My working day had just ended. I had a really bad headache. I had taken medication, but the pain did not want to go away. So, on this summer cloudy evening, I said to myself that to go for a walk would not hurt me.

Moreover, this walk in the neighborhood had eased my headache.

My head in my coat, I walked hunched up to prevent the cold of the wind to get in touch with my skin. A small breeze blew, causing small twigs of grass to lift and fly. There was nothing more peaceful than a deserted street, without any noise, with only accompaniment the sounds of your steps on the tar of the street or the pavement. It was well too late for children to be out and well too early to see teenagers or young adults outside. Futhermore, such a weather never made people want to go outside. Why? Maybe because the sun was much more welcoming than the rain or a cloudy sky. But it was not a big deal, because I felt like the whole world belonged to me. That this semblance of peace was given to me for a very good reason.

I turned in a new street. It was surrounded by suburban houses and a few small shops. There were also young trees which must have been planted recently. I looked up, so I could look around and enjoy, a little bit, what this town had to offer me. I walked by a bakery when a shadow above me eyed me up. I looked up and saw a person lying down on the edge of a roof. I stopped, paralyzed by the image that I stared at. They were there, staring at the cloudy sky, letting the breeze skimmed their skin and hair. None of their limbs hung above the empty space. Anyway, they could not move, because if they had the misfortune to do so, then, either they fell from the building and they crashed on the tarred ground of the street, or they were safe and sound. I walked towards the brick-built building, which was on the other side of where I stood, without looking away.

And yet, I had to look away to find a way to join them. The building was surrounded by two small alleys. The left one had nothing to allow me to reach the roof. Whereas the right one, there was a thin black ladder which went to my destination. I exhaled and glanced at the person which was just above me. I steped into the alley and climbed the ladder. Arrived at the top, I put a first foot on a flat and concrete roof. The rest of my body passed, I quickly found myself standing facing a breathtaking panorama. I could see beyond everything. Beyond the whole town, beyond the sky. I could even see the mountains which sheltered this town. For a moment, I had forgetten why I had come up on this roof. I was just amazed by the beautiful and magic view that this heigh gave me. Then, after collecting my thoughts, I remembered why I had rushed up to this place.

I walked slowly and quietly not to scare them so that they don't accidentally make a bad movement which could cause a thing that I had not planned. The more I was close to them, the more I saw them clearly. They had brown hair, a standard height, a slim figure but with curves. They had a pale skin without being white or dull.

I got closer and closer, until I was at one step to them. They had their eyes closed, as if this sensation of freedom, peace, serenity that you could feel on this roof, had made them fall asleep.

"This is weird to take a nap here," I said ironically with a low and quiet voice.

They gave me a faint smile without looking at me.

"Everyone has their own hobbies," they answered me after a few minutes.

A giggling escaped from my mouth. I pushed my hands into the pockets of my coat.

"And..."

"If I find it weird? Oh, I do, but I like this place," they cut me off as if they had read my mind.

"Um..."

"Easy boy, I'm not a witch or a monster, you can relax," they opened an eye to look at me. "I saw you in the street."

"You're spying then!"

"Yeah kind of."

They closed their eye, going back into their own world.

"And... why do you come here?"

"Maybe to have some peace."

Their answer had me took by surprise. I heard in their voice that I was not welcome and that I had broken their moment of intimacy. That I had discovered their secret garden. That I simply bothered them.

"I'm sorry," I apologized.

I took a step back, then I turned away from them. I walked towards the only way to climb up and down.

"Why did you climb up here?"

I stopped as if an internal alarm had told me to do so and to stay on this roof to answer them. An alarm that wailed again and again and that to turn it off I had to answer to their question. That it was my duty to do such a thing. There was this mystic force that kept me from leaving. I did not want to leave anyway. I felt that I did not have my place on this roof at their side, but their voice, their question had sinked me deep into the concrete of the roof, preventing me from leaving the place.

I turned my gaze towards them, arching an eyebrow. I did not know why I had came up. Maybe because the scene that I had in front of my eyes freaked me out and that a lot of movies had appeared in my mind and alarmed me. I did not know the exact reason of my act.

I turned completely towards them. They sat normally on the edge of the roof, looking me straight in the eye.

"To be honest, I really don't know. I have to admit that the suicidal persons bring easily the attention on them."

The glint in their eyes changed from benevolence to hatred. They suddenly got up. I thought that they were going to charge at me and slap me or even worse, but the only thing they did was to climb, standing up, on the low wall, about to jump.

"Suicidal, huh?" They shouted between their teeth, anger could be heard in their voice. "A roof, a street, one jump and everything is over. Not bad, not bad."

A deep and devilish laugh came out from their throat.

"Suicidal!" They said bluntly, going down from the low wall, really rushing at me this time.

They gave me a death stare. A stare that I had never seen in my lifetime. Even my mother had never looked at me like they did.

"Because you really think this, it's being suicidal? To throw yourself over anything? To rush so simply in the space that it could be a huge Hollywood cliché?" They hit my chest hard with their index finger.

They took a step back.

"Excuse me, I didn't mean that!" I shouted too, feeling guilty.

"You don't need to apologize," they turned towards me. "Suicidal persons don't need mercy or compassion. They need help that they will never get. So, I'm going to ask you a second and last time the question, and I do hope, with all my heart, that you won't make a blunder. Because believe me, I know how much you didn't want to say such a monstrosity. (They took a breather, giving me a chance to analyze the situation.) Why did you climb up on this roof?"

"Because I was afraid for you."

"Why?"

"It's not everyday that I meet people lying down near a precipice."

"You were worried about me?"

"I guess I was," I laughed nervously.

They seemed anxious, like if something was wrong.

"Why such an importance on the fact that I climbed up here?"

"Because nobody has ever noticed my presence. And if they had, nobody ever came up to know why I was standing so close to a disaster."

"You knew it, did not you?"

"I knew what?"

"That I would climb up."

"No one is sure of anything, but having hope is better than nothing."

I smiled at them.

"I think I should leave now. Goodbye."

I resumed my walk towards the ladder, when they called out to me once again:

"I do hope it won't be the first and last time that I'll see you. You know where to find me now."

I did not answer them, beginning my descent.

Once again in the street, I looked up and I directly met their green eyes staring at me. I waved goodbye to them. I looked away from them and continued my walk as if I had never been interrupted it.

It had been my very first meeting with them. Right from the start, they had been a new challenge in my life, a brand. They had been this unbelievable and unforgettable human being. Of course, as soon as their eyes had met mine, I had told to myself that I had to come back and meet them again. That I had to know them. That I needed to see right through the mystery they were. To see right through everything they hid. But above all, I needed to see them again, because they devastated me and unconsciously I had, right from the start, needed them.

Right at this moment, Death had always been close to them. It was like they played with it, they mocked it. And that they had known that no mattered their actions, their pretences and all they could do, Death already carried them in its arms.