𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐃

FOUND FOOTAGE

"okay, ray, i'm up here now" hyeongjun smiled as he pressed on the record button on his phone.

filming himself from an above angle, he showed the abyss. "to be honest, i'm scared.. but i really love you! and i wanna make you happy!"

just as he was filming the ground, he caught someone running towards the TV tower. as the person looked up, hyeongjun quickly backed away, scared of being seen.

"i guess i'll wait a little.." he mumbled quietly, scared of being heard despite being around 50 metres above the ground.

someone went up the stairs, making hyeongjun freeze in shock. then the door opened, revealing a boy around his age.

"oh, you wanna jump, too?" the boy laughed, leaning against the wall with a grin.

he seemed out of his mind. "i'm gunil." stepping closer, he grinned into the camera. "you're documenting this? insane!"

the other seemed surprised. "well... i'm hyeongjun. nice to meet you?" gunil laughed.

"nice indeed. it's a beautiful evening, no? what do you think, will we survive the fall?"

hyeongjun shrugged. "i wish not.."

[---]

"hi, ray, i'm still up here. but i'm not alone this time. gunil and seungmin joined me here, they're pretty cool people."

the said two waved into the camera, one more happy than the other. they were heard talking in the background.

"we're talking a little bit. we want to jump as soon as it turns 12am."

there were some steps again, someone was running up the tower in a hurry. the three of them froze, but once the door opened, it seemed to be another boy their age.

who seemed surprised that there was someone there. "if you wanna kill yourself you can join our suicide club" gunil laughed.

"we're jumping at 12."

[---]

"it smells like fire" seungmin noticed, making hyeongjun stop his 'dialogue' with ray through the camera.

as he was introducing the two new boys that joined them. jiseok, the one who came running upstairs. then jungsu, who was equally as surprised to see all of them up there.

the sky was already dark, the moon itching higher in the horizon, stars making their appearance.

the ground was barely visible anymore, even up at the tower they'd be barely able to see each other if it wasn't for hyeongjun's phone screen, that was shining brightly.

"we should do a quick round and introduce each other properly!" gunil announced, grabbing the phone out of hyeongjun's hands.

he was clearly not bothered by the smell of smoke. "hi, i'm gunil, i'm nineteen. i'm a patient of the city clinic, but they want me dead in there, so i'm here. and i'm passing the phone to the right."

it was jungsu's turn, who was overwhelmed. "um" he fixed the camera. "i'm jungsu, eighteen. i'm leaving behind my eight year old sister, because that gives her a secure future. with me, we'd only end up on the street."

he gave the phone to jiseok. "eh- i'm jiseok, seventeen, and i just found out what a phone is. i've spent all my life in a cult and i had to see my best friend being shot because of something that was my fault."

the phone was passed to seungmin. "seungmin, i'm seventeen, too, and well, i've been raped.." there was nothing more to add, so he returned the phone to hyeongjun.

the boy chuckled and looked into the camera. "ray, babe, you know me already" then he looked at the others.

"i'm hyeongjun, i'm seventeen and trying to make my boyfriend happy" jungsu frowned. "by killing yourself? that's fucking mental."

yet all of them were insane anyway, there was no difference. suddenly, the door opened a sixth time again.

"introduce yourself" hyeongjun laughed at the boy, giving him the phone. the boy seemed confused.

"what the fuck? who are yall?" "the suicide squad" gunil joked, his shoulders shaking as he tried to restrain laughter. jiseok has passed out on his shoulder.

the stranger was confused. "what? um- i'm jooyeon?" "is everything okay?" seungmin asked, pointing at his swollen nose.

"my brother beat me up." jooyeon seemed to give up on questioning the situation, returning the phone to hyeongjun.

"so, ray. it's 9pm right now, i'll take a new video when it's time to jump!"

[---]

"it's 11:59pm right now" hyeongjun said with a faint smile. he raised the phone again, showing how the six of them were standing in a line, next to each other as seungmin kept checking the time.

"ray, i love you" were hyeongjun's last spoken words, before seungmin announced the new day.

"12am."

jooyeon was the first one to proceed. letting himself fall backwards, quickly accompanied by jiseok, who took a step into nothingness, falling face first.

it didn't take long until two faint sounds of the impact on the floor echoed through the forrest.

"how long did it take now?" hyeongjun asked, looking at the space seungmin was standing on, but seungmin wasn't there.

the third impact. "just a few seconds." jungsu smiled and grabbed hyeongjun's hand.

"ready?" gunil jumped off, too, the fourth impact sounding not even long after that. jungsu and hyeongjun were the only ones still standing on the tower.

which was quickly changed. it wasn't long until hyeongjun's body splashed on the ground, dying on impact.

jungsu had it worse. his whole body felt crushed, it hurt as he looked up one last time. just weakly.

before he succumbed to the injuries, too, his body lifeless.