Now here she was standing at the edge of the rooftop, the weight of it all finally too much to carry, sobbing uncontrollably, tears rolling down her pretty face, her eyes heavy and red from crying.
She had already made up her mind to jump.
The thoughts of how her mother, father, and Imogen would react when they finally hear the news of her suicide lingered on her mind — she knew her mother would be last to hear.
Would they miss me? Would they hate me?
She thought in silence
What if I end up in a coma again… I don't want that…
Still deep in thoughts when she heard his voice cut through the tension, low and deliberate.
His first word seemed to carry a weight, as if it had been forged in silence and tempered by years of experience.
"Jump," Alexander Sinclair's voice echoed from a distance behind her.
Aliyah turned her head, her heart skipping as their eyes met, thick clouds above the sky cast a dull mist over everything, making him blurry to see from Aliyah's soaked eyelashes.
She blinked, trying to clear her vision.
"You think it's worth it?" His voice cut through the silence again, mocking and sharp.
"Worth ending your life for?" Alex continued…
He took a slow and steady step forward, his gaze on her, and added, "Go ahead, jump! Prove to the world how weak you truly are."
Without waiting for her response, he turned away, heading back toward the rooftop door, his footsteps fading with each step, never once looking back at her.
A harsh thunder rumbled overhead, and rain poured,, drenching Aliyah as she flinched from the sudden storm.
Her body trembled as she moved away from the edge of the rooftop.
Crying even more as her tears flowed more freely, hugging herself tightly with both arms around her waist as if she was trying to hold herself together, and sat slowly on the ground, pressing her back against the corner of the cold building.
The rain hit her skin like a thousand tiny needles, but it did nothing to numb the pain that was inside her heart.
Her mind spun trying to make sense of the words he'd thrown at her.
"Go ahead, jump! Prove to the world how weak you truly are."
Who was he to say such things and simply walk away?
To make her feel so small?
Was he some kind of twisted savior, sent to show her the harsh truths of her own weakness? Or was he the devil telling her what she truly needed to do?
The thoughts shadowed over her mind.
Aliyah left work early that evening, her damp clothes clinging to her skin as she ignored the cold. She had been sitting on the wet ground on the rooftop even after the rain had stopped.
She didn't care to dry herself off, there was no energy left in her to even think about it. As she stepped into the lobby, her coworkers paused and turned, their gazes heavy with surprise and confusion.
They wondered if she had finally gone mad.
She looked pale with dead eyes and said nothing as she fetched her purse from her unit, ignoring all their comments.
Walking unsteadily to the exit of the building, a familiar voice, panicked, cut through the fog in her mind.
"Oh my God! Liyah! What happened???"
Imogen's voice rang out, sharp with concern and worry, drawing her back to reality.
Her hands reached out to Aliyah's drenched clothes, dusting them with her fingers, moving anxiously as if that would somehow help her get dry again..
"Baby, you're soaked…" Imogen stood up straight.
"Was it your co-workers? Did they do this? Were they bullying you again??"
Aliyah's eyes looked at Imogen as she said those words.
So you knew…
The realization settled heavily in her chest.
You knew I was being bullied and did nothing about it until now….
Aliyah thought with her eyes looking more dead.
Her gaze grew colder. Her heart knotted in disappointment.
Imogen's concern felt distant — she couldn't shake the feeling that the support she had always longed for had never truly been there.
Without a reply, she carefully grabbed Imogen's left hand that was still on her shoulder and gently tossed it away.
Aliyah walked away through the exit silently to the parking lot, into her car.
Her mind went back to when she first bought the 2022 Honda Civic last year.
That calm afternoon after paying for it, she drove to the hospital to pick up her dad, and his eyes smiled with pride when he watched her get off the car,, flinging her car keys in the air at him with so much excitement.
"My perfect girl," Her father, James, said to her as he finally hugged her in congratulations.
Aliyah shook her head to remove the memory from it and finally started her car and drove off.
She got home a few minutes later, after a long, hot shower, the warmth of the water soothed her aching muscles, and when she stepped out, she dressed in comfortable sweats, soft and cozy.
She prepared her favorite honey-sweetened hot chocolate with a generous amount of whipped cream in her favorite glass mug and a plate full of fresh chocolate chip cookies she had baked earlier that morning.
Sitting on her chair, munching on the cookies in front of her laptop on the reading table, with her computer glasses sitting on her nose, their lenses glowing from the reflection of the screen.
Just as she was getting lost in her work, her phone rang — she knew it was Imogen…
With a quick swipe, Aliyah silenced the call and focused back on her laptop screen.
Not even a minute passed before her phone rang once again. This time, she ended the call.
She got up and lay down on her pink princess bed, stretched out in comfort — she had always had an interest in cheerful, bright colors in choices of items she owned. They reminded her of simpler times.
Relaxed on her bed when she heard the sudden pounding at her front door — the bangs were too loud, too urgent not to be someone familiar.