W-who are you?" Mark asked with cold eyes.
The stranger's expression transformed, from calmness to surprise and then back.
"Huh, you noticed? Wow, I guess there's no point hiding it from you".
"....."
"I'm not the same person with whom you were discussing with a while ago, but my identity isn't important, all that matters is you". The man said while pointing at Mark.
Mark was a bit taken aback by those words, he hadn't heard anyone say such things to him before, but he had enough experience to not take the intruders words at face value.
"I'll ask again....who are you?" Mark asked, this time more resolutely.
"Let's not dwell on my identity shall we, we need to discuss more important things right now".
Mark didn't buy it.
He grabbed the intruder by his collar then asked again
"WHO. ARE. YOU?"
"Now now, there's no need to get violent. Like I said, we have more important discussions to attend to". He said again, not even batting an eye at Mark's obvious threat.
'who the heck is this person, he doesn't want ti release his identity but instead want's to talk about 'more important' discussions'.
Mark thought for some time again before deciding to see where this was going. He left the man's collar but his tone had become cold.
"Speak". He said simply, his voice befitting that of a man who had experienced the bitterness of the world in it's entirety.
"Alright, now you're talking!" The man said excitedly, but Mark just kept glaring at him.
"Ahem". He regained his composure before adding.
"I'll start with a question. Why do you need to die?"
Immediately the words left the man's mouth, veins bulged out on Mark's head, he was clearly pissed off at the very stupid question.
"What the hell! Didn't you listen to anything I just said? If you did, then you ought to be asking how I haven't killed myself yet!" Mark yelled.
"Hear me out, first. I understand that fate hasn't been treating you nicely, but is that any reason to end your story?"
"What....the f*ck does that even mean. I already finished telling my story and I don't remember mentioning that I ever wrote a book". Mark said, confused at the stranger's choice of words.
"Sigh.....it seems you don't understand, let me explain. A story is the complete depiction of the life of a character. The story describes a character in all of it's completeness, it answers the questions that even the characters themselves are unable to answer. Everybody has a story, and all stories are part of the one great story".
"Uhhhh, what?" Mark was still confused at the stranger's wierd choice of words. He had read quite a few books when he was a kid, most of which were fiction, but he was never of fan of cryptic descriptions like this one. Simply put, he didn't like riddles.
"It seems that even you don't understand. Honestly, I just never know what THEY are thinking...chosing someone like you".
"What!" Mark still couldn't make sense of the stranger's words, but he was determined to find out.
"Who are 'they'? And what do you mean by it chose someone like me".
The stranger looked at Mark for some time, contemplating something, before he said:
"There's no point in explaining it anyway, a lower class mongrel like you would never understand". The stranger said, the disgust evident on his tone.
"You...." Mark said, he was being insulted by someone he didn't know. Normally, he would try to find out the stranger's identity to know if he could afford to meddle with him, but he didn't have such reservations anymore.
'i am about to kill myself and even if I don't, I'll end up dead by tomorrow anyway. There's no reason why I shouldn't put this bastard in his place'. Mark thought. He had long since resigned himself to his fate, death.
Mark closed the distance, all the while cracking his knuckles. The stranger noticing this turned away while saying:
"I have no intentions of fighting you, if you want to kill yourself then please be my guest. After all, only the character knows how to end their story best". The man said with a scoff while turning and walking away.
He walked for some time before turning his neck to take one last look at Mark, who was still staring at him venomously.
"What a waste. Even though you are stupid, you're story had so much potential". He said before disappearing through the roof's door. The words weighed on Mark's mind for a long time, he had completely failed in understanding any of the stranger's words. He thought about the conversation for a few seconds before coming to a conclusion.
'oh well. Those are not the problems of a dead man'. He mind shrugged.
Mark proceeded to climbing the railway on the roof again, in preparation to jump.
It wasn't like he was having second thoughts about it, it was that he wanted to at least cause a little ruckus before going out. He wanted his presence to be felt by others at least once in his life, the reason why couldn't matter less to him at this point.
'damn....they won't even look at me huh...I guess I'm destined to die as an insignificant existence'. Mark thought, then closed his eyes and spread him arms out.
It was at the exact moment of these thoughts that a fifteen year old girl who was visiting the city to see her uncle for the first time in a while spotted him. The girl had been looking around excitedly since she hadn't been to the city in a while until she saw a man, standing on a buildings roof, eyes closed and arms spread out.
She immediately understood his intentions and pointed upwards in a panic, people saw her and followed her gaze to notice the man on the roof. As more and more people bacame aware, some just murmured and debated whether or not he was actually going to jump, some started calling the news while others started taking pictures while simultaneously posting on social media.
Mark didn't know, but he had the entire street's attention for that moment. He jumped.
For a moment, time seemed to slow down before Mark felt the wind blow against his face as gravity took over and he started plummeting. He knew he was going to die, yet for some unexplainable reason, his heart couldn't stop racing. His adrenaline peaked and a smile drew itself on his face.
For the first time in his life, mark felt an emotion that he could only ever dream of feeling, Mark felt......happy.
The onlooking spectators saw his smile and became even more horror filled.
"I-is he insane.....?" Was what most thought.
In a few seconds, his body hit the hard ground with a 'splat!'.
His blood splattered all over as all his bones shattered simultaneously alongside his brain. He died instantly, but the smile never disappeared from his face.
***
In another place, far far away from earth.
"We did it, we actually did it!"
"We managed to save both of them".
Two midwives rejoiced as they each held one baby, they had just successfully delivered twins after an intense labour session.
"Congratulations ma'am! You did it! You pulled through and gave birth to a boy, and a girl!" One of them shouted as they handed the babies that they had just cleaned up to their mother.
The mother hurriedly embraced both of them and brought them close to her bosom while looking at them both affectionately.
Mark was slowly regaining his consciousness, he didn't know why but he felt......strange.
'huh! I thought I died, did someone take me to the hospital?....even if they did, is it even possible to save someone who had already died?'
'i smell a lot of blood and urine, as well as a tiny of....wait, is that feaces?'
'damn, it smells horrible! Did I seriously sh*t myself during the operation..... Not like I ever wanted to be saved, whoever brought me here should send me back to the afterlife dammit!'
Mark could feel himself gaining feeling in his body, he then decided to open his eyes as soon as he could.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and the light returned to his vision. He could see a person, but his sight was too blurry so he couldn't quite make out who it was.
It took about an entire minute before his vision regained focus and he could finally see the person. He was greeted by the smiling face of a beautiful woman. Her eyes were a gorgeous shade of light blue, her hair a beautiful white, but it was quite disheveled and it also smelt. Even though it was covered in urine, the woman's face was so pretty, and her smile warmed Mark's heart.
Beside her, he saw a man who was also smiling happily. He had black hair and brown eyes, his chin cleanly shaved and he hugged his wife closely while looking at Mark.
"Our twins are beautiful, honey". The man said while kissing the woman–his wife on her forehead.
'twins? What the hell, Is he talking about me.......' He turned his head to see another baby crying loudly. He instinctively searched for the gender's trademark and immediately discovered that it was a girl.
'holy sh*t.....' Mark thought as a sudden realization came over him.
"What should we name them?" Asked the man to his wife.
"Hmm...since the girl has your eyes, I'll name her after your grandmother. Her name will be Isabelle. The boy has my eyes so... Levi, named after my great grandfather".
"Isabelle and Levi huh, those are wonderful names". The man said as he hugged his wife even more.
'all the signs are there.... The nurses, the woman, the blood and other excretory products, the names and the other baby crying her a*s off. There's no doubt about it...'
'....i've been reincarnated!!' Levi exclaimed.