A7X One Shots

The ground looked so small from this high up. Fifteen stories up was where things got tiny. I held onto the ledge as I stood up. I took in a breath and put my left foot out, but a hand wrapped around my upper arm before I could do anything.

“What are you doing?” a small voice asked.

I put my foot back on the edge and looked at the voice. She was a teenager with black dreads and a small smile. I blinked.

“Um… well… I…” How did you tell someone you’re trying to die?

“You want to kill yourself, don’t you?”

I nodded, not wanting to look her in the eye. For someone reason, I felt shame if she saw the truth in my eyes.

“My name is Dayna. Why do you want to kill yourself?” Her hand stayed wrapped around my arm.

“Well Dayna, I’ve been thinking about my life a lot and how quickly I washed it down the drain. Nothing matters now, and I’m to blame.”

“So, you want to die? You can change your life if you want to.”

“No, I can’t. Living’s a wicked dream where things turn out all wrong. Demons follow me, Dayna.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

Sighing, I carefully sat down on the ledge. “I tried to hide from the person I am, but I found out that all my reasons for insanity are all a part of me.”

“So what? Because you have some oddities, you want to die? I don’t believe you. You’re a liar.”

I looked at the young girl with her hand still on my arm. For some reason what she said was connecting with me, and I didn’t know why.

“I don’t like that you’re calling me a liar, Dayna,” I said softly. “Karma has beat me down for all the shit I’ve done and the worst is yet to come. I’m young, and I’ve made so many mistakes.”

“What are your demons? They can’t be that bad.” She patted my back.

“I can’t count how many times I’ve woken up in fear. I remember the dreams of promises I’ve made to myself that I crushed daily. Don’t lend me your hand, Dayan. I can’t trust myself. So, how can you trust me?”

Dayna frowned and stopped patting my back. “Who says I trust you? So what dreams did you crush?”

I looked over at the young girl talking to me. “I wanted to be a writer, but I never could finish a novel. So I changed to wanting to travel. I kept losing any job I got and couldn’t afford to go anywhere exciting, even in the U.S. Every dream I have had has been crushed by me getting in the way of myself.”

“And you want to kill yourself because you keep failing? Have you seen Rocky?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I have. But it’s too much failure.”

“So you’re making a selfish decision!”

“We’ve all made selfish, bad decisions, Dayna. We’ve all tried dishing out the blame, convinced ourselves of our own actions. My problem is I’ll never change.”

Dayna sighed. “What about your friends?”

“Friends won’t help me now. Hope is lost.”

“What about prayers?”

“Prayers won’t help me know. Hope is far too gone,” I said and stood up. “Demons… they follow me, cause of my insanity. I’m scarred, Dayna.”

“Don’t jump!” She came out onto the ledge with me and hooked her arm through mine. “Cause you’re killing me too.”

My heart started to race as I stared at her arm linked to mine. Was she crazy? This was my life to take, not hers. She had so much more life to live. Dayna was a much better person than me.

“Are you insane? Let go. These are my demons, and I get to choose what to do with it and with them.”

“And this is my life. So hush. You want to jump then I go with you.”

“Stop it, Dayna. You have a life to live. I don’t.”

Dayna sighed. “Are your demons that bad?”

“They follow me because I’m insane. Demons follow me everywhere.”

She let go of my arm and stepped back into the building. “Then jump, sir.”

I stared at her. “My name is Darius.”

Dayna smiled. “Nice to meet you, Darius. If your demons dare that bad, take your last step.”

“You think you can stop them? They’re big. All my friends have left me. Demons… they follow me.”

“So end it. Make the demons stop,” she said.

“Okay. Thank you, Dayna,” I said and stepped off the ledge. Demons… they wouldn’t follow me anymore.

Notes

This was a weird one... sorry?