You might be wondering why I’m here, falling to my death from the top of a thirty-story building… well, here’s what happened. But for you to fully understand, I need to take you back a little further than a couple months.
It was two years ago, when our apartment building collapsed, killing my entire family and thousands of others. I was immediately sentenced to a life (or at least the last two years of my childhood) of foster homes and orphanages. Yeah, so one day I was a pretty happy kid with a great family, lots of friends, and the lead role in our spring musical… the next I was a pity-case at a new school where I knew no one, and the only people who talked to me were the lunch lady, asking me if i wanted carrots or broccoli, my home room teacher who asked me what my name was, and some guy who said I was sitting in his seat at lunch. My first “home” was a Catholic one called St. Gregory’s Boys’ Orphanage, where all the directors were cranky old nuns and we all had to sleep in one big dormitory with no privacy at all. Some people call this “a good place for poor, orphaned kids to find a new start”, I called it “St Gregory’s Children’s Prison”, yeah, I got a whack from one of the nuns when I said it out loud the first time.
One day, an elderly couple came in and said they were looking for a boy about my age to take care of, because they were “empty-nesters” and they got bored just sitting at home all day not having anyone to take care of, and when they took a single look at my file, they immediately chose me (obviously out of pity for my circumstances). They signed the papers, agreeing to a thirty-day trial period, but fervently saying they didn’t need a trial period, because they knew I was perfect for them. They also were convinced that, to leave behind the pain of my past, I had to change my name, so even though I had to change my name, I didn’t mind it because they let me pick what name I wanted. I chose the name “Devland”, a name of Irish origin meaning “misfortune”. They thought the name was a little odd, but they let me keep it, on the terms that they would call me “Dev”, and that was that.
The older couple’s last name was the Hendersons, turns out they had 3 other kids, all girls, but they were all grown and gone, except Sofia, who was away at college when her parents got me. Let’s just say that Christmas break was weird. I was sitting on my bed, doodling in my sketchbook when she walks into my room, she just stood there and stared at me, until I said, “Hi, my name’s Dev.” This caused her to scream and run back downstairs into the kitchen where her parents were making Christmas cookies. I stayed in my room, drawing, and laughing at Sofia shouting about the teenage intruder in her room. Apparently, the room given to me, which was empty when I moved in, used to be Sofia’s. After she got over the initial shock of discovering that she now had another sibling, Sofia and I hung out a lot over the break. Turns out, we had a lot in common, including our love of acting and art; we actually went to art exhibits and local plays a few times. I was kind of sad when Sofia went back to college, but it wasn’t entirely bad, because I was starting at a new school after the winter break was over.
When Mrs. Henderson heard Mr. Henderson say that I was enrolled at the local high school, she about had a heart attack, then she grabbed hr purse and car keys, dragged me to the car, and drove to the mall, with her only explanation being ,”I’ve never had a son to take shopping before.” Then she asked me what style of clothes I liked, when I said I didn’t know, she basically bought a whole wardrobe of every style the mall had to offer. I told her that I didn’t need all that, that I would be fine with just a few sweatshirts, t-shirts, and sweatpants, but she insisted that I was doing her a favor by letting her buy all of it for me. So, instead of being rude, I let her buy whatever she thought I would like, thanking her the whole time. I swear she bought at least an entire store full of clothes.
By the time the first day of school got there, I was actually kind of nervous. I didn’t want anyone to know about my “history”, because I didn’t want anyone becoming my friend out of pity. I asked Mr. and Mrs. Henderson promise they would mention it to anyone, not even my teachers or principle; I could tell they didn’t completely understand my reasoning, but they promised that no one would know. The first day of school, they drove me to school, even thought they only lived two-streets over. They said it was because it was it was too cold outside, even though it was barely even 32 degrees out. I knew that they just wanted to drop me off for my first day of school, like all parents do with their kids, and I also knew that Mrs. Henderson would probably do the whole cry-and-hug-me thing, so I readied myself for the inevitable. I had considered booking it, and avoiding the whole scene, but I couldn’t do that to them, when they had showed me so much kindness. So, I stayed and “endured” the public show of affection, then I booked it to find my locker and set it up in time before the bell rang for my first class.
My first class of the day was Creative Writing, which had never been my strong suit. I almost made it halfway through the day before anyone even talked to me. A tall boy, who looked to be in my grade, walked up to me, just as I was getting my lunch money from my locker, and said, “Hey, new kid, want to sit with me at lunch.” I agreed, because it was either sit with this guy, or sit alone, and I’m not really a solitary person, so I followed him through the lunch line, then sat down at an empty table with him. We sat in silence for most of lunch, which gave me time to look around us at the all the other students, clearly separated into clicks by interest, but the odd thing, is that they all seemed to be looking at me. And when I looked back at them, they would quickly turn away and pretend they hadn’t been staring. “Just ignore them, it’s not you. They’re looking at me, I’ve been out of school for a couple of weeks, and apparently the rumor went around that I was arrested and sent to juvie.”
”Were you?” I asked, unsubtly scooting away a smidge. He either didn’t notice, or was pretending to, because he kept talking like nothing had happened.”
”No, but I’ll let them believe it for now, it gives them something else to talk about beside who’s dating who and whose house the next party is at.” I try to hold back a smile, because I think he’s joking, but his straight face makes it kind of hard to tell. We sit in silence for another five minutes, before he speaks again. “My name’s Lee, by the way, what’s yours?”
”Ty…um… Dev. My full name is actually a Devland, but you can call me Dev.” I try to recover from almost saying my old name, hoping he didn’t notice. He moves on with the conversation, either ignorant, or just ignoring.
Months passed by, and school ended, but this didn’t keep me and Lee from hanging out. We pretty much did everything together that summer, from swimming, to hiking, to pranking random people. One time, the pranking thing went a little too far, and we got the police called on us, yeah, that was a lot of apologizing from me, but Lee didn’t even seem like he cared. One time, while we were swimming, I was daydreaming, watching a cute blonde giggling with her friends in the water, when Lee says, “Dude, you know that’s my sister, right?” My face immediately turned red.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I had no clue.” I was so embarrassed, but he just laughed it off, and we didn’t talk about it again, but I could tell that me having a crush on his sister was not going to be a thing.
By the time school started the next year, we were inseparable, and everyone knew it. And even though Lee and I were inseparable, we still had one thing that frequently caused fights. His sister. Even though Lee had made it clear that she was off limits to me, I still had a crush on her, in fact, her forbidden-ness made her even more desirable in my eyes. I knew that there were plenty of other pretty girls in school, and around town, but -and I had been like this even when I was young- if I wanted something, I would be determined to get that thing, even if that thing was the heart of a girl who was clearly taboo, and even if the price of getting that thing was the only friendship I had had since I started my new life. So, I pretended to be uninterested in her, in order for things between me and Lee to get back to usual, but only as a means that I might get closer to his sister.
I was a senior, and I was determined to get the girl that I wanted, no matter the cost; you may be wondering what all this has to do with me falling off a skyscraper, but here’s a fact that I forgot to mention, I didn’t fall, I was pushed, that’s why this background matters. Anyway, back to the story.
The more I suppressed my forbidden crush, the more it overwhelmed me, until one day, when Lee was gone, touring a college or something, I asked her on a date. She, to my elation, said yes. I left school that afternoon, determined to make our first date the best one she had ever been on. The first thing I did when I got home was tell Mom and Dad (formerly Mr. and Mrs. Henderson). Mom was so happy for me, that if Dad hadn’t intervened, I probably would have been smothered to death by Mom’s hugs. Dad, on the other hand was less than enthusiastic, but Mom finally convinced him with a “remember when we were his age” talk, and I had to leave the room at one point because their kiss got a little nauseating. After they were on the same page, they helped me plan the perfect date at one of the fanciest restaurants in the area. This particular restaurant was known for being on the 32nd floor, and for the view that accompanied this height.
I avoided Lee for the rest of the week, afraid of what he might do to me.
On the evening of the big date, I picked up Ashley (as was Lee’s sister’s name), and we went to the restaurant. I had made sure to work a few extra shifts at the fast-food place where I worked, in order to make sure I would 100% be able to pay for our undoubtedly pricy meal. We both had an amazing time, well I think she did, I never had a chance to ask her, before, the elevator bell rang, and out stepped a clearly angry, red-faced, Lee. I pretended not to notice, and instead, ushered Ashley out onto the balcony, not even thinking about the fact that I had to unlock the door. Outside on the balcony, Ashley was leaning against the rail, looking out at the view of the cityscape. When I stepped forward to stand next to her, I felt something give way underneath us, the balcony was bending under our weight. Ashley screamed and scrambled back to the door, but it was locked! The door had self-locked! We were trapped out here on the balcony which was crumbling under our combined weight. As that point, Ashley was holding onto the door handle as tightly as she could, while I was trying to climb back up the balcony which was now at a dangerously steep decline, then I heard a shout, and looked up, just in time to see Lee pull Ashley to safety, make eye contact with me, and reach back for me, but it was too late… I felt the whole thing go under my weight, and then I started falling. I didn’t flail my arms or anything, I knew what would be at the end of the fall (psych! I wasn't pushed, also, this gets us back to the beginning), when I stopped falling, I would be splattered all over the sidewalk, and joining my family in the afterlife. I accepted my fate, closed my eyes, and let gravity take me
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