Promise

A crowd of spectators lined the street below, all of them watching-all of them judging. Most of them were strangers, they didn’t know him. But it mattered little to him. All he cared about was that he had an audience, a way to convince himself he was at least not going to die alone.

But what did it matter? These people didn’t care about him. No one cared. Even his coworkers must have been baffled-didn’t he have the perfect life? Didn’t he have a lot of money, a nice car, and a big house in the nicest neighborhood?

Yes. Yes he had all those things.

But none of that mattered now.

Frank steadied himself, stepping up onto the ledge of the building. It was a fourteen story drop-it would hopefully be a quick death.

“Frank!” A familiar voice called out from behind him. “Frank!”

Charles Warner.

Frank turned, giving his coworker a cursory glance before turning back to look at the street and the crowd below.

“Frank, get down from there!”

“No. No, I don’t want to. Leave me alone, Charlie.”

“Come on, Frank, get down from there and let’s talk about this.” Charles’s voice was soft and placating, as if he were speaking to a child.

“No! I told you to leave me alone. You don’t understand!” Frank replied bitterly, his nails digging hard into his palms, ultimately drawing blood. “I’m tired of it. I’m just tired of all of it.”

“Tired of what?” Again he spoke gently, inching slightly closer to the young man standing on the ledge of their workplace.

“Of everything-especially life.”

“Come on, please don’t do this. If you get down from there we can talk this out. Everything will be all right, I promise.” Charles pleaded gently.

“You promise?” Frank snorted. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep. I know that it won’t be all right. And I’m tired of it. I want to end it all.”

“But…But why?” Charles had reached his side, placing a caring hand on his arm. “Please. Please don’t do this. There are people who love you whose hearts you’ll be breaking. Including mine-you’re practically my brother, Frank…”

Frank turned his head; dull blue eyes coming to rest on tear filled green ones. “It’s too late, Charlie. Please try and understand,” he said softly, mustering up a sad smile for his friend.

“Frank…Frank please!”

“I love you, and I love my family. Please remember that. I’m not doing this to hurt any of you.”

Charles stepped up onto the ledge beside his friend, taking his hand in his own. “If you’re set on doing this, then I’ll jump with you.”

“Why?” Frank returned his gaze to the street below, not wanting him to see the tears that were running down his face.

“Because you’re like a brother to me. We’ve been together since we were babies. If this is what your heart is set on and I can’t change your mind, then…I’ll do it too. I don’t want to live life with you dead.”

This was not what he wanted. He didn’t want Charles to jump with him-he didn’t want anyone to do this with him. He didn’t want them to take their lives because of his own insecurities and self loathing.

“Don’t do it, Charlie. You’ve got so much left to live for. You’ve got a wife, a son, and another one on the way. They depend on you, they love you. Jessica would be devastated if you died. And Damien is only two. Only two, Charlie!” Frank yanked his hand from his friend’s grasp. “You can’t do that to them.”

No, Charles had so much more left to live for. He couldn’t let him end his life because of him. Not when Charles had a family to care for.

“Then you can’t do it either. Damien needs his uncle. Your mother and father need you to be alive. I need you to be alive, Frank. You’re the only reason I didn’t do something stupid like this back when we were in school.” Charles replied with a frown, grabbing Frank’s hand again.

“I will jump with you. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“You’re a stubborn idiot.”

“I could say the same about you. Now either you climb down with me, or we’ll both jump. It’s your choice, Frank.”

Frank said nothing in reply. He only sobbed, growing more aware of the loud commotion from the people down below.

“Someone call the police!”

“They’re going to jump!”

“Oh my God, someone do something!”

“Someone stop them!”

“Oh my God!”

Frank shook his head and brushed away the tears that spilled down his face, tightening his grip on his friend’s hand. “Do you mean it? You’ll really jump with me?”

“I mean it just as much as you meant that you’d die with me.”

“Charlie, please. What you’re thinking of doing is stupid. It’s the worst choice you could ever make.” Frank placed gentle hands on his friend’s shoulders, searching his eyes for some reason that he would do this.

“Stupid? It’s not stupid! I have my reasons. But you wouldn’t understand.” Charles withdrew from his friend and cradled the revolver close, as if it were a security blanket. Tears stained his cheeks, and his normally lively green eyes were dull and listless.

“I can’t understand if you won’t talk to me about it. Come on, Charlie, don’t do this. You’ve got a family that loves you.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.”

“I love you at least. You’re like a brother to me, you know? I won’t let you do this, not alone.”

“What are you talking about?”

“If your heart is truly set on killing yourself, I’ll kill myself too.”

“....You…You mean that?” Charles’s voice cracked as tears spilled down his face. “You really mean that?”

“I do. I won’t let you go through anything alone-not ever. We promised that a long time ago, don’t you remember?”

Charles nodded. “I remember. It was…it back in first grade, wasn’t it? When we were both getting bullied by that girl, right? After that, we promised to do everything together, especially if it was serious.”

Frank nodded, pulling his friend into a hug. “Yeah, that’s right. And I meant it, too. When I said anything, I meant anything-including this.”

Frank lifted his gaze to meet Charles’s again. “…You promise?”

“I promise. I won’t let you go through anything alone, not even this.” Charles smiled gently at his friend. “If this is what you really want, I’ll do it too.”

“What about your wife and son?”

“I’m-” Charles’s voice cracked, “I-I’m sure they’ll manage without me. They’ll have to.”

There were sirens now-loud and wailing.

Frank turned away to watch the police cars and ambulance zoom onto the street from opposite corners.

He was running out of time.

“I’m not going to let you do that for me. Not with a family at home to care for.” Frank pulled his hand out of his friend’s grasp, blinking away tears.

“Didn’t you hear me the last time this happened, Charlie? I told you I’d kill myself with you if you really were set on ending your life.”

“I’m not going to let you do that!” Charles seemed to be a little angered by his suggestion. “You’ve got so much potential, Frank. Don’t end your life because of me.”

“Then don’t be stupid. Give me the gun.” Frank pulled the revolver out of his friend’s hands, setting it to the side.

“You have more potential than you give yourself credit for. You’ll be glad you didn’t do this. If you ever do this, don’t be surprised when we meet in the afterlife.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Maybe I am. But then again, we’ve always promised to do things together, right?”

“…Right.”

“I won’t let you do that. I won’t let you end your life because of me.”

Frank took a deep breath to steady his racing pulse.

Fourteen stories…Fourteen long stories. That wasn’t so bad. He could manage that.

His gaze wandered to the patrol cars. They were empty now.

He was out of time.

“This is something I have to do alone.”

With those final words, Frank stepped off the edge, screams of terror erupting below.

***

Nine months. Nine God damned months! Nine months since Frank had died. Nine months since his funeral.

By now, most everyone else had made an attempt to move on. But even with the birth of his second son and his promotion at work, Charles didn’t move on.

He couldn’t. He’d tried to talk Frank down, tried to get him to come to his sense-and he’s failed.

It was his fault that Frank was dead.

Charles sighed, reaching out to trace his friend’s name on the headstone.

His friend had jumped without him. And that meant he had broken their promise. But Charles could fix it.

In fact, he would fix it.

“Daddy!”

Charles flinched at the sound of his son’s voice. He turned to the tiny toddler, pulling him into his arms. “Hi buddy. Where’s mommy?”

Damien pointed to the car, where his wife was turned around to the backseat, no doubt watching their youngest child.

“Is your brother asleep?”

Damien nodded. “I wanna go home.”

“I know. We can go home in a little while, okay? How about you go back to the car? Daddy would like to be alone for a little while.

“Okay!” Damien smiled brightly, breaking out of his father’s hug and toddling back to the waiting car.

Charles smiled, turning back around to face Frank’s grave. “Too bad you weren’t here to see his little brother’s birth. He was the most beautiful baby in the nursery. Jessica insisted we name him after you, you know. And I hope he turns out to be a great man like you.”

Charles pulled a fake rose from his coat pocket, placing it on the grave. “It’s a shame,” he mused quietly, pulling a small yellow bottle from his pocket, “that I won’t see my boys grow up.”

It was his sleeping pills. But they would get the job done, anyways. They were the strongest he could handle; exactly what the doctor had prescribed him.

“We promised we would always go through thing together, didn’t we? Well, I can’t do anything about that now. But I’ll make sure we never have to go through something alone ever again.”

He popped the lid off, smiling at the pleasing clicking sound it made. He emptied the bottle into his palm, setting it aside.

This was it then.

He didn’t have much time now. His wife would get impatient and come to check on him.

He popped the handful of pills into his mouth, swallowing them down the best he could without choking.

“I promise…I promise that we’ll never, ever have to go through anything alone ever again.”

The world was growing fuzzy and black.

His heart was in his throat, beating wildly. The world around him spun at a terrifyingly dizzying rate while the ground rose up to meet him.

He hit the ground, collapsing on Frank’s grave. It was…it was comfortable there. It was almost warm, despite the mid-December chill and falling snow.

He didn’t want to leave-not yet. Not ever.

“Charles? Charles!” Jessica screamed.

“Daddy!” That was Damien.

“Charles you idiot…” A new voice joined the commotion, one that was slightly angry.

Charles blinked-once, twice, three times-trying to see through the fog in his vision. There was a third person there with his wife and children.

Frank was kneeling beside him, his face mere inches away. “Charles, you idiot-why would you do that? This is not what I wanted.”

“We promised…I like keeping my promises….” He replied quietly, grasping for Frank’s hand, only for his fingers to pass straight through his friend.

“We promised.”

The fuzzier and darker that his wife and children grew, the brighter and more vibrant Frank became.

But the vision only lasted a brief second before everything became dark.

“We promised, Frank. We promised.”