As he woke up and looked at the clock, panic began to gather in the eyes of 22-year-old Thomas when he realized he might be late for work. This was until he noticed that he was unjustly dismissed two days ago due to a mistake made by his colleague, who shifted the blame onto him.
He had recently lost the girl he loved, and the worst part was that his best friend was the reason she left him.
As he thought about it, he couldn't find a reason to keep on living and enduring this agony, only to be disappointed by life again.
The only things that kept him going were his books. It was only his books that kept him alive because he could forget all his worries and immerse himself in the stories of happy lives that he could only wish for.
Thomas knew that he couldn't pay his rent this way, and it was just a matter of time until he would be kicked out of his one-bedroom apartment, leaving him with no place to peacefully read his books.
Thomas would have taken his own life already if he didn't believe that after death, one simply disappears, and he wouldn't be able to read anymore.
When he opened his phone to check if there were any job opportunities in his area, he noticed an ad from a small construction company that read: "Construction worker needed, no training or specific qualifications required. Payment based on performance. If interested, contact us at wesearchyou@gmail.com."
The ad had indeed sparked his interest, as Thomas didn't have any special qualities that would set him apart. So he contacted the company and asked if he could start there and, if so, when?
Two days later:
As the company had very few workers at the moment, Thomas could start almost immediately, which was advantageous for him as he urgently needed money.
He was assigned a colleague who showed him everything and guided him around to explain his tasks, mainly assisting with laying cables to simplify the work and save time.
The construction site he was sent to was a 20-story building intended to be a new office building for many companies.
His assigned colleague, Jimmy, was also new to the company, but unlike Thomas, he was a trained electrician. However, Jimmy had a lazy and unreliable appearance. Whenever he could cut corners to save time, he did so, endangering not only his own safety but also that of other people on the construction site.
"Can you hold this cable here for a moment?" That was the question Jimmy probably asked him 20 times that day. "Sure!" And as always, he did it, even though Jimmy could carry his tools with him, which would prevent him from always holding the cable and saving time. But Thomas didn't care, as long as he received his payment and could continue reading his books.
ZZZ
That was the last sound he heard before being pushed from behind while trying to lift a new cable tray from the ground.
He felt time slowing down as the window slowly approached him. No, it was him moving toward the window, and his eyes widened as he considered all the possibilities of holding on and not falling from the 18th floor. But there was no way to hold on.
As he felt his head touching the glass, he knew his life was over, and he wouldn't survive this.
He thought about what he had done to die from an electric shock, caused by his colleague who had pushed him. He couldn't find anything he had done wrong. Not only that, but he had been living a fairly normal life until his 16th birthday when the police came to his door and informed him that his parents had died in an accident involving a police car, as the officers were chasing at an excessive speed.
At that moment, when the police got away without punishment, he developed severe depression, which led him to almost attempt suicide twice.
At his lowest point, he found a new hobby, reading fantasy novels. He always compared himself to the protagonists and thought that his life might someday take a happy turn, as it often happened in many stories. And when he finally found a well-paying job and a good friend who was always there for him to talk about his problems, he thought that this was the turning point for him to be happy.
When he found a girlfriend whom he truly loved, this belief only strengthened, until the day she told him, "I'm sorry, but I love your best friend." That day, his world collapsed.
And when he lost his job, he plunged back into his novels, which acted like a drug for him, only to die miserably four days later - because of an electric shock!
As he thought about it, only one sentence came to mind:
"Finally, my suffering comes to an end."