DP Drabble 19: Televators

Televators
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Everyone knows the last toes are always the coldest to go.
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Just as he hit the ground, her heart skipped a beat and she suddenly couldn’t feel a thing. An agonizing scream cut through the various gasps that were heard around her, though she was too shocked to realize that the gut-wrenching shriek had come out of her own lips.

No… he can’t be…

She wanted to run towards him, to think that he was all right, that she didn’t hear the sickening sound of his body against the asphalt. She just wanted to go to his side and feel his pulse—it had to be there, somewhere.

But she couldn’t move.

She even remained paralyzed as the rest of Casper High’s teachers and students rushed to the black-haired boy’s side; the chattering and murmurs could be heard once again when they looked at the scene closely. Someone desperately cried to call an ambulance while the school nurse began to check the young man’s broken body.

Still, the girl couldn’t move a single muscle.

“Oh, poor thing,” a mockingly soothing voice whispered in her ear. “You should have seen the hints, all the red flags. Tsk, tsk, and to think you were supposed to be so close to him.”

A wave of guilt suddenly filled her senses and she began to sob inconsolably. She then found out she could move just enough to fall on her knees.

The scene painfully replayed in her head: the way he numbly flew to the roof, how he stood there as everyone at school gathered in the parking lot to watch their favorite hero, how he changed in front of everyone and simply let himself go…

Why?

If only she had seen it coming... If only she had been there to stop him...

No one seemed to pay any attention to her as she cried her eyes out, except for the invisible voice making her realize her responsibility, or lack thereof. If only she had done something…

“If it makes you feel any better,” the voice continued with an amused tone, ”he was dead before he touched the ground. I’m sure you noticed how lifeless he was these days. A shame, really. So young and yet so full of misery... Some people can’t simply take it. It’s even worse when their own friends and family can’t even see what’s right in front of them.”

But I didn’t see anything. He was the same old Danny. Was I really that blind?

The girl’s lament intensified as she considered the many different ways she could have possibly helped. If she was that oblivious to his pain, what kind of friend was she?

What if I could’ve done something to save him?

Eventually, someone reached her and took her away. She thought she’d heard a familiar voice saying her name, but she didn’t pay that much attention, her mind elsewhere.

A pleased figure watched the two friends slowly move towards the ambulance that was about to take the boy’s body, one of them still too numb to snap back to the real world, despite the uncontrollable sobs.

The shadowlike woman smiled at her handiwork. It had taken weeks to achieve such a magnificent result, but it was definitely worth the wait.

“Ah, such misery… it’s delicious!”