Fiend

A jolt ran up my spine as I felt a hand grab my wrist. I was dangling in mid-air when I looked up at him. His eyes showed anger, betrayal. He was yelling profanity as he used both of his hands to pull me up.

“Please let me go.” I pleaded to him.

“Marina, no! What the fuck are you thinking?” Liam wasn’t very strong so I could tell he used all of his body mass to pull me back to the surface.

“I was thinking that I wanted to leave.”

“Don’t you understand? This is not the way to fix the problems within your life.”

“But if I’m gone, I won’t have any problems to worry about.” I struggled against his grip.

“Don’t you dare think of doing that. If you fall, I’m going in after you!”

“But the impact will kill us both.”

“Exactly!”

“Liam, I just want to die.” I whispered.

The rest of the apartment complex was staring at the scene. Some of the spectators screamed and gasped. I looked down at others who watched in awe at my bravery and guts. Then my attention turned back to Liam, who was struggling to keep me afloat. After a few minutes, there were other men and women who rushed upstairs to help rescue me from my disastrous suicide attempt. I was pulled back to the land; not the ocean where I wanted to be.

The emotions inside of me were non-existent. There was no will inside of me to cry or scream. I was depersonalized as Liam embraced me tightly and cried on my bare shoulder. The neighbors watched us for a few minutes, waiting to lunge in case of another outburst. Liam finally told them to “go away” after repeating “thank you” multiple times to my shoulder.

“I can’t lose you.” Liam was choking on his words.

“I doubt I even mean anything to you.” The words blurted out of my mouth. The look on his face said it all.

“How could you say that when I killed your own father for you?”

There were no more words to say.