The aftermath

Chapter one

𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: 𝐆𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡. 

"You'll regret breaking up with me!" Her voice was poisoned with hatred as she yelled, her eyes coming to rest on Sam. The soft and caring gaze she had once offered him was long gone and in its place was a glare that made the air thick and suffocating as she seemed to stare into her ex-boyfriend's soul.

Sam felt he had no choice but to break eye contact, feeling a shiver go up his spine as Yuki continued to stride backwards towards the edge of the building.

"You'll never take me alive!"

Everyone was talking at once, everything morphing together in an incomprehensible mess of panicked yells and pleas for her to cooperate. The energy was chaotic; as crazed as the love Sam and Yuki had once shared but, alas, no longer did.

Yuki took her final step back, locking eyes once again with Sam as her foot forced itself into thin air. For just a moment, her eyes showed not only fear but a sense of regret. She clamped her teeth down as she hurdled backwards and closed her eyes so hard she'd see flashing colours beneath her eyelids. The wind fought against her weight as she fell.

"Yuki!" Sam darted towards the edge of the building, stumbling to a stop as he fell onto his stomach.  He peeked his head over the edge just in time to see her hit the ground. Blood splattered against the patterned concrete and her arms and legs were jutted out in unthinkable positions. A gash in the back of her head allowed blood to escape, a river of crimson painting the pathway to the school. Her soft pink locks which were elegantly draped across the ground were tainted by clumps of crimson decoration... She lay there, staring up at those looking down at her in agony as she gasped for breath, the rain mercilessly assaulting her corpse. Water pooled in her mouth and her eyes squinted- paralysis gave her no option but to stare up and watch the stars twinkle pathetically. Her last moments were spent regretting what she had done as the light left her paled pink eyes; leaving them empty and unseeing.

Moments passed, the air so cold that it physically hurt him to breath in through his nose. The fresh scent of night air and petrichor assaulted Sam as he forced himself onto his knees and looked beside him, only to realize that he was completely alone. Taurtis, Grian, Okami- everyone had disappeared without a trace. He tried to stand and felt the ground beneath him collapse. A scream tore violently from his throat as he started to plummet towards the ground. Within seconds he could make out every detail of his ex-girlfriends mangled corpse; from her ghostly pale skin and bone sticking sickeningly out of her leg to the stained tears on her cheeks and maimed skin on her fingers that, in life, she would pick and bite in moments of anxiety. Sam recalled taking her hand in his and kissing it, encouraging her to stop hurting herself.

Blindness proceeded to drape itself over Sam's head, taunting him cruelly, until finally he could make out the white shade of his bedroom walls.

He couldn't breathe as tears streamed down his face and his heart raced. Hardly a month had passed since that night on the rooftop, but it felt as if no time was passing at all due to the night replaying in his head whenever he dared fall asleep, growing more and more vivid each time. 

It took him a while to calm down, but when he did Sam just continued to lay there, staring at the ceiling with no thoughts passing in his mind but those of what he could have done differently. Could he have prevented this? Was this his fault? Slowly,  those thoughts turned to memories; memories of Yuki. It was as if he was looking through the same rose-colored glasses he was when they were together; all he could recall as he lay there was how complete he felt when she was near.

He was brought out of his dissociative state by the screaming coming from his bedside table, of course belonging to his alarm clock which he was quick to shut off. He absentmindedly grabbed the medication bottle on the aforementioned table and took the amount prescribed by his recently acquired mental health worker (which was long overdue). Stacy had helped him with his mental health for the past couple of weeks, going as far as helping him find a diagnosis for his erratic behavior and keeping him out of a psychiatric facility so long as he allowed her to help him.

There were a lot of things Sam had to confront early on, such as his mistreatment of his friends. If he was being honest, the only reason he was complying with Stacy was because he couldn't stand to lose them. He almost had once, and he refused to get that close again.