Helplessly; j.g.

One

Jack stood on the building's roof, on the ledge, his back facing the entrance to the rooftop. In his head, he tried convincing himself to jump; to not be a wimp and also to not live this stupid, dumb life anymore. He thought to himself, if I jump, I won't have to worry about anything anymore. No more taxes, rent payment. No slutty girls, no more ex-girlfriends suddenly wanting to get back together with me. No more anything.

But then, he realized there really would be no more anything. No more concerts or sports games or hanging with his best friend, Jack Johnson, who'd always been there for him.

Jack shook his head, trying to get the happy thoughts out. No, I need to do this.

He extended his right leg out over the street, almost taunting himself to jump; teasing his own self to actually take the plunge and become friends with Death.

A firework exploded overhead. The sound made Jack fall off the ledge, backwards onto the roof. He landed on his back, looking up at the night sky.

It was New Year's Eve in California, specifically Los Angeles, and the party Jack's friends at work had thrown was still going hard in the building he was about to jump off. It made him wonder, the party, if he should actually stay in the world, to have more parties and to go to more as well.

But he still couldn't bring himself to stay. He just wanted out of the world and the life he was given. He wanted out.

The door swung open, a drunk girl stumbling out onto the roof with a man behind her, also drunk. The man stared at the girl's butt as she walked, laughing at the exploding colors in the sky overhead.

Jack lifted his torso up, wrapping his arms around his legs as he brought them up to his chest. He scooted back against a large steel box on the roof, hiding himself from the two strangers.

"Listen, if we're going to do this," the girl slurred, pointing at the man, "you have to listen to me, okay?"

"Okay," the man laughed back.

Jack groaned internally as the sound of kissing was heard, under the explosion of the fireworks of course. He looked around, trying to find some way of getting off of the roof without being seen by them. He stood, crouched down and moved to another steel box. Jack found a way to get all the way back to the door and softly escape where the drunk couple was now doing it straight on the roof.

He made his way down the staircase, exiting through the door to the floor where the party was going on.

"Happy New Year, Jack!" one of his co-workers exclaimed, raising a glass filled with some kind of alcohol. Jack didn't reply, he just kept walking.

"John, hey," a voice flowed through the hallway from the room next to Jack's. "Look, oh, yeah, that's funny... but what I'm trying to say right now is that our sales are going down a little and we need some help... no, I'm not suggesting you buy more clothes from us, oh no..."

Jack was immediately taken by the voice; it belonged to a girl. Her voice was like a waterfall, so pretty and amazing and you just want to listen to it all day. It was calming and it made him forget just a little about the depression he was in.

"Thank you so much, John," the girl spoke again. "Yes... thank you... I will... yep... see you on Wednesday... bye." The mysterious girl hung up the phone, putting it into the receiver and returning back to the computer. "Excuse me."

Jack suddenly realized he was standing in her office doorway, looking at her.

"Oh, um, sorry," he said, walking away.

"Hey, wait, wait," the girl begged, holding her hand out and waving him back to the doorframe. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me. What's your name?"

"Ja-Jack Gilinsky," Jack answered softly.

" Jack Gilinsky?" the girl repeated, raising her eyebrows. Jack nodded, not making eye contact with her. "Jack, can you please hand me those two tan files? One is labeled 'stuff' and the other is labeled 'this is also stuff'."

Jack cracked a small, tiny, shadow of a smile at her labeling skills.

"Those are some, um, nice titles for your folders," Jack said softly, finding the tan files she was talking about.

"Well, thank you, Jack," she beamed, typing on her keyboard as Jack walked over with the files in his hand.

"No problem," he responded, looking for a nameplate somewhere.

"I'm Rome, Rome Adrian," she said, looking up at Jack, smiling.

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word count {791}

omg this story is going to be amazing and i know i said that about my other stories but this time i hopefully mean it. if you are reading this right now and you enjoyed the story, please follow and show/share this story and my account with other people. it would help a lot, so thanks. this is a long author's note and i'm sorry lol. at the top is a character visual which i have never done before so it was a little interesting... okay bye! :)

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