About Falling

(Inspired by the lyrics and music video for the song Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. Check it out here.)

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming/ Or the moment of truth in your lies/ When everything feels like the movies/ Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive.


He recalled the past few days of his life with a certain fondness that made his chest hurt. His heart was racing in his chest as he glanced over the edge, over his feet, at the dark water below. The sound of speeding cars behind him honking their horns alerted him to the fact that if he took too much longer someone might try to stop him.

He closed his eyes and smiled. He could see her now- her oh-so-pale skin framed by long, dark brown hair, her blue eyes staring past him. He'd been just a stranger to her. Just another person she passed by every day on the street.

He spread his arms wide, feeling the light sea breeze on his fingertips. He sighed and let himself fall forward.
---

Three Days Earlier


He watched her. From his tiny, round apartment overlooking the popular four-way street of London, he saw everything. By simply leaning against the window and gazing out at the corners, he learned who the people were. There was the businessman that he'd nicknamed George. George was quite a serious man, but after watching him, our protagonist concluded that he was a lonely man who tried to hide his sadness.

But the one our 'hero' (because the protagonist is generally the hero of the story) enjoyed watching the most was the beautiful woman that walked past his apartment every day. It wasn't that he was some kind of sick pervert- he was like George. Lonely, with nothing to do with his life. He just sat up in his room all day. Watching people was the only way to understand what others were like. It was the only way to know what was going on in the world without actually leaving his small home.

And she was so beautiful. She was petite but she had a full body, and she looked like she would be a good mother. He thought that if he ever wanted to marry and have children, she would be the perfect woman. She was generous, always helping people with things. He found himself falling in love with this woman that he didn't even really know.

He had to actually communicate with her, or his entire life would have gone to waste.

One afternoon, around the time that she usually appeared outside, he rushed down the stairs to his front door. It squeaked as he opened it- he hadn't gone out for a while and had been living off canned foods- and a gust of fresh air filled his lungs. He stepped out onto the sidewalk.

He couldn't have waited long before he saw her, making her way through the crowds, right towards him. For a moment he wanted to run back inside, escape the world, forget about this woman, but his feet wouldn't let him move. He'd become apart of the sidewalk, and it wasn't until she was a foot away that he found himself in control again.

"Excuse me," he breathed, reaching out to her. She stopped and her eyes met his.

He kissed her. Time seemed to hold still for those few seconds. He realized that his arms were around her and he pulled away, shocked with himself. Her eyes were wide with the same emotion.

"I don't want the world to see me, because I don't think that they'd understand," he explained in a hushed voice. "But when everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am."