Don't Do It

Cal had done it. He ended his own life.
His life was nothing but loneliness. His crush/best friend had neglected him, his parents were always busy and his siblings had already moved out of the house. The only company he was given were the handful of bullies that wouldn't stop poking and prodding at his confidence every day.

He had enough and decided to end it before it could get any worse.

But he heard a voice in his head... it was telling him not to pull the trigger. Of course, he ended up ignoring that voice. His eyes had shut and he could feel the life rushing out of his physical body.

But it was as if he were rising up as he was falling. He looked at his hands and they were semi-transparent.
He looked behind and him saw his body. His dead body with a bullet in its head.

What was this?

He looked around his room and noticed a folded piece of paper on his desk.
He walked over to it and unfolded it; it seemed to be the only thing he could actually touch without his hands going straight through.

It was a note that read:
Cal, I tried to stop you And I failed. But maybe you can save a life.

Cal looked around for the one that wrote this note, but no one was to be found.
"Hello?"
"Follow me." Said a voice. Cal looked ahead to see a blank piece of paper floating in front of him.

The sheet of paper blew over to the window.
"Where are we going?" Cal inquired.
"Just stand here." It replied.
"Cal?" Called an approaching voice. Cal's heart jumped. It was his mom.

A knock at his unlocked bedroom door. "Cal, you've been up here for an hour since I called you for supper." Another knock. "Cal? I have to go in a few minutes, can you at least tell me that you'll eat before it gets dark?"

The door opened, and in walked his mother, whose face of concern immediately morphed into horror. His mother shrieked and called for her husband, who came running up the stairs.
"What happened?!" He panted, catching his breath. Right after asking, his face drained of colour and his expression changed like Mother's.

Mother began to sob while Father fell to his knees and checked in pathetic hopes that Cal wasn't dead.
"Come," Said the paper. "We must continue."
"Where to?" Cal asked.
"Nowhere... until I say."

What did that mean?
What does it matter? Cal hated to see his mom cry, So he was glad to have been offered to leave.

'"'"""""""""''"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

They traveled everywhere around town. Cal's death was on the news and people's reactions were too much to bear.

The paper could morph into a young man. Apparently he was also visited by a letter from an unseen entity. He also ignored the voice.

"Why are they so sad all of a sudden?" Cal asked.
"You were worth more to them than you thought. They all thought that you were just pushing them away."

Cal lowered his head and shook his head. "Well... I kind of was... but that's just because they approached me at the worse times."

"Oh? And are your worse times whenever you aren't in your house?"
"Okay, okay! I was a snob! I was being disrespectful! But everyone was so annoying."
"And why is that?"
"I don't know... they just... they smiled all the time and it made me feel like I wanted to strangle every one of them."
Cal can hear the paper boy sigh before moving again. "We have two more stops." He announces.
Cal nods and follows it.

It was a sunny day, but there didn't seem to be a reason to be happy.
People gathered around the casket, either crying or looking down and trying to hold it in.

Cal walked over and saw his body lying in the casket. "That was fast." He said.

"Yes, well, I uh... brought us to a later time."
"What are you talking about?"
"When in a realm such as this, you can break certain... laws..."
"So, you're saying that we just traveled in time to see my funeral?"
"Yeah, pretty much."

The paper folded up into the rectangular sheet of white and blew in the wind, running into and sticking to a young man's back.

Cal walked around, knowing that the paper did it intentionally.
It was Wyatt.

You probably guessed it, it was Cal's best friend. Though he would mentally add a "former" to the title.

Why is he here? Wondered Cal. Surely he doesn't care.

Cal was proven wrong when he looked at his friend's face. Nose red, eyes red, tear stains and fresh tears running down his cheeks, mouth quivering.

"I don't understand. Why is he crying?"

Paper Boy returns to Cal and unfolded. "Why wouldn't he be?"

"Because he ignored me at the worst time of my life and never looked my direction until now."

"The reason he seemed so distant is because those times in your life had changed you. You let them ruin your joy, and you pushed him and your other friends away."

Cal shook his head. "It doesn't matter, he was too late and he now realises that."

"That's exactly what he's thinking right now. He thinks it's his fault."

"It was his fault," Cal nearly yells, looking in Wyatt's direction. "He decided to stay away, forgetting about me while making more friends and whatnot."

"You're up." Paper said.

"What?" Cal looked to where the paper was. "Hey! Where'd you go?!" He called.

"It's your turn to attempt at saving a life. If you fail, you end up like me. Only, you will have to help three individuals before you are done if you fail."

"Wait! What do I do?!"

Strong winds begin to pick up and grey clouds begin to roll in.
"Stop him! Yell as loud as possible! Follow him home!"

"'''''''''''''"""""""""""""""""'''''''''''''''''''"""""""

Cal stood in Wyatt's bedroom as his friend sobbed, burying his face in his pillow.

What am I supposed to do? How can I do this?

"Wyatt! Dinner is ready!" Yelled Wyatt's mother.
"I'm not hungry!" Wyatt called back, his voice quaking and his eyes glistening with tears that were yet to fall.
"You need to eat, sweetie!"
"I said I'm not hungry!!" Wyatt screamed, it obviously pained him to yell like that.

It pained Cal to see him like this. He was always the one smiling and laughing, making everyone around him join in. He was a completely different person.

"Please, honey. Just eat a little bit of something for me."
Wyatt covered his face and groaned. "Please, Mom. Just let me be."
There was no reply. Cal couldn't watch anymore, he decided to do as he was told.

He walked over and sat on the bed next to Wyatt and looked down at his shoes. He took a deep breath.

Wyatt looked in Cal's direction, unintentionally, he was looking into Cal's eyes.

Cal hoped that Wyatt could see him and about opened his mouth when Wyatt got up and walked to his window. The clouds were just rolling away to reveal that the sun was starting to set. He slowly unlocked the window and opened it, his hands trembling.

The birds outside were singing beautifully, the wind had calmed down, yet continued to blow the trees into a graceful wave of green leaves and branches.

Cal stood up and tried to grab onto Wyatt's shirt, but by then Wyatt had climbed out of the window and climbed down a tree to the ground.

"Wyatt!" Cal yelled, jumping off and still landing with ease. He ignored the fact that it was less likely that chasing after him would do any good and ran as if he were still in his physical body.