Stair after stair, step after step, floor after floor, story after single story, and I’m still not at the top yet!!! I looked from the dark peach step of the stair to the cream white wall to the right of me. On the wall was a rectangular beige sign that had the number 53 written in bold black letters inside the rectangle, and under the number was some Braille dots. I gave the sigh a weird look, I mean REALLY, what kind of blind person would want to go up this many flights of stairs when they couldn’t even see the New York sights?!?!?!?!?!?


I took a deep breath, wiped the sweat off the palm of my hands, and kept on walking up, hoping that I wound soon get to the top of the Empire State Building. Finally after an hour (give or take a few minutes), I made it to the top of the 102 storied building. Usually when you get to the top, you would go look at the sights through the transparent windows on the observation deck. But instead I walked around the inside of the 102 floor looking for a door to get outside. Then I found it!!! It was a gray metal door with a lighten box on top of the door with the words EXIT written in noticeable red letters. I walked out. Walking up the more flights of stairs I kept on thinking to my self, it’s worth it, its better if no one witness what’s about to happen. I kept on repeating these words to my self as a walked. When I finally reached a door, I pushed it open and took a step onto the roof.



I felt the sunlight hit my face and the humid summer air glaze on my tanned skin. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Breathing in the polluted New York City air with a smile on my face, because it reminded me of home in Chicago. I walked toward the balcony ridge that was so beautifully designed with such indescribable patterns. I looked at the sight in front of me. The tall skyscrapers seemed high enough to reach the heavens, all of the taxies seemed to make a smiley face if you looked closely enough, and you could hear the honking of the taxies and the yelling of the people around. To my left I saw the amazing ocean view, the sea was a clear blue that glistened as the sun’s rays bounced off. Then I heard a sob. I looked to my right then I saw Her.





She was sitting on an evil wounding gargoyle, her back leaning against the railing with her head down and her hands on her face, hiding it. Her red hair was blocking my view of her facial features so I couldn’t see much. She was fair skinned with a green New York Jets tee shirt and jean shorts.



I took a step closer to the crying girl and asked in a soft voice, not wanting to scare her, “are you okay?” She stopped sobbing and looked up, then, only then could I see her features. She had light front bang with bright raw blue eyes, no freckles, and normal heighten cheek bones. She looked at me with tears still streaming down her face and said to me in a low unemotional voice, “no, but why would you care?” I looked down of a second, thinking about all the reasons I shouldn’t care, but my heart was saying to help this girl of which I didn’t even know the name of.



When I looked back at her I said, “because no body should be crying on a beautiful day such as today.” the girl looked out and starred at the beautifully over crowded New York, and spoke in a quiet voice, “ I want to die. I don’t want to live through all the pain of everyday life anymore. I’m thinking of just standing up right now and jumping off.” as she said those words my heart started to break in recognition. I knew what she felt like, because I was in her position, I wanted it all to end. “Why?” I asked her. She looked at me as if I was insane. “Well, why not? I’m going to die someday and so are you. So why not get it over with now?” she barked at me.



It took me a second to think over her argument, finally very slowly and cautiously I gave her my answer. “Because once you die, you cant come back from the dead.” I was so worried about her reaction that I carefully watched every movement both she and I made. The girl just kept starring at me, her teary eyes are now replaced with hard ice cold ones. The kind people use when they have something to hide.



Breathing in sharply from my nose I took a step closer to her. And told her, “ if you tell me you story and give me a good enough reason to let you jump, then I wont stop you. I’ll walk away pretending I’ve never seen you before. But if your reason isn’t good enough, then I will try anything in my power to help you heal from your wounds. Deal?” She nodded and glanced at the bright blue cloudless sky, she looked so vulnerable. She seemed about fifteen maybe even sixteen, but at the point she looked like a lost ten year old. She opened her mouth to start to tell the story that would haunt and effect both of our minds and memories.





“ It all started two years ago,” she told me. “I was about to start high school, my family had a party to celebrate my graduation and everything.” She told me as her face grew distanced, then I knew that she was no longer with me, but in a whole other world. “Almost all of the adults ended up drunk,” she confessed. “When I was trying to clean up and get my parents to bed, that was when it happened.” She looked to her hands and I saw that she was about to cry again. I inched closer and put my hand on the red head’s shoulder as if to say ’ everything will be okay, and you should go on telling your story’ and she did.




I learned about how her parents beaten her repeatedly until the y saw a pool of her blood on the floor, only to stop and laugh telling her she was worthless and was nothing special. I learned that they kept on beating her after that terrible day. I learned that she was bullied when she first went to high school, and that made her grades drop, giving her even more beatings. The girl just wanted everything to stop, she just wanted the life she wished she had.



After her story, we both looked out at New York City together. After starring at the Big Apple fro about forty-five seconds she asked my in a low voice, “isn’t that enough of a reason to want to die?” I was shocked. Usually when people talk about their problems like that they feel better, but this girl was dead (no pun intended) serious about committing suicide. I was trying to think of what to say, but honestly I had NOTHING!!! My mind was completely blank! When she saw that I didn’t have an answer, she was hesitant to stand up. I held on tighter to her shoulder as if to ask what she was doing. “I’m going to jump.” she replied and stood up. Her knees bucked and I knew she was about to jump. But what could I do???










“STOP!!!” I yelled. She looked at me and straightened up. Giving my a glare that said ‘you better hurry and not waste my time’ and the girl put her hands to her hips. I was trying to breath properly as I said the words that came from my heart and damaged soul. I said to the impatient red head, “If you kill yourself now, then you won’t know all of the good that is going to come for you later. Ask anyone. When you commit suicide, you end up in a bad place for the rest of eternity. You only live once, once its done, it can’t be undone. Once you die you cant come back. Just think about the good things in life, if you kill yourself then you can’t ever see them again.”



She looked down in regret, then gave me a look. This look was not like the one she gave me before, it was a look of thanks, a look of gratitude. Without her saying even saying any words I knew what she was asking. The girl was silently asking how I knew all of this. I gave a long sigh and began to open up my past. I told her that my parents wanted the perfect daughter, but they got me instead. I told her that if I didn’t get a ‘B’ or higher they would yell at me for being stupid. I told her that I didn’t remember a time when they told me they loved me. What I told her new surprised her even more then my life’s story.




I told her that before I saw her I was about to do what she was doing. When I told her, her eyes widened with shock. “Why?” she asked me. I shrugged and replied, “it was too unbearable, but when I saw you sitting there sobbing I knew that it wasn’t right, and that I had to save you from doing what I was about to do.” the red head peered at me ant told me in a quiet voice, “I don’t want to die anymore.” When I looked at her eyes I saw that the cold stare was gone, in replacement was soft fragile eyes.




I gave her my hand and she took it to help her self down. Then we decided to go down and get a hotdog. We raced each other down the stairs and went outside to get our rewarding hotdog. Today was an unexpected day, I thought to my self. I never saw or kept in touch with the red head after that day, I never even got to know her name!!! but I hope she will remember me always in her heart, because she has a special place in mine.




I learned a very valuable lesson that day. I learned that life is worth living, no matter what. And I also learned that a person can change the way you see/think, and you don’t even have to even know their name or see them ever again. In conclusion, my die wanted day unexpectedly turned out to be a day I hope to remember for the rest of my life.