-Nameless-

I first saw him when I crossed the road from the bus stop at the top of the hill. He was no one - just a middle-aged man alone, looking worried; much the same as my father often did. In fact, they even looked a little alike. I wondered idly whether he had any children. Was he even married? You could never tell with men, since so many didn't wear a ring. I somehow sensed that he was.

I amused myself in idle imagining. What kind of a person was he? A business man? He was wearing a suit, if that was any indication. How did he treat his wife and children? I watched him as he stood looking over the peak of the hill, down the rough scar, and imagined him eating dinner and telling his wife all about the day at the office. I wondered if he did tell her, and hoped he did. I would want him to, if he was mine.

He was staring at the hillside with an intensity I could see written all over his face. I crossed the rough grass to a bench nearby, watching vaguely. A few distant white clouds drifted across the clear blue evening sky. I pictured him sitting in the garden, sipping wine and laughing. I remembered summer evenings at home, when my own parents had spent their hours in the same way.

They had taught each other so much through living together, loving one another. Would he have taught me the same? Did he have anything to teach?
He moved closer to the edge, too close. It isn't safe to go too close: the edge crumbles. He went closer and didn't stop.

And in the seconds between when he jumped and when he hit the ground, I suddenly knew everything. All the things I would have learnt through knowing him; all the things he would have taught me; all the things I would have known, filled my mind like water in a jug. Then he hit the ground and I was empty of everything. An immense scream rose up inside me and I was running down the path towards him; running, stumbling, staggering and screaming and screaming and screaming.

By the time the ambulance arrived it was too late. He was pronounced dead on the spot. As the body was carried on a stretcher to the ambulance, one of the paramedics saw me sitting huddled beside a rock. She asked me if I had known him. I shook my head. She left. They had other things to worry about.

I walked home mechanically. My mind was blank, my feet took me along the path without any instruction. I reached my road, walked to the door of the house. I unlocked the door and went inside. I locked it again and put the key in the drawer. I placed my shoes neatly beside the others. Crossing to the sink, I washed my hands, scrubbing at invisible dirt. I went upstairs, picked up a book and opened it, staring blankly at a page.

And that's where, an hour later, my mother found me. She scolded me for lazing around, for doing nothing. She told me I was selfish and lazy. She banged the door in exasperation.
And so life went on.