Eight

“Hey Quincy, get up!” 

I don’t answer this time, but instead I race out through the door again. I’ve had a spectacular idea of how to kill myself. A funfair is in town this month, and I saw posters for the knife thrower there. My plan? To rush onto the stage in the middle of the knife-throwing, and get a knife thrown at me. By accident or on purpose, either’s fine. Getting a knife thrown at you by a knife-thrower from a funfair is both an exciting way to go out, and there’ll be a big audience watching me die. I don’t know how I feel about that, but I guess having an audience for your death is rather dramatic. I decide that it’s for the best that I have some people witness my death, because after all, this time I want to make a marvellously morbid show of my death, and I don’t care who sees. 

It takes me a while to find the knife-thrower's tent, and when I do, she’s just about to start. Perfect. She throws the first two knives, and none of them miss their target. Then she throws four knives at the same time, and they all land where they’re supposed to. She’s good at this. I picked a seat near the front of the audience so that it will be easy for me to rush on to the stage later on. I think my best chance to do that is now, actually. I get up and climb the three steps up to the stage. The knife-thrower hasn’t noticed me yet, but the audience inhale deeply. They think I'm some thrilling surprise element of the show. They’re going to get a surprise, all right. I rush onto the stage. She throws a knife. It’s hurtling towards me.

A split-second before the knife hits my chest, I notice two people that I know in the crowd. The first is the person that appeared in my apartment last night, and the second is… Lev? Why’s he here? I can’t be mistaken, though. That’s definitely him. Nobody else has hair that black, skin that pale, or eyes so beautifully blue. The knife strikes me in the heart and before the bright light appears, I see the familiar person that appeared in my apartment so mysteriously stand up and shout something.

“QUINCY REED!”