The Jumper

*Why is it that the people I haven't seen in years are the most frequent visitors to my dreams? Childhood friends from Alaska are always there in my dreams. This time it was a red-headed kid that I haven't even thought about since the fifth grade. I had this dream a few days ago. Last few nights have been stressful.*
I knew someone had jumped from this building.

It flashed blue neon lights, shining almost obscenely into the comfort of the night. The night smelled like wet pavement, and incense.

I casually pointed it out to you as we walked towards the building. That's the building he jumped from, I said to you. But you already knew about it. It was going to be our hostel for the night.

I had seen the jump from his point of view. I felt the anticipation, fear, and helplessness in the moment that his feet left the roof and he hung, suspended briefly in the air before the sharp and quick descent. I knew the certainty, as heavy as the thud I had landed with, that I was dead.

Jump.

It was a dorm-like hostel, and like many hostels in Asia, we had to remove our shoes before entering. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of shoes thrown carelessly in piles outside the door at the end of the stairwell. My eye caught the dirty yellow converse high-tops. We had to share the beds with strangers.

Then suddenly during the night, we both woke up with no apparent cause. But we both knew we had to go save the jumper -- he hadn't jumped yet. We were early to the event. We could stop him. We ran downstairs, but I couldn't find my shoes, so I grabbed the first pair of shoes I could find, the yellow converses. They were about 3 sizes too big and hung off my feet like clown shoes but I wore them anyways.

We ran out into the cool night air -- but we were too late.

He had already jumped.

The End.


Haiku
The night is silent
Expecting only the dawn
Yellow Converse shoes