The Jumpers (Short Story)

      Doom was our nature. Only in suffering were we one, so we sought it. We were fools, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. But times were good. She was intelligent and quite capable at maintaining the most eerie of conversations. We shared many questions, but no answers.

      At times it was the very bond that we put under interrogation. We wondered if we were rushing into a trap set by ourselves. I would say she was beautiful, but that says nothing. It is a subjective truth. By calling her beautiful, I subject her to the ideal in my head. The closer to it that she is, the more beautiful she is. But that is meaningless. Her appearance caught my eye, but it was her words that drew me in.

      She always asked me why it was I was being so serious, but she very well knew the reason. It was a game, playful banter that we would reflect upon in times apart. In times of the inevitable, we would come together, our suffering amplified by the feeling of always being an inch away. It saved our lives. It destroyed our livers. For her, I jumped away from certainty and fell into that cliche falling. She did the same. It was impulse, but not satisfying. With every fall came the impending inch. All we could do was wait for it to end. All we could do was hit rock bottom.

      Our relationship was as such. It was the pleasant horror of jumping to one's doom. We called the reaper, but he just watched. We ran away, only to trip and begin again. The pain was dreadful, but she was fascinating. Each time we fell farther and farther, getting lost within each other. But the shadows above never left us to be. We were haunted by the past, the present, and the future.

      Yet, we always returned. If I had any reason to climb back up, it was to fall with her again. We were so beautifully drawn to the plummet, our sacred union. Through the fast moving darkness, I learned to say goodbye while concealing my heavy heart. But without it lightened, the climb was impossible. So I yelled it all, expressed it from the bottom of my heart up. At first she did not hear me. My words fell on empty ears. With time, she grew to listen and eventually she paid attention. She would call back and answer from time to time. I always thought she knew I had bee thinking about her.

      Once she asked me why I chose her.

      “Because you will jump with me.”

-Zero