The winter winds hit them as soon as they stepped out on to the tiny balcony of their small apartment

“One for the road”  they murmured ruffling through their coat pocket and producing a cigarette and worn lighter.

The streets below their apartment was bustling with people to busy living their own lives to notice the sequence of events that was about to unfold.   

Stubbing their last cigarette on the frozen railing of his balcony the moment they’d been planning for had finally arrived.

They knew what they had to do but as the myriad of sound emanating from below filled their ears they hesitated wavering for a moment before steeling their nerves once again.

Come on coward you’ve come this far no pulling out now do it,  you have to,  you have to end this nightmare.   The rope itched and irritated their hands as they coiled their fingers around the edges of the fraying loop.

Stilling their trembling hands they guided the loop of rope over their head pulling it tight so that it constricted around their neck taking one long glance behind them to make sure the other end of the rope was properly affixed and stable they placed their hands atop the cold rail of the balcony.  

Shifting their weight they managed to straddle the flimsy railing giving them a perfect look at the pavement below crawling with happy people,  people with lives to live and reasons to wake up in  the morning.  

 Take a good long look at me you bastards this is my final act of defiance against this miserable word a powerless ant taking matters into their own hands.   Fuck this rotten world it should disappear all of it should just disappear.  

 One sharp exhale later and they had done it taken the great plunge from the railing the impact and sudden stop so brutal that they’re neck didn’t snap so they writhed helplessly as their life slowly ebbed away.  

No one was coming to save them this wasn’t an anime or a video game it was over for them this was the end of their story an end to relentless nightmares.    

While their vision blurred and there body grew all the more limp they experienced something quite peculiar indeed.  

  ᛞᛖᚨᚱ ᚱᛖᚨᛞᛖᚱ ᛏᚺᚨᚾᚴ ᚤᛟᚢ ᚠᛟᚱ ᚤᛟᚢᚱ ᛋᚢᛈᛈᛟᚱᛏ

What was that voice right now?   It must be the final gasp of my brain as it struggles to keep me alive.

They always say that in the moments of your death you see the memories of your life dance vividly as they flash before your eyes.   

An extremely common and widely reported phenomenon that is extensively impossible to verify,  well I can say that it’s bullshit or maybe I just don’t have any memories worth remembering knowing me that’s likely the case.   

ᚨᛏ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛖᚾᛞ ᛟᚠ ᛏᚺᛁᛋ ᚨᚱᚲ ᛋᚺᛁᚾᛟᛒᚢ ᛗᚨᛏᛋᚢᛗᛟᛏᛟ ᛈᛖᚱᛁᛋᚺᛖᛋ

There’s that damn voice again it’s a males voice sounds like they’re in their 20s… no 30s it’s gruff yet warm,  wait I can hear a second voice answering the first a woman’s voice strained and weary yet soft and comforting.

ᛏᚺᛖ ᛖᚾᛏᛁᚱᛖ ᚡᛁᛚᛚᚨᚷᛖ ᛞᛁᛖᛋ ᛞᚢᚱᛁᚾᚷ ᛏᚺᛖ ᛋᚨᚤᚢᚱᛁ ᚠᛖᛋᛏᛁᚡᚨᛚ ᛖᛪᚲᛖᛈᛏ ᛗᚨᚱᛁ ᚹᚺᚨᛏ ᚨ ᛏᚹᛁᛋᛏ

Hey voices can you shut the hell up and let a person die in peace and quiet please.   As if hearing their perishing plea the two voices became silent only for it to be replaced moments later with an even more agitating sound.  

The final sound they heard before slipping into the infinite blackness the sound of a baby crying it grew louder and louder until it was all they could hear.  Tingles rippled through out their weightless body and before too long they were gone completely.    

The last sparking embers of a dead life had been snuffed out.