Little Things

The building itself is quite magnificent. It stands in the middle of the city overlooking the lake. A condo, for the rich that has the view of the city that celebrities would die for. It’s twenty stories high. Of course, that’s a lie. It’s nineteen stories high but due to human superstitious beliefs the thirteenth floor is renamed the fourteenth. Which to me doesn’t make sense because the change is only by name and you can’t physically change a thirteenth of something to fourteenth when there’s only thirteenth of something! If superstitions are to be real, bad luck will happen regardless because the state of the fourteenth floor is still the thirteenth thus providing the required ingredients for the superstition. Changing the name would not make any difference but to just adhere to the shallowness of the naïve.

The weather’s sunny, but a little bit of clouds marking the start of a rainfall in a few days. The winds are steady. Apparently when you have a building this tall, at the top you can feel the building sway during a heavy wind moment. I don’t know if that’s true. If it is then, I’ll be damned that’s some fucked up scary situation. I’m not afraid of heights but like every normal human being you get that tight gut wrenching feeling when you look down and you realize that you’re hundreds of feet above sea level. Now add to that the very thing your feet are standing on decides to move back and forth left to right or how the fuck ever.

The fourteenth floor is like any other floors. A bunch of rooms accommodating the people that can afford such a place. Every room has a balcony that overlooks the city. Every balcony is the same. Uniformity is the name of the game. It doesn’t matter how much you paid for the room. All of it looks the same from the outside. All the balconies look the same from the outside. The only difference right now is that in one of them, there’s a boy standing over the railings looking down, while holding tight to the wall that separates the rooms together. It didn’t take a hot minute for someone to notice and realize what’s going to happen next. 911 was called. Everything happened too fast. The common “HE’S GOING TO JUMP” flew across everyone’s ear canals with the accompanying, “CALL 911”as if they can’t call the number themselves. Everyone from their mother to their dog were looking at their windows looking up and some looking down trying to discern what was going on. A man from the floor right below said, “Get down there kid!” Looking at it I think those were poor choices of words. I think that the kid does want to get down.

It didn’t take long for the cops to arrive. They got into the room very quickly with the help of the building’s maintenance people. Getting a hold of the kid was a different story though. For one the door separating the balcony and the main room was barred. It took a while for the police to open it. Morons didn’t think that the kid could have jumped off but what can I say? The door opened.

A man, tall enough, eyes hidden behind very thick reading glasses came out. He stood there for a second, looking at the kid and sighed. He started to inch closer while delivering the routine introduction protocols for such a situation.

“Step any closer and I’ll jump.” The kid said. The man just blinked and decided to take the kid seriously.

“Alright” he says. “What’s your name kid?”

The kid didn’t say anything back, but just kept staring at the horizon. The sun is about to go down. The sky is already baked with the orange halo.

He could have an easier shift, he could have stayed home, he could have done this and done that, but no. He has to deal with this nonsense. Why do they advertise themselves anyway? Like this for the world to see. If they wanted to off themselves why not do it in private. The police manual mandates that the aggressor must be dealt with tact for any sudden movement could cause a fatalistic outcome. To him, natural selection is at play. If the kid is weak and can’t handle the meager years he be on earth then natural selection dictates that such individual species will not survive. Just because this kid hate himself and the world doesn’t mean I’ll have to miss more important things. I have bowling to go to!

“Hey mister, can I tell you something?” the kid asks.

“Sure kiddo. You can tell me anything, and don’t worry I wont move from here. I’ll stay in this right corner you see?” The kid wasn’t even looking. That’s it he thought. Keep him talking and distracted. The more time the people downstairs can prepare the net and the balloon bags. If this kid decides to jump. He’ll be in a rude awakening. He’ll have bruises but he will live and he’ll be locked up with the other delinquents.

“When I was younger, my dad brought me this toy.” The kid started. “I loved I every much. I played with it all the time. It was the best thing ever. It had articulations. That means you can move joints and stuff. It was mine and I love it. One time my dad planned a fishing trip with just me and him. I was so excited. I remember I couldn’t sleep that night and I just pretended while I play with my toy. It was the only one I have and I didn’t have any friends because, I don’t know I wasn’t… the other kids my age didn’t like what I like… I guess… but it was my favourite toy.” The kid paused. Arms to his side stiffed with his fist closed so tight it’s surprising that his fingernails wasn’t making him bleed already.

“Are you okay kid?”

“Oh, yes. Sorry, it’s just that… Sorry. Okay…”

“Okay you were going fishing with your old man”

“Okay, yes. Yeah. I was, I mean I was so excited. The next day we got ready. He woke me up at around 4 am, because he said something about the early bird gets the early worm and we needed worms for bait. I find the worms gross. He told me to cut them in half, because where we were the fishes were not that big for a full grown worm. It was gross, but I didn’t mind I was having fun. It was fun for a moment, but I got bored. While he does the waiting, I took out my toy and started playing. He didn’t notice. I was having fun, but I was careless and so so stupid. I wasn’t mindful. I wasn’t taking care of my stuff of what I had. I dropped it. I wish I could say it slipped. But I was stupid…”

“Hey kid stop it!” He yelled and almost forgot to stay put. The kid started hitting himself with his left hand. Fist to face multiple times. The man could hear every thud, knuckle to skull, repeating in that order. The kid wasn’t hitting softly.

After a few seconds the kid stopped. He almost forgot that if he had moved an inch the kid would have dropped stories down and that wouldn’t be a pretty sight. Those morons below are doing a hella slow job. What are they doing anyway? He hasn’t gotten the signal that everything is set downstairs.

“It was my fault” he said. “You don’t understand.” While he wipes the blood dripping from his forehea.

“Do you want to hear another story?” He sobbed.

“I’ll get you another toy if you want kid. Don’t worry about it.” Ignoring what the kid said.

“It’s not the toy.” The kid pause again. “It wasn’t about the toy. The lake has it now.”

“Okay, how bout let’s talk about this somewhere. It’s getting chilly here.” The sun was almost down. You can still see it slowly setting.

Before the man could say another word, he got the signal that everything downstairs is a go. He sighed and started to chuckle.

“Okay kid. Game is up. It’s time you come with me.” He said as he inch close now. The kid turned around and looked at him and opened his right fist. Something dropped off his hand and started to roll towards the man. The man looked down at it. His eyes following it as it rolls coming to a full stopped at his right shoe. Then he realize what just happened.

In a split of a second the mans fist comes to a close but barely missed its intended target. The kid had jumped and he was too slow to prevent it, but in that moment he heard it on his ear piece. They got the kid. One of the nets caught him. He was shaking.

Everything is alright now. He stood back and gathered himself. He’s thinking about getting a drink after he files the paper work. Hell, get a drink AS he file the paper work. He was about to leave. His hand was on the door pulling it open. Everything is going slow. That’s when he heard it. A crunch sound. He looked down and lift his shoe. It was that thing that fell off the kids hand. It was a pill container. The ones you get from the pharmacy. It’s empty.