02

W H O   A R E   Y O U ?

"W-Who are you?" I asked again. The guy took a step forward, keeping his expression serious.

"She was lying. Her heart was speeding up, and she was blinking rapidly. She knows that Daniel Choi," he said.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" I felt myself scream. A tear snuck itself out of my eye. I had a high tolerance to be scared, you'd never catch me scream in a horror movie or fear scared a shooting, but this guy who appeared out of nowhere scared me, he scared the hell out of me.

But before he could answer, he was gone.

I knelt down on the floor and felt myself weeping non-stop. The last time I had ever felt this scared was when my mother was killed 12 years ago in a kidnapping.

It terrified me.

Who was that guy?

Suddenly I felt my eyes reel backwards and I had flashback.

I was walking on the shore of the broad beach, staring out into the vast ocean. The soft drops of rain land on my head and through my hair, onto my shoulders. The grey clouds covered the whole sky, yet I found the beauty in it. Suddenly I came across a boy, maybe my age, with his legs swung over the wharf, smiling and laughing, taking in the whole experience of the place. I somehow identified with him, treasuring this rare opportunity to live in the moment.

I saw him stand up at that moment. I felt myself become disappointed, as if I knew he was about to leave and I wanted to continue watching him; he looked happy, as if this was the best moment of his life.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw him stand up and close his eyes, stretching his arms open and inhaled the air.

He took a step forward. Surely he wasn't going to jump, right, he was fully dressed and the wharf was up pretty high.

Another step. If he fell off the edge, he was surely going to fall in deep and drown. That wasn't what he was going to do, right?

Another step.

I became stiff. I wasn't able to move, as I just continued to watch him, helplessly.

Another step.

He was now on the edge, one more step and he would fall.

He smiled once more.

My heart was beating faster and faster but I couldn't move.

He closed his eyes and I felt myself rush to his side before he could take another step and I pulled him away from the edge.

"Woah!" he exclaimed, falling onto the floor.

"You shouldn't do that," I blurted out. I didn't know what to say, I had never stopped someone committing suicide before.

"Huh?" he looked very confused.

"Whatever you are going through, whatever feelings you have bottled up in you, you need to let it out, don't do this," I said, watching him slowly stand up and brush himself off.

"I can't. It's not something that I can overcome," he said.

"I'm sure of it. I just saw the happiness you felt when watching the ocean, you shouldn't throw it away like this," I said again.

"I can, because I'll never be able to be that happy again, I don't have anything to live for anymore."

"Parents?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Friends?"

He looked sad and shifted his eyes to the ground.

I grew desperate, I didn't want this kid to die when I have the chance to stop him.

"Tell me then. I'll be your friend," I said and walked closer to him.

"Huh?" he asked, looking up at me.

I didn't realise before, but now that his sad eyes were less empty, I could see the beauty he contained within him. His light brown eyes matched his light brown hair that flowed over his forehead, making his face look surprisingly good.

"Talk to me, I have nothing else to do anyway," I laughed and walked to a nearby bench. I sat in it and watched as he hesitated before joining me on the bench. "So do you want to tell me?"

He shook his head.

"Then generalise," I laughed.

He smiled at the ground. "I just don't want to run away from it all anymore, I don't want to stay there and take it anymore either. I want to be rid of it all but I don't know how," a tear slipped his eye.

I didn't know what to say. I just stared at him for a while, watching as he concentrated on his hands, playing with his fingers, as tears started to seep its way through his eyes over and over again. I could tell he was thinking, and he was thinking hard.

"Stop thinking," I said he immediately looked up to me. "Don't think too much about it. If you want to leave, leave. But running away never works, trust me. Don't take it, face it head on."

"I want to. I want to but I am-"

"Too scared?" I asked he nodded, sadly. I laughed, "You look too tough to be scared of anything."

"Well, I am," he smiled.

"If anything, I know that doing that won't help you in anyway," I said.

"It's easier said than done," he said, sadly.

"I'll tell you something about me," I said, "I don't know if this is in anyway relatable to your situation but I'll tell you anyway." I looked out into the ocean. "My mother was kidnapped and killed a few years ago," he boy looked at me, shocked. I smiled, "yeah, and before I used to be scared of the littlest things; spiders, clowns, the dark, but I'm not anymore. I don't get easily scared anymore and that's because I didn't run away when my mother died. I knew that wasn't going to help, oh how I wanted to disappear from this world so badly. My mother was my life, I didn't know anything else apart from her. But I continued to live each day, and patch up my broken pieces together and look at where I am today," I smiled.

He smiled too.

"So don't think about doing that again. I know you have some people in your life that care about you, if you do that, you'll only be hurting them."

He nodded, still looking to the ground.

I stood up, "Well, that was a nice talk," I laughed.

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