The Key To A New World

Chapter 10

Later that night, I sat in my room with my knees pressed to my chest and my arms wrapped around my pillow. I tried to think about something happy, something that would get my mind off Star. I could not stop the tears from streaming down my face as I realized that every happy memory, every happy thought, involved my best friend.

I wanted nothing more than to be happy and to rid myself of this dark haze, this storm in my head to vanish and let some light in. It was not going to happen.

I stopped crying and I felt my face go blank as the thought of the man that jumped off the building began to replay over and over again in my head. I could not unhear that sound; it was unlike any noise I have ever heard before. He just fell, he did not scream, he did not kick, or wave his arms like anyone else would. Even though, if you are falling all that flailing is not really going to help at all. It was almost like he died the second he jumped, but he wasn't; he was just calm, he knew what he set out to do and he did it. I guess it took him a minute to gather himself enough to make the jump, but he did it.

He looked a bit like a rag doll as he fell to the ground. Then there was the thud, that horrible sound, ugh, I cannot stop hearing it. It was a grotesque sound, like all his bones breaking at one time, or maybe like a large sack of potatoes hitting the ground and splattering.

The faint sound of a siren caught my attention and quickly pulled me from my flashback causing me to think it was happening all over again. I sprang myself from my bed and over towards my window. The sound of the siren grew louder as I waited patiently for it to come into view. I stood at my window looking around desperately trying to find someone standing on the edge of a roof, but instead a woman from across the street came running outside with her arms in the air waving down the ambulance as it approached.

The woman was completely distraught. Her face was drenched with tears, she was visibly shaking. She fell to the ground as the men jumped out of the ambulance truck and raced into her home. I shook my head and walked outside.

I sat down next to the woman and wrapped my arms around her. I had no idea what was going on, and I did not care to ask. I held her as she gasped for air between her moans of misery. Her pain was so strong I could almost feel what she was going through, my throat tightened, and tears formed in my eyes. I felt like we connected in that moment. One of the men from the ambulance raced out of the house and grabbed the gurney from the back of the van along with a large black medical bag, then raced back inside.

The minutes slowly ticked by while I held the woman in my arms and waited for the men to exit her home. They finally walked out with a black body bag containing a freshly deceased body inside. The woman looked up as she heard the gurney hit the sidewalk, she groaned again and gushed more tears. The reality of the situation had hit her hard.

I understood more, she was feeling the same pain I have been feeling. The men loaded the body into the back of the gurney and made their way over to the woman that I had been holding in my arms. "Ma'am, I'm sorry. He wouldn't have made it to the hospital."

She yelled out louder. There were no words just moans of sorrow. That short sentence was there way of letting her know that her husband had passed away. "I lost a loved one recently too. I know how you feel. I am so sorry for your loss." I whispered and held her tighter as tears made their way down my cheeks with Star in my thoughts. My mind was finally made up, now there was no turning back.