Lara's ash-blonde hair, which normally reached down to her waist, was a sea of waves in which the light caught and glittered. It played around a face of almost fragile beauty. Her skin was as pale as porcelain, dotted with freckles that danced across her nose and cheeks. Her eyes, large and almond-shaped, were the colour of melted ice, a pale blue-grey that alternated between cool distance and stormy depths depending on her mood. But today they were empty, expressionless, like the windows of an abandoned house. The long, dark eyelashes were sticky with tears that ran down her cheeks and made the freckles look like dark spots.
Her lips, full and sensual, were now compressed into a thin line that reflected her despair. They were lips made for laughing, for kissing, for whispering tender words. Lips that Mike had kissed countless times with a passion that took Lara's breath away.
The memory of those kisses burned like fire in her soul. Their first kiss, awkward and yet so full of longing, under the blossoming cherry tree in the park. The taste of Mike's lips, the scent of his perfume, the feel of his hands in her hair - everything was as vivid as if it had only been yesterday.
She had seen him for the first time in a café. He was sitting by the window, engrossed in a book, the sun shining on his brown hair and casting a golden glow around his head. Lara was struck by lightning. Never before had she seen a man so beautiful, so attractive. She had plucked up all her courage and approached him.
Their time together had been a fairytale. Long walks on the beach, romantic picnics in the countryside, cooking together in their small flat, talking for hours late into the night. Mike had made her laugh, comforted her when she was sad, made her feel like the most beautiful and desirable woman in the world.
And now it was all over. The memories that had once made her so happy were now daggers in her heart, every thought of Mike a stab that made the pain unbearable. It wasn't just the separation that made her so desperate, it was the feeling of loss, of emptiness, the realisation that the love she had thought was indestructible had collapsed like a house of cards.
Lara felt the despair roll over her like a wave, suffocating her, swallowing her whole. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, could only feel - this all-consuming pain that was eating her up from the inside out. At that moment, there was only one thought left in her head: to escape this pain once and for all.
The ground beneath Lara's feet seemed to liquefy when she saw Mike. Not in some distant street, but here, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the shopping mall, hand in hand with another woman. He was laughing, that deep, throaty laugh that she had once loved so much, and which now echoed in her ears like a mocking echo.
The woman at his side was the antithesis of Lara - tall and slim, with long, raven-black hair and a smile that radiated with self-confidence. Lara, on the other hand, felt small and unimpressive, her body heavy and frozen. She had been so looking forward to this shopping trip, wanting to treat herself to something nice, trying to fill the emptiness inside her with new clothes. But now any thought of shopping, of anything, had been erased.
Mike's gaze travelled over the crowd and their eyes met for a brief moment. A wave of panic swept through Lara. She wanted to hide, to sink into the ground, to become invisible. But her legs no longer seemed to obey her. They moved as if remote-controlled, carrying her out of the mall, across the street and into the cool foyer of the tower block opposite.
The lift took her to a dizzying height. Lara felt the pressure in her ears as she stepped onto the roof. The wind whipped through her hair, tearing at her clothes as if it wanted to take her with it. The city spread out below her, a sea of lights and sounds that no longer reached her.
The cold wind bit into Lara's skin as she stood on the edge of the roof. Below her, the city stretched out like a glittering sea of lights, but Lara felt infinitely distant from all the life, all the hustle and bustle. There was a yawning emptiness inside her, which was exacerbated by Mike's betrayal.
One last spark of hope flickered inside her. Was this really the only solution? Wasn't there another way? Her thoughts wandered to her parents, to her best friend, to the people she loved. Wouldn't her death also cause them unspeakable pain?
But the images of Mike and his new girlfriend kept pushing themselves to the forefront of her mind, crowding out all other thoughts. Lara felt despair taking hold of her again, clawing at the edges of her soul and threatening to swallow her whole.
No, there was no other way. She couldn't bear this pain, couldn't live with this emptiness. Better an end with a fright than a fright without an end.
With a final sigh, carried away by the wind, Lara closed her eyes. She spread her arms out as if she wanted to embrace the city, the world, once more, and then let herself fall forwards.
The fall seemed like an eternity to her. She felt the wind tugging at her body, heard the whistling in her ears, and for the first time in a long time she felt a kind of freedom. Freedom from pain, from despair, from the unbearable burden of life.The darkness that enveloped Lara was not the nothingness she had expected. It was a strange, shimmering blackness, interwoven with threads of light that danced like stardust in infinity. She felt no pain, no fear, just a deep, all-encompassing calm.
Then, suddenly, lettering appeared before her eyes, bright pink, pulsing like a beating heart:
Welcome, Broken Heart.
Lara flinched. Was that a hallucination? A remnant of her dying brain?
The writing faded and a voice rang out, soft and melodic, as if it came from another world.
'Lara, you have passed the first test. The test of despair. You have given yourself over to the abyss, you have chosen the easiest path. But life has so much more in store for you.'
Lara tried to speak, but no sound left her lips. She felt like she was trapped in a dream, unable to move, unable to react.
'You are chosen, Lara. Chosen for a new life, a new chance. You will now enter a world where love does not mean pain and suffering, but power and strength. A world where you will learn to heal your broken heart and turn it into a weapon.'
The voice faded and the pink lettering appeared again, this time under the first sentence:
Your second attempt begins now.
A blinding light filled Lara's vision and she felt herself being pulled away by an irresistible force. Where to? She didn't know. But one thing was certain: her death was not the end, but only the beginning.