She glanced over her shoulder.
No one. Still no one.
Not that she was expecting anyone.
Down on street level, there hadn't even a hint of the maelstorm she was experiencing on the roof. The gusts had freed most of her ponytail to whip around her face, stinging her eyes into tears. Or at least that where she told herself the tears came from. She held onto the rail a little tighter.
She'd meditated, like her friends told her. She'd medicated, like her shrink told her. And finally, she had prayed, like her sister told her. But there was no peace, no signs, no greater reason for each new breath. Just more emptiness with each failure.
She didn't blame them for her failure, she just hated them. Hated them for their happiness, their love, their completeness. She knew that part of why she was here was to destroy their peace. Even if it was only for a moment, to force those blissful people to feel the pain of loss and loneliness that she felt everyday.
So, she found herself on the roof of her building, hanging from the other side of the safety rail. Waiting.
What she was waiting for, she couldn't have told you. Once last chance for God to let her know what was going on? One last chance for someone to stop her? One last chance for forgiveness?
Her phone rang.
She clutched the rail harder with the remaining hand as she fumbled for the cell in her pocket.
It was her sister. She already knew what the call was about. Her sister wanted to know if she wanted to come down for Thanksgiving. Her sister had been calling every night for a week. She watched as the phone blinked and vibrated, the wind stealing away the sounds of the ringtone. After it had died its little death, she slid it back into her pocket.
She knew her sister, her parents, her friends, and even her shrink, cared about her. She had a good job and a loving, if distant, family. She was successful and smart and, well, not beautiful, but pretty in a chubby sort of way but... life simply hurt too much. She had been holding onto the bitterness and anger for far too long to continue as she was.
So she let go.