"Just do it already!"
The voice cut through the rain, sharp and mocking.
I froze, one foot on the ledge, staring down at the river raging below me. My heart pounded, my breath fogging in the cold night air, but the voice had me turning, unsure whether I'd imagined it.
There he was. A man standing at the other end of the bridge, leaning against the railing like he didn't have a care in the world. His hood hid most of his face, but I caught the glint of his teeth—too sharp, too white—as he smiled.
"What are you waiting for?" he called, his tone casual, even friendly, as if he were chatting about the weather. "You've already decided, haven't you? So just do it. No one's going to stop you. Hell, no one's even going to miss you."
I swallowed hard, my throat tightening. The wind whipped rain against my face, cold and biting, but I barely felt it. His words hit harder than the storm ever could.
"No one asked you," I muttered, barely loud enough to hear over the rain.
"What's that?" he called back, his voice teasing, taunting. "You're going to have to speak up, you know. Oh, wait—you've never been good at that, have you? Orphan. Quiet. Forgotten. Invisible."
My chest tightened. I took a step back from the ledge, my eyes narrowing. "Who the hell are you?"
"Me?" His smile widened, and something about it was… wrong. Unnatural. "I'm just someone passing by. Someone who sees you for what you are."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
He laughed, a low, mocking sound that sent a shiver down my spine. "A stray dog. Too timid to bite, too useless to save… Always hoping someone will notice you, but too scared to fight for it. Let's be honest: the world would be better off without you."
The anger came out of nowhere, sudden and hot, drowning out the cold and the rain. My hands curled into fists, shaking as I took a step toward him. "Shut up! You don't know anything about me!"
"Oh, but I do," he said, his voice calm and venomous, like poison dripping from his lips. "That's why I'm here."
I opened my mouth to shout something back, but the words caught in my throat. His smile—it was stretching now, too wide for any human face, his teeth shining in the rain like the edge of a blade.
A chill ran down my spine. And then, suddenly, the ground was gone.
I slipped.
It started earlier that day, but when I thought back on it, everything felt like a blur.
The hum of my computer fan. The flickering glow of my monitor. The faint smell of instant ramen and spilt soda lingered in the room.
I had just finished beating the final boss in a game I'd been grinding for weeks. The dragon had fallen in a flash of light, its roar shaking the battlefield as it crumbled into ash. My character stood victorious, golden hair gleaming in the blood-red sunset as cheers erupted from the pixelated crowd.
The camera zoomed in, capturing the hero mid-pose as his name flashed across the screen. As the NPCs in the background cheered his name.
He was everything I wasn't.
He was loved, I was invisible. He had friends and family, I had me and my loneliness. He was brave and strong. I was weak and timid. The list was… endless.
I leaned back in my chair, the adrenaline from the fight already fading, replaced by the familiar emptiness that always crept in after moments like these. I stared at the screen, my reflection ghosting across the monitor's surface. Pale. Tired. Worthless.
The apartment around me wasn't much better. Dirty laundry piled in one corner, stacks of empty takeout boxes littering the desk. I thought about cleaning up once or twice, but what was the point? No one ever came here. No one cared.
I glanced at my phone. No messages. No missed calls. Just a notification from some game I hadn't played in months.
The rain tapped against the window, its dull rhythm filling the silence of the room. I stared at it, trying not to think about how long it had been since I'd spoken to anyone—really spoken to them, not just a few words exchanged in a game lobby or a half-hearted comment on a forum. Days? Weeks? Longer?
I used to think life could get better. Back when I still cared. Back when I thought someone might see me, understand me. But that hope had burned out a long time ago, drowned in years of rejection and abandonment. Foster homes that felt more like prison cells. Parents who couldn't bother to stay. Bullies who reminded me, day after day, just how little I mattered.
Eventually, you stop hoping. You stop dreaming. You stop trying.
I stopped trying.
But the funny thing about giving up is that it doesn't make the pain stop. It just makes it quieter, like the hum of my computer or the patter of rain.
I thought about that as I stepped out into the storm, the cold air biting at my skin. My jacket was stiff and dirty, but I barely noticed. I kept my head down, walking through the streets toward the bridge.
The degrading and judgy eyes of the strangers bit deep into my soul.
The bridge loomed ahead, its steel frame disappearing into the night. The water below churned and roared, swollen from the relentless rain.
I climbed onto the ledge, the wind tearing at my clothes, the rain soaking me to the bone. I stared down at the river, watching it rage below me.
I lifted one foot, balancing on the other. My heart pounded in my ears. Life is such a fleeting thing. One little slip and it was over.
That's when I heard him.
My mind raced back to the present. The feel of the wind brushing my skin, the single teardrop on my cheek, blending with the rain. For a second I felt free. Free from a life of misery, torture and hatred.
I hit the water like a stone, the impact slamming the air out of my lungs. Pain ripped through my chest, sharp and unrelenting, and for a moment, all I could do was sink. The cold bit into me like a thousand tiny knives, crawling under my skin, seeping into my bones.
The river churned, its icy grip pulling me under as my limbs flailed uselessly. My muscles burned, my ribs ached, and my lungs screamed for air I couldn't find. I twisted, desperate, but the current spun me like a rag doll, dragging me deeper into the freezing void.
Pain consumed everything. My chest tightened until it felt like it might collapse, the sharp, clawing ache spreading to my head and limbs. My body convulsed, fighting for a breath that wasn't there. My vision blurred, and the faint light from above twisted into shapes I couldn't focus on.
And then, I saw it.
Through the murky water, the storm clouds above seemed to twist and shift, curling into shapes that didn't make sense. It wasn't just a storm anymore—it was watching me. Grinning at me.
A devilish smile spread across the sky, its edges lit faintly by the storm's lightning. The clouds curled and stretched like they were mocking me, taunting me as the river dragged me deeper.
The laughter came next—deep and guttural, shaking through my chest like a vibration I couldn't escape. I thought I saw something else, high above the bridge. A figure. Horned. Wings outstretched. It didn't move, but its presence was suffocating, its cruel smile sharper than the water tearing at me. Its white pearls glinted as brightly as that stranger.
"You thought it would end here," the voice whispered. It came from everywhere and nowhere, threading through the water and sinking into my skin. "You thought disappearing would make it stop. That the world would forget you."
My lungs burned as the last of my air escaped in a rush of bubbles. The cold stabbed deeper, numbing my fingers and toes, but the voice kept going, low and mocking.
"But I haven't forgotten you." The laughter swelled, filling the river. "I see you. I've always seen you."
My limbs stopped thrashing. The pain in my chest gave way to a hollow ache, an emptiness deeper than the river itself. My body floated, stubbornly alive for a few more seconds, though I could feel the end coming.
The last thing I saw was that wicked smile etched across the clouds, stretched impossibly wide like it had been waiting for this moment all along.
In my final moments, as the darkness closed in, one thought flickered stubbornly in my mind:
If I could start over… if I could have a family, a place to belong… maybe this time, it would be different.
The world went silent.
And then, nothing.
Absolute silence.
A void.