The Truth of the Ledge
By: Brandon Mayer

First Night


Tck, Tck, Tck, Tck, was the sound the keyboard made, as it was being tapped on by a 'nobody' in his office. Nothing is more harmful than not only feeling, but truly knowing, down to your core, that your existence is meaningless. The name plate in front of the man's desk says "Phil", but unless he is sitting right in front of it, everyone seems to forget it. "Oh it's such a long morning I am getting forgetful!" all his co-workers would laugh as they told him this, but he knew the truth. As he tapped away furiously at his keyboard, trying to finish early so he could get out of his personal hell, to get back to the wife who is drifting away, and the kids who simply ignore him, his office door flung open, smashing the wall behind it. A man ran through. His face was white with fear shouting, "Phil don't do it!" He recognized him as his boss.
He wakes up in a cold sweat. Just a dream.
 

First Morning


Phil gets out of bed, lazily showers and puts on his clothing, thinking to himself about his bullshit dream, not only does he have to live it daily, but he dreams about it during his only time of nirvana?
He walks downstairs to see his wife and kids before he heads off to hell, they barely acknowledge his existence, and it would hurt his soul, if it wasn't part of his everyday life. He was used to it.
He gets in his car and drives to work in silence, no radio; the windows rolled up as to avoid the outside world. Perfect silence.
He gets to work and rides the elevator up to the 50th floor with a man who was never taught how to cover his mouth when he coughs, disgusting.
He passes by people he has walked by for years, no one says hi, hello, morning, nothing. In fact, it almost seems like conversations are stopping as he walks by them. What a shame, they may have like him years ago if he was given the chance.
He enters his office, does his work all day, no one bothers him, and at 9 pm he goes home.
He gets in bed with his wife who is still awake reading; before he sleeps he wants to say one last thing.
"I love you April, do you know that?" he says, staring up at the ceiling.
"I know." She responds after a few seconds of silence.
Phil sleeps.
 
 

Night Two
 

Tck, Tck, Tck, Tck was the sound the keyboard made, as it was being tapped on by a 'nobody' in his office. Nothing is more harmful than not only feeling, but truly knowing, down to your core, that your existence is meaningless. The name plate in front of the man's desk says "Phil", but unless he is sitting right in front of it, everyone seems to forget it. "Oh it's such a long morning I am getting forgetful!" all his co-workers would laugh as they told him this, but he knew the truth. As he tapped away furiously at his keyboard, trying to finish early so he could get out of his personal hell, to get back to the wife who is drifting away, and the kids who simply ignore him, he saw something out of the corner of his right eye. He looks to his left, half expecting to see his boss barge in again, but he doesn't. He gets up and makes his way to the window, to see what had caught his eye. He looks out ahead, looking at the large bank across the street, but sees nothing else, but again, out of the corner of his right eye he sees something. He turns his head and sees a man on the ledge, facing away from him. He can't see who he is.
Again, Phil wakes up in a cold sweat, and again, it's just a dream.
 

 

Day Two


Phil gets out of bed, the second day in a row having this awful recurring dream. It seemed real, and his stomach was churning, he felt sick, like he was going to vomit. He was afraid of heights, and he felt as if he was really on this ledge. The room was spinning, but he pressed on. He showered, changed, combed his thinning hair to the side, and left, without saying a word to his family, they all hate him, so what is the point?
He gets in his car and takes a different route to work; a route with more turns, but shorter.
He gets to a busy intersection a block away from hell, when he slams on his breaks for a man who wasn't paying attention as he crossed the road. The man stopped and looked at him for a few seconds, about to wave as if he was saying sorry, thank you, but instead the man looked at him with fear in his eyes, as if he recognized him, and was scared to ever meet him. The look was filled with regret and embarrassment.
He waved the man across the street and continued to hell; again he rode the elevator up to the 50th floor with a man who was never taught how to cover his mouth when he coughs.
He gets up to his floor, brushes past all his co-workers, ignoring them as they ignore him, and went right to the window in his office. Nothing.
He finished his day at work, and went home to his loveless household.
 

 

The Final Night


Tck Tck Tck Tck was the sound the keyboard made, as it was being tapped on by a 'nobody' in his office. Nothing is more harmful than not only feeling, but truly knowing, down to your core, that your existence is meaningless. The name plate in front of the man's desk says "Phil", but unless he is sitting right in front of it, everyone seems to forget it. "Oh it's such a long morning I am getting forgetful!" all his co-workers would laugh as they told him this, but he knew the truth. As he tapped away furiously at his keyboard, trying to finish early so he could get out of his personal hell, to get back to the wife who is drifting away, and the kids who simply ignore him, he saw something out of the corner of his right eye. He looks to his left, half expecting to see his boss barge in again, but he doesn't. He gets up and makes his way to the window, to see what had caught his eye. He looks out ahead, looking at the large bank across the street, but sees nothing else, but again, out of the corner of his right eye he sees something. He turns his head and sees a man on the ledge, facing away from him. He opens the window slowly, panicking as he felt the outside winds on his face.
"Hey buddy why don't you get in here and talk to me, whatever it is it isn't worth it just come down from there" He said with a shake to his voice.
As the final word left his mouth, the man on the ledge slowly turned his head to him, and he saw he was looking at himself. He was on the ledge.
"Hey Phil, you should come out here, you can see the truth from up here!" he said as he turned around, facing the building. He stretched his arms out like a crucifix and fell backwards with a smile on his face. As his feet left the safety of the ledge, his office door flung open, smashing the wall behind it. A man ran through it his face white with fear shouting, "Phil don't do it!" He recognized him as his boss.
 

 

The Final Day


Phil woke up drenched in sweat, immediately rolling to his side, on the edge of the bed and vomits on the floor next to him. He quickly gets dressed without cleaning the floor, or himself.
"This ends today, I will save that man." He muttered to himself under his breath. He was dizzy, something wasn't right.
He ran down the stairs, missing steps all the way down, almost fumbling over his carelessness. As he passed the kitchen opening, near the front door of the house, he stopped and saw his daughter. Again he almost got sick and felt even dizzier. This must be another dream he thought, as he stared at his daughter, who was simply missing her face. There was no hole, or wound, it was just flat skin.
He rushed out of the house, he had to escape, he had to get to work, and he had to save the man.
On his way to work every person he encountered, even the coughing man from the elevator had the same face, or lack thereof.
He ran passed all his faceless co-workers, his flop sweat dripping onto the floor and to anyone in his way. He was pushing people over to get to the window. He ran into his office and slammed his door shut. He ran to the window and flung it open.
Nothing.
"Oh no no no," he laughed with the tone of lost madness in his voice. "He doesn't want to be saved, so he must have moved down further on the ledge to the next office, he knows I'm coming."
He crawled out the window, his fear of heights diminished with his fit of madness.
50 stories down, he saw a familiar faceless woman. "That dress" he thought, he knew it from somewhere.
His madness started to fade somewhat, as he started to hear the busy street below, which jarred him from hearing absolute silence in his mad determination and focus. Just as quickly as they had left, all the people below had their faces back. He knew that woman below. He has known her for quite some time. That was April. That was his wife.
He sat up on the tall ledge, observing her, she was acting strange she was looking over her shoulder nervously looking for someone. Then another familiar face appeared and he was walking toward her. He knew him from somewhere but where?
Just then he realized who he was. That was the pedestrian from yesterday; he almost hit him with his car. How could he forget?
The man kept walking towards his wife April, and pulled her close and kissed her passionately.
From the ledge he just stood there dumbstruck from what he was witnessing, the infidelity of his wife. He laughed quietly to himself. Just then he knew what to do.
His office door flung open, smashing the wall behind it. A man ran through it his face white with fear shouting, "Phil don't do it!" His boss flung open the window and looked at him.
He turned around and faced the building and turned his head to the right, looking his boss in eyes, smiling, a smile that he hadn't felt in at least 10 years.
"Hey Jim! You should come out here, you can see the truth from up here!" he said to him, happier than he has ever been.
He outstretched his arms like a crucifix and leaned backwards, excitement rushing through his veins. He had found solace for the first time, and it was from the truth of the ledge.