Chapter 2 The Jump

How long has it been? Jacob couldn’t tell anymore; this world had nothing for him now, now that she was gone...

Jacob eventually lost track of time. He was so focused on his work. He felt like he was in another dimension, another plane of existence where time flows differently.

Even though Jacob submerged himself in his pile of work, something inside him couldn’t stop wondering

“Why?”

Why did these bad things happen to him?

Why did she have to go? Why...

Did he survive when the only person who loved him had died...

Soon after that, Jacob realized all of his work was already done,

and he was just typing aimlessly on his keyboard as if he was trying to find another purpose to excuse himself from facing the agonizing truth, that Sara was gone. Slowly he felt his senses coming back.

He looked out the company’s window to see the bright orange sky that reminded him of the time he spent with Sara on that hill.

“What do I think about death?”

She said

“Hummmm... The concept of death is unknown, vague, and obscure, but it is inevitable. So I think the people who tried to achieve immortality are petty.”

“Aren’t you afraid of death?”

“Of course if you ask me if I’m afraid of death... I’m terrified of dying, but I like to think of death as a part of a cycle like how the moon eclipses the sun, and the sun comes back from the horizon, dethroning the moon once more.”

On that day Jacob could have sworn he saw her eyes shining like the thousands of stars in the night sky. It still felt so vivid the grassy hile Jacob and Sara were lying on, and the gentle breeze on their faces, and the promise they made...

Jacob calmly rose from his chair and took the company’s elevator to the top floor. There he took the stairs to the roof of the building. His footsteps echoed against the walls.

With every step he took he could feel as if there was extra weight trying to pull him down the stairs.

Then, when Jacob reached the door, he felt like the whole world was trying to pull him down. Jacob held out his hand, and twisted the door knob, then suddenly all the restraints that held him back faded away like a gentle breeze. Jacob’s eyes squinted because of the sudden bright light. After his eyes adjusted themselves, Jacob looked out and he saw a bright golden ball slowly submerging itself into the horizon. It strongly emanated a trail of bright orange light that somehow made Jacob’s heart accelerate with joy.

Jacob smirked and took one step and then another slowly walking towards the guard rails. His eyes were preoccupied with the setting sun.

Jacob was now in front of the guard rails, he took a deep breath and stretched out his neck, breathing in the chilling air once more. Then saw the sun that looked right into his eyes.

“You know, I tried so much to keep our promise. These last few days were a lot to take in…”

Jacob’s neck clogged up, for he found it hard to say the next word.

“I thought maybe my work could distract me for at least a few days, but that didn’t work either. Why did you give me such a big burden that I couldn’t carry before you left…”

Jacob looked up towards the sky. The partially benighted sky revealed itself to a gradation of stars

Jacob signed, then wiped his eyes to see nothing, nothing but the void that swallowed him whole. He was so tired, the only thing that he now wanted was to finally take a rest.

Jacob jumped to the outer skirt of the fence, both of his eyes a bit blurry.

He took a glance towards the street beneath to watch out for any people, and to his relief, nobody was there. When he stood between the sun and the roof, it felt as if one step was enough to meet his loved one, one step was all it took to be reunited with her once more… But then, the promise he made on that hill, capt him from taking that last step, that one last step.

“I’m sorry Sara, but I don’t think I can keep that promise.”

Jacob took a deep breath and calmly took one step towards the sun, and with that one step, Jacob felt for a second like a free bird hovering through the sky. Then Jacob felt the shackles that pulled him down.

He plunged toward the ground, and as he fell, he saw his life flash before his eyes. The snapshots of his life flashed chaotically in front of his eyes like a rain of shooting stars. As he saw the impending doom in front of him, he thought to himself of the promise he made to her,

“I’m sorry Sara.”

However, after discarding everything, something lingered within Jacob’s mind, was it Sadness? Anger? No, it was Regret, although he had the feeling that it wouldn’t last.  Jacob closed his eyes, as the ground closed in every second…

“Hey, Jacob?”

“Yes, Sara?”

“Can you promise me one thing?”

“Yes, anything.”

“I… If I don’t make it out alive after this surgery. Can you try to move on from me?”

Jacob stared at Sara and her boney face. Despite her weakened state, the way she conveyed those words, as if she knew that she wouldn’t make it, managed to cut Jacob.

“Sara… I…”

“I saw you more than anybody in this world… So for my final wish, I want you to be happy when I’m gone.”

Jacob stared at Sara and her pale face.

“Promise me.”

She smiled as if to calm Jacob down, then proceeded to pull Jacob’s ear with strength too strong to believe that it came from a patient waiting for her surgery.

“Ow, ow, ow, Okay I promise!”

Sara released Jacob and then smiled at him. It was a smile that looked so glistening in Jacob’s eyes.

“You swear it?”

Sara asked as she tilted her head.

“I swear it”

“I swear it…”

That was the last conversation he ever had with her.

After that point, Jacob stayed and lived on that day. As the world around him proceeded to move on, leaving him and Sara behind…

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