It was a beautiful day. Mid-70s, slightly breezy, full sunshine with a few wispy clouds dancing in the big atmosphere. I decided to set up shop on the balcony for a day of drawing, sketching , painting etc. The cats were out with me, sunbathing. A lazy creative day all to myself.
I had just started a new sketch, practicing my perspectives while utilizing multiple vanishing points, when I heard a piecing scream from the building just down the catwalk. It was loud and jarring. But it didn't stop with just one scream. The woman continued to scream. This scared the cats and they beelined for the bed. I closed the door and ran to see if the woman that was screaming needed any assistance.
That's when a kid, probably about the same age as my brother, ran down the cat walk opposite me. He could see from where he was, and something in the way his face contorted let me know that something was very wrong.
The woman's screams morphed into high-pitched demands.
"Make it stop!" "Make it stop!"
When I reached the other side, I saw a young woman probably no older than myself. She was laying on the ground, bathed in blood, with bones protruding through the flesh around her knee caps. A man that lived close to where these strange events were occurring ran to call 911.
The young woman had jumped off the balcony. I don't, and probably never will, know the reasons for why she jumped. Her life will probably be forever changed. Admittedly, I suppose mine will too. I'm still shaking.
One day I'll make sense of everything that is happening around me in this complex. One day, I swear, I will be making enough to move to a nicer part of town, buy my father a nice truck that won't break down, help my mother get sober, and be a real role-model for my brother.
God grant me the strength to make it through this portion of my life. I swear I'll carry these lessons to help more lives than mine.
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