height

82 7 5
                                    

TW: contains act of suicide. May be disturbing to some readers.

I'm not scared of heights.
In fact, I love heights.
I love the mountain peaks covered in fog,
I love the drop tower ride,
and the Ferris wheel.

But when I see a flight of stairs,
or when I see someone standing at the edge of the terrace,
my heart speeds up.
Fears creeps inside me like a thousand spiders crawling over me.
Perhaps I'm not scared of heights,
I'm just scared of falling down.

Maybe it's because of this one memory
that I have.
A memory of that girl.
She jumped.
She was about twelve years old,
in a grey trackpant and black t-shirt,
and her hair tied up into a tiny bun.
She walked along the edge of the terrace.
And suddenly, she jumped.
It all happened in a few seconds.
And I just stood there, staring.
As my legs shook
and my hands trembled,
as tears streamed down my face, with fear.

***

PS: This happened when I was young, when I was around eleven, I guess. All I remember of that incident is standing outside the building where the incident took place, and watching. I couldn't do anything. I just stood and watched. And the guilt of not being able to do anything, eats me up even now, after almost eight years of that incident.

Trapped in my own headWhere stories live. Discover now