Demons (Jonathan Toews)

Chapter Three

I sat on the roof of that building for what felt like days. Hours, upon hours, I looked out on the Chicago skyline and watched the large buildings progressively get darker and darker. My mind wandered through homework assignments and thoughts of my past families and friends. All of the thoughts made me want to accidentally fall off of the ledge, but there was something keeping me from doing it. The ‘Hey”, the simple word that stopped me in my tracks during my fourth attempt. I was going to jump, I was going to do it, but there was something about that word, the way he said it that made me stop. It made me want to stay. I still don’t know why.

The clock on my phone read 4:14 am, when I heard a pair of footsteps on the roof. They were loud and knocked me out of my half asleep train of thought, of fluttering eyelids and my odd focus on one tall building out of the skyline.

“Hey”, was all he said as he shakily took a seat next to me, with his facing the opposite way. His arms were tense as he gripped onto the cement ledge we were now both sitting on. His eyes were wide and tired as he looked at me. You could tell by his face and his arms that he was getting ready to grab me and throw me back onto the cement floor.

Before he could do any of that though, I turned from him, grabbed the small bottle, and held it out to him, keeping my eyes on the same building I had been staring at for a few hours. “I don’t know why you didn’t buy them earlier, so I thought I would be nice and return”, I paused for a moment, looking down at my hand, and then up at the boys eyes that were focused on mine. “A favor. Yes, a favor. It’s the least I could do after you stopped me from making that”, I chewed on my lip, “mistake”.

“How did you even know? That I lived here?” He asked in a slow tone, wondering if I was a psycho serial killer, had a ‘problem’, or was just weird. I mean hey, I was probably all of them, but it wasn’t rocket science to figure out he lived here. I don’t think he would be walking around like me at some odd hour in the morning saving girls from jumping off roofs.

“I just put two and two together”, he grabbed the bottle out of my hand and set it on the other side of him. “I figured you weren’t walking around like I was at some strange hour in the morning. I thought maybe you just went to the roof of your own building and…” I stopped and stood up, making the man next to me quickly stand up next to me and hover his hands over my hips.

I climbed down and faced him. He was a good four inches taller than me. His eyes were dark and tired, and not just from his lack of sleep from this night, but you could tell they have been tired for a few days. His shoulders looked like they should be broad and strong, but they were slouched and gave off a defeated vibe.

“Thank you”, he said staring in my eyes. “I don’t know you. I don’t really understand this, but thank you. I’m Jonathan.”

“Madison.” I said in a small voice, looking down at our feet.

“Well I really don’t know how to thank you, Madison.” He shook the bottle in his hands, “I can’t sleep without these. I just think, and think, and drink, and it’s a never ending spiral of stress and worry and-“

I reached up and placed my finger over his lips. His eyes widened significantly and his whole body tensed under my finger, like I had just placed a disease in him. “I know how you feel, that’s why I thought it would be nice to get them and try this.” I cleared my throat and pulled my finger away, and clamped my hand over the bottle in my other.

For a minute, the man just stared at me. His eyes tracing over every inch of my face. Every sleepless bag under my eye, the hair blowing in the wind, and the messed up make up behind my eyes. “Do you mind if maybe we could talk one day.” He choked out his words and let all of the blood in his body rudh to his face. “I just need to talk to someone, and I feel like maybe you’d understand. No one else does, and-“