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001. Late Night Conversation With A Stranger

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"This is it," I said to myself. I took a deep breath as I looked down. I saw nothing but darkness. The only thing that was occupying me was the soft sound of the wind and the waves from below.

If you were wondering where I was and what I was doing, don't worry, I'm going to tell you anyway. I'm Tony Perry, 22 years old and I'm a failure. And here I was, standing at the edge (not literally) of a cliff in Meadow Grove where suicidal people always come here to jump off this cliff and drown themselves in the sea below.

People said that once you come here, with the intention of committing suicide or not, you will eventually die. I didn't know for what reasons but I hope it's true. I wanted to end my life. I was so sick of living.

One step and I will be able to reunite with my mother. One step and I will be gone. One step and I will escape from all the unnecessary responsibilities.

Ever since my mom passed away, I've been living with my dad whom I only see for like, an hour in a week. He was a busy man - a business man, to be precise. I was lonely at home with no companion. My sister, Valerie, went to a boarding school and she wouldn't be home unless it's summer or christmas.

It's not like I used to have friends in school either. I was just an outsider - someone who never belongs in anywhere. I was bullied because my dad was rich and now I'm finally out of the HellHole you guys called High School, I realized I was pretty much a hopeless person.

I wasn't skilled in anything, really. Most of the time, I spent locking myself in my room, just listening to some music and pretending that I was some sort of a rockstar. Pft, Tony Perry as a rockstar? Who was I kidding? I can't even handle a guitar properly let alone play the damned guitar.

But the thought of dying actually made me feel scared. Although I would be drowning if I took another step, I knew that I would probably have a higher chance of surviving because I can swim. But then again, I might just stay there and die because of the cold. And the thought of jumping and then got hit by a few large rocks on the way down actually scared the fuck out of me.

Maybe I should take pills instead.

Sighing, I backed away.

But taking pills scared the shit out of me too. Overdosing a certain drug will make your stomach become more acidic and eventually I will drown in my own spit. That wouldn't be a nice way to die.

You might be laughing at the absurdity of this. Yes, even when I'm going to die, I was still planning the best way to die without hurting myself. If you haven't noticed, I was an extremely picky person.

"Don't jump," I heard a disembodied voice say.

I didn't move. I was pretty sure I came here alone because no one comes to this fucking cliff in the middle of the night. Confused, I turned around and sure, the only thing I saw was my car. I was indeed alone.

The voice belonged to a man and I was certain of that.

"Seriously. Now back away."

‘Who the hell is that?!’ I thought.

Puzzled, I began to scan my surroundings. Sure, I was alone. I inhaled and exhaled. “Okay, don’t panic. That is just a figment of your imagination,” I convinced myself and before I could even turn around, I could feel a hand on my shoulder. A very cold hand.

Surprised with the sudden contact, I turned around to find a very tall – like very tall, taller than average dudes – guy with stubbles all over his chin. His big brown concerned eyes were looking at me and I noticed that he got his neck tattooed. His hair was pretty long for a guy, it reached his shoulder. And his hair was messy too. And did I mention the piercing on his lip?

‘God, what the hell is he?’

“You surprised me,” I gasped.

He looked at me, confused. He then tilted his head as he examined me. I felt weird when he was staring at me like that so I stood still. He then circled around me, touched my shoulder, my hair and I didn’t expect him to squeeze my nose.

“OW! What the fuck?!” I yelled out as he twisted my nose.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered. I rolled my eyes as I rubbed my nose. I was pretty sure that by then, it was already red. “You’re alive!” he let out a cry of joy.

“Yeah, duh. What does it look like? I’m dead?”

“I thought you were surprised to death. Like literally surprised to death.”

I let out a scoff. “You appearing out of nowhere won’t make me surprised to death,” I emphasized the last word and rolled my eyes. “Besides, it would be shitty if I died because I was surprised you came out of nowhere.”

The guy blinked. “That’s what always happens.”

I shut up. Slowly, I spoke, “What do you mean?”

The guy rubbed his chin and looked at me as he raised his eyebrow. “Wow, I must say that I am actually impressed by you.”

I didn’t know whether he was saying it sarcastically or he really did compliment me or whatever so I mockingly said, “Yeah, thanks.”

“No, really,” he seriously said. “I thought you were actually trying to kill yourself.”

That was actually embarrassing. It just showed that I am literally a failure. How can a suicide attempt go wrong? I must be the biggest idiot to ever live in this universe. I let out a fake cough and shook my head, “No. I was just wondering what lies beneath the… sea. You know, just checking out the cliff and shit.”

“That’s good. I’ve been trying to stop people that attempted suicides but they ended up dying anyway. I kinda fuck everything up,” he muttered.

“What are you – the suicide police or something?” I scoffed and then added, “And hey, where the fuck did you come from?”

He raised an eyebrow. “What?” I snapped. “Raising an eyebrow won’t actually let me know the answer.”

“Dude,” he called out. “I’m fucking floating.” He said it as if it was the most normal thing to say ever

“The fuck?”

“I’m fucking floating, see?” he said as he pointed the ground.

I scoffed and looked down and holy mother of God, he was fucking floating. I looked up and he was grinning as he floated in air, doing cartwheels and whatnot. “Holy fuck,” I muttered. I was so fucking surprised. Then my eyes widened in horror as I realized what he was… something that wasn’t human. I was too scared to run.

The guy smiled as he slowly put his feet back to the ground. He then approached me with a grin, “You get it, now?”

My breath hitched and before I know it, everything turned pitch black.

And the last thing I heard?

“Dude!”

Notes

hey lovelies.
I know I am not done yet with &TRIY but I decided to post the first chapter here! Woot

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Have a good night/day/wherever you are!