Rooftop Mysteries (A Short Story)

Rooftop Mysteries

For the past two weeks people have been throwing themselves off roof tops and no one can explain why they do it. In one case it was a mother of two lovely children and they were a happy family no one knew why she would do it. Her family and friends said she was happy and loved her life, so there was no reason for her to commit suicide. And another one was a elderly man who wasn't done living life at its' fullest yet. People aren't thinking to much about it. People get sad sometimes, too sad and they want end their lives, But from what I've heard they were happy and loved life. And why would they throw themselves off roofs when the Golden Gate Bridge is so close? I believe that this whole thing is just a cover up for a murderer. And I'm going to figure this out, no matter what it takes.

"Crystal, wake up!" I hear my mother call from the kitchen. Slipping out of bed I go to the bathroom and look myself in the face. My name is Crystal Fonter. I live in San Francisco, California with my single mother and my younger brother, George. And I'm on the case of the rooftop murders, as I like to call it.

My brother runs into my room at full speed and yells out, "Cry! Are you leaving with the demon man again?"

Rolling my eyes, I correct him, "His name is Vab, G."

"Demon man. Vab. There is no difference." He says with perseverance. "He looks scary. He has big teeth, black hair like the darkness, and his red eyes." George motions at me. "Explain that, Cry. Red eyes. Like a demon!"

"One word, contacts." Patting George on the head, I walk out of my room and out of the door waving my mother goodbye.

Walking down the street I make my way to Chinatown where I plan to meet Vab. As I get closer to our meeting place, two arms grab me and before I could let out a scream the person says, "No need to scream. It's only me, Demon Man!"

"Are you seriously using that ridiculous name now?" I elbow him in the gut and face him.

Vab grabs him gut and spits out, "Your hit is sure getting stronger." He lets out a fake cough. "I think you might have killed me."

"Suck it up, buttercup." I grab his arm and make him stand up. "And remember what we're meeting for? We need to figure out what we need to do."

"Alright let's go to my place to discuss our 'plan'." He motions for me to follow him.

On our way to Vab's house I see someone sneaking around in the shadows. "Vab did you see something?" I question stopping both of us in our tracks.

"I don't see anythi-" He gets cut off short when someone appears behind him and knocks him out with a rock from a nearby park. Before I can rush to Vab's aid or scream for help, I am knocked out.

Waking up with a pounding head, I find myself in an unknown place. Trying to move around I quickly notice that both the hands and feet are tied up and I can't move. Looking around I notice that someone is in the shadows watching my every move.

The shadow moves toward me and I can see a silhouette of a boy. "Hello, Cry. Long time no see."

My eyes widen in disbelief. Hundreds of thoughts rush into my mind all at once causing my headache top get worse. "Are you the killer?"

He lets out a chuckle and I can see an outline of a smirk on his face. "Yes, it is me. I'm the so called killer you've been searching for."

He steps into view so I can clearly see his face. It really was him, Vab's older brother, Light. "How could you do this? Kill innocent people without a second thought?"

"It's simple, I just do it. I was always treated like an outsider. People told me that I was pathetic and that I should just go jump to my death. So this is me repaying my debt." He starts to walk away. "And you're my next victim."

Light walks out of the room I stay silent not knowing what to say. Tears fall down my face as I realize that I'm going to die tonight. Taking a deep breath, I look around at my surroundings and noticed a shard of glass not to far away from me. Quickly without a second thought, I make my way towards the glass to free myself. Once I reach the glass I grab it with my tied up hands and start the struggle to free myself.

After two minutes of struggling, I'm free. I start to look around my surroundings and that's when I realize that I'm on a roof. Turning around I notice Vab's unconscious body is by the ledge. Running over to him I notice that he has his phone on him. That's when I call the police and tell them where I am and they say they are on their way.

"What are you doing?" I turn around and see Light at the other side of the rooftop and he is visibly enraged.

I start to back away afraid as he rushes toward me with full intent to kill. I'm not fast enough and he grabs me by my hair and throws me over the ledge. As I start to fall, a hand grabs me and pulls back up.

"Vab" I say aloud and once I'm all the way up I realize it wasn't Vab who pulled me up, but it was Light.

He lets out insane laughter. "You think that I'm going to let you die that easy?" Light shoves me to the ground with full force once again. "You're not going down until you've felt the pain that I've been through. Felt the loneliness, the isolation, the sadness." I watch as he skips over to Vab. "He's your friend right?" He grabs Vab by the neck and holds him over the edge. "Say goodbye." I watched as he lets go of Vab and he fell to his death.

Frozen. My whole body was frozen. I watched as Light walked over to me and he grabbed a bundle of my hair making me look him straight in his eyes. "Now do you still really want to live?"

"No." I whispered and stood up with shaky legs.

He gave a creepy grin and led me to the edge of the roof where I could see the whole city. "Now jump."

I started to step off the roof when Vab came to my mind and I remembered all the good times we've had and I realize that he would want me to live. To live for him. Without a second thought I elbowed Light in the gut like I did with Vab that very morning. Light stumbled back in shock. Quickly, while I had a chance, I grabbed ahold of him and threw him off the rood like he had done with Vab and so many other people. Looking down to the pavement I see his and Vab's bodies and I can hear distant sirens in the background.

"Goodbye, Demon Man."