmosphere was more on point, but it closed by 7:30pm without exceptions...

The longer he thought about all the possibilities, crossing out one after another... Earth slowly started getting frustrated. One option after another had disappeared from the list of possibilities... until there was not even one left and steam could literally be seen leaving Earth's ears. Just running planless through the neighbourhood was not an option either so... what exactly could he do?

There was only one more place left he could think of, having told Mix a story about how many of the students here would go there to have some alone time, enjoying the view and isolation... something that did sound a little too on point for the current situation... but then again: there was a huge problem with it. It was not only a dangerous place where many things could go wrong, and you could not only get hurt but also die... but also one Earth would have his troubles stepping foot on.

Slowly he turned around towards the building, his eyes gliding upwards and passing the illuminated windows of the other apartments, until his eyes hit the edge of the building and stopped at... no matter how hard he tried to inspect the brim of the rooftop, he had no idea if what he was seeing there was a shadow, a hallucination or maybe a person... the darkness and broken lights up on the rooftop definitely not playing in his hands. Even after taking out his phone and using the zoom-function of his camera in order to distinguish what he was seeing up there... Earth surely could eliminate the hallucination, but still could not be sure whether this was a person or not, and even less if that might be Mix up there. He could have spent another thirty minutes there, trying to contemplate whether he should even go upstairs, but then again... If it was Mix, arriving sooner rather than later would be for the best, and if his friend couldn't be found up there... then he would have wasted precious time that could decide over life or death.

But after taking another deep breath he pushed himself, his feet leading him inside the building and to the stairs, taking one step after another to reach his destination. Surely Earth could have just used the elevator, bringing him not only up there faster but also saving his energy... but then again... facing two of his fears in the same day was already enough, adding a third would only happen in an emergency... though depending on the outcome this might have qualified as one.

It took him a while, longer than he had originally thought to reach the sixth floor, him taking a deep breath again before walking down the corridor to the door... which normally was locked. Some of the other students had broken the lock on it so often, that the caretaker of the building just decided to leave it open for the time being, not wanting to invest unnecessary amounts of money in something that was just destroyed the night after it got fixed.

Earth read the sign again that clearly warned before accessing the roof, but just pushed his body through the opened door and up the final stairs to the rooftop. But once he stood in front of the last safety line, the entrance to either heaven or hell... he could feel his heart starting to beat faster, fear of what he would find outside the door paralysing his body and making him hesitate.

Mix could be sitting there and jumping from the roof. Mix could be just sitting there and enjoying alone time. Mix could have done something to himself on the rooftop, something other than just falling down the dozens of meters. Or he might not even be there. Maybe he was really something else, maybe going home to his apartment to get his stuff together, wanting to go back to the university or whatever...

But no matter how many other options he tried counting in his mind, the first ones seemed the most prominent. There was just something inside his heart that felt as if Mix was close, as if the moment he opened the door to the rooftop he would be able to see his friend and the person he liked. And even more than the thought of being 20 meters above the ground, the idea of Mix being in a dangerous situation and everything that might follow... made him the most anxious.

So Earth pushed past his fear, opening the door slowly and stepping outside in the dark. It was windier then expected, a cool breeze of air hitting his face and that's when his mind kicked in, reminding him how high he was and making him a little weak in the knees...

' Everything is fine Earth... you only have to check if Mix is here and then you can leave... just take a deep breath... , ' he tried calming himself, placing his hand above his heart while taking a deep breath. And another one.

But once he had calmed himself down enough to open his eyes again and look around, his eyes widened in disbelief of the person he saw sitting there, just about two steps away from the brim of the rooftop...

It had been Mix indeed, sitting right on the edge of death...