Deadly Eternities

CH1: Awoken

        AWOKEN || 01

       The city lay what seemed to be miles below me. It was so far away, yet I knew as soon as I jumped, I would hit the ground in an instant. And if I didn’t climb over the railing soon, security would open the doors to the observation platform to the public; they’d try to stop me. I didn’t want to be stopped . . . but I didn’t want to do it just yet.

      I had said goodbye to them all, I’d whispered my goodbyes aloud into the night. Now the only things holding me here were the dazzling lights of night time New York City; they held me captive in their radiance.

      I took a step closer to the railing; shivers ran down my back as I wrapped my fingers around the freezing metal. I placed my sneaker on the bottom bar and vaulted myself over, my feet landing with a soft thud against the concrete lip that surrounded the bars. A small voice in the back of my head desperately begged me to stop, but it was so deeply buried in darkness that I could barely hear it.

      The numbness took over as I relinquished my tight grip to the railing— my tight grip to any distant shred of hope.

      I let go, and as I did I swayed. My numb legs seemed to buckle with the weight of the world as it came crashing down around me. A small smile played at my lips as it struck me, my descent had begun. I was finally falling away from the world that had attempted to trap me. But I was about to escape, I would fly from their strangling grasps.

      With arms outstretched, I stepped off the edge of the world. The ground sped towards me at an alarming speed, yet slower than what I had predicted; it was of course one of the tallest buildings in Manhattan. The air sliced at my cheeks like knives as I hurtled towards the ground, the lights of the city were but a blur.

      I heard the sickening crunch as I hit the ground and in an instant it all went black.

                                       * * *

       I’m dead. The thought ricocheted through my mind on a continuous loop. I lay splayed on my back against the bitter cold concrete ground with the stench of garbage assaulting my nostrils as I waited for the mantra to not feel so foreign.

      For the first time in who knows how long, my stomach didn’t feel empty. Although my afterlife smelt bad and was unfortunately lacking the fluffy white clouds I’d imagined, at least I wasn’t hungry.  And nothing hurt; that was nice.

      I groaned and rolled over onto my knees, giving up on the chanting as it continued to get me nowhere at all. The world seemed to spin as I stood up too quickly, so I leant against the brick wall for a few seconds with my eyes tightly closed as I waited to regain my balance. The dizziness soon disappeared, but I opened my eyes to only feel sicker than before.

      A vast puddle of dried blood covered the ground where I’d previously been lying. My eyes widened as look down at my jumper; it was stained a dark reddish-brown color. I began to hyperventilate as I struggled to pull it over my head with shaking fingers, finally I managed to get it off and throw it to the ground in horror.

      With my jumper in a crumpled heap on the concrete, I sprinted as fast as I could away from the alley I had died in last night.

      My legs moved faster than what I even thought possible; one of the afterlife perks I assumed (unfortunately non-bloodied clothing didn’t seem to be one of those perks). I kept running until my legs gave out and I fell to my knees, letting the sobs take over. My hair fell over my face, stiff with blood and no longer its usual pale brown.