Remember Me

He was just a boy on the edge. Of a rooftop that is. It's rare people watch for things like that. They just keep on their way, minding their own business. I don't think I would have noticed him either.

I just happened to look up.

He was just standing there. It was as if he didn't even know he was so close to the edge. From falling. I noticed the bottle in his left hand, I watched it sway as he swung his arm back and forth as if he were deciding whether or not it was a good idea to let it fall. He took a sip instead and almost fell as he did so.

My breath hitched in my throat and I almost choked.

"You alright?" A man in a trench coat asked as he passed by. He didn't bother stopping, but he looked back at me as he waited for an answer.

My hand found my throat and I nodded dumbly back at him. "Yeah," I said. "I'm fine. Thanks."

I thought about telling him about the boy on the rooftop who looked like he just might jump. I wondered if it was a good idea or if it was just me butting into someone else's business. The man in the trench coat was gone before I could open my mouth anyways. But there were so many people walking up and down the street. Women pushing babies and other women walking as if they owned the place. Men in business suits trying to catch the train to the office and teenagers with holes in their faces who were thinking about ditching fifth period this afternoon.

Surely, I could have stopped one of them.

But I didn't. Instead I allowed my eyes to wander up the building until they found that boy standing there, looking down at everyone else. He must have felt so small. He stood there, watching, like he didn't get it. I could feel his thoughts and even though I couldn't see his face I knew he was wondering why everyone wasn't looking up. I knew he wanted to know why time didn't stop and why everyone was going about their day like there wasn't someone teetering on the edge of an apartment building.

I could feel everything. The wind blowing through his hair, the rapid beating of his heart in his chest. I could feel the thoughts racing through his mind at top speed.

"Boy," I thought, and said out loud. "Don't jump."

What could make him want to? That was the question. I imagined him leading some mundane life consisting of the same routine everyday. Waking up, having a cup of coffee, driving to work in some cubicle for a boss he couldn't stand. Coming home to a wife he may not love and some kids he wanted to wait to have, or maybe he went home to an empty apartment. Who knows.

Most of all, I imagined how sad he must have been. And when I looked up he was taking another drink and this time when he stumbled I really though he was going to fall. My hands found my mouth and I was gasping and hoping to God that he would catch himself.

A woman in a yellow dress passed me by and just so happened to see how scared I was. "Are you oka-" she stopped, followed my gaze, and her mouth fell open the same way mine had only seconds before she had stopped.

"Oh my God!" She shouted, and points up at the building.

Now, the crowd paused and everyone looked up. People whispered, people called 991. others didn't know what to do so they just stared.

I could feel his eyes on mine, and I didn't know what to do in that moment; he looked so distressed. Instinct told me to go up to that roof, so I did. I ran inside and took the elevator and a flight of stairs to the rooftop. When I reached him, the wind was harsher and colder and I wished I had worn a heavier coat.

"Hey!" I shouted.

He turned to see who I was, and I recognized him as the boy who sang those sad songs at the club on Thursday nights. Everyone loved him, but recently not so much because that guy from that grunge band everyone liked just died. Shot himself in the head.

The bottle in his hand shook the same way he did. Maybe from nerves, or maybe it was just the cold. "What are you doing up here?" He asked. His voice was smoother than it was when he sang.

"I know you," I told him. He tilted his head to the side. "You're that guy... the one who sings on Thursday nights. Right?"

He nodded. "And Saturdays. Thursdays and Saturdays."

I ignored the correction and took note of the sirens coming from the street below. "Are you going to jump?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders and looked away at the clouds for a short while. I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed some warmth into my arms.

"People tend to forget, you know?" He said.

I looked up and saw him looking at me. "What?"

"People forget, and... I don't want them to."

I didn't understand what he meant. I started to step closer towards him, blocking out the noises coming from the crowed. Total and complete strangers were yelling for him not to do it; telling him he had everything to live for and nothing to die for. "You're young!" They shouted. "Don't end your life now!"

When he saw me, his eyes locked with mine and I could feel him telling me to stop.

"Just leave me here, okay?" He said.

I stayed still, only jumping when I heard the sound of the bottle crashing and breaking into a million tiny pieces at my feet. The liquid pooled around the shards of glass in a way that almost struck me as poetic.

"Hey," he called out. I looked up, meeting his gaze for a few moments. His body was facing the crowed, but his head was twisted in my direction. He had the most beautiful green eyes.

"Remember me, okay?"

Without thinking I nodded in agreement. "Okay."

Then he was falling and I was running towards the edge of the building only to see him hit the ground. Blood spilled from his head the way it probably had when that singer from that grunge band blew his brains out.

"Oh my God," I muttered to myself, covering my mouth with trembling hands.

I watched the crowd circle around him gasping and wondering why on earth would such a young guy want to jump off of an apartment building.

All I could think about was this Thursday night and how nobody would even notice he wasn't there to sing his sad songs on stage. Nobody would even remember.