Ticking Watch

I looked out on the town. A large distortion of gray, that’s all it ever was and that’s all it’ll ever be. On the very edge of town was the bridge out, merging itself with the polluted blue of sky. The noose of a once hanged man dangles from beneath the bridge. I remember in my childhood how I’d pass it everyday, never quite understanding it. He once told me it belonged to a man who taught Him a very important lesson, or at He dreamt that he did. Even looking out now I still wonder who did the dangling noose belong to?

Looking down on the street below I could see the vacant square below me. It was still a time when everybody else in the town was asleep. A breeze blew past me and for a split second I lost my balance, though I quickly regained it. Like it really mattered now though.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my watch. It was one of those old-fashioned pocket watches, He built it for me and I kept it ticking ever since. I opened it and saw that the watch read 4:37 with the second spinning, but I only cared about the picture on the other side of the watch. A picture of the two of us, a picture from a better time. When He was still here with me. But now He is gone, and it seems that He has forgotten all about the girl He said he loved.

I closed the watch, as it was the minute had just turned. “I won’t be needing this anymore.” I clutched the watch in my palm and threw it out as far as I could. I closed my eyes as soon as I tossed it out. I never wanted to see it land. It would only make things harder.

I again peered over the side. I was really going to do this. I spread out my arms and leaned closer to the edge. The breeze grew even more, but I still maintained a balance. Like it mattered though.

I took one last breath and plunged. For a fraction of a second I could feel the air take me. I closed my eyes in attempt to brace what I had set for myself. All of a sudden I felt a snag and I had stopped. Something had grabbed by left wrist and I was sustained in the air. I looked up to see a man, who looked as if he had lived the streets for a few lifetimes grabbing onto my wrist. “What are you doing?”

“Saving you. What else does it look like?” said the man.

“But I don’t want to be saved.” I begin to wrestle my arm a bit to escape his grip, but it failed to accomplish anything.

“So are you saying you really want to die?”

I looked up at the man “Yes.”

“You’re lying.”

“H-How would you know? You’ve just let out your arm and dangle me in mid-air and assume you already know if I want to die or not.”

“I can see it in your eyes” he said, with this I then promptly turned my head away from the man. I wrestled my arm a little more, but still I couldn’t manage to break free. I gave up after awhile, and let out a sigh. “That Boy really does love you, y’know?”

“Wha-?” In a bit of shock I turned my attention back to the man.

“A silly one that Boy can be sometimes. But when he has something in him that he cares about he sticks to it. Don’t worry your pretty face on silly matters. That only leads you to fall off buildings.”

I wrestled even more from his grip. ‘I didn’t want to hear him talk about Him anymore. How does even know Him anyway? He must be playing with me or something.’ I thought. I wrestled some more, but still I failed to yield any results in my struggle. “Will you just let me go?!”

“Fine. If that’s what you want.” And with that the man simply let go of my wrist. I looked up as I was falling. The man was no longer there. I closed my eyes again as I was falling. In another moment later I would stop falling again. But I wasn’t dead. I opened my eyes and I saw the man again. I was laying in his arms, only two feet above my initial target.

“What are you doing?!”

“Haven’t you asked me that one already?” He let go of me and I stormed off a few feet away from the man.

“Yes…But. Why. You don’t even know me. And here you’ve saved me twice in a matter of minutes. Why are you doing this?”

“Because of the Boy. Because for some reason that Boy seems to care about you. I dunno why he’d fall for some suicidal chick. But then again I’m not him.” He said shrugging.

“You keep saying it as if you know Him. I don’t understand it. And I don’t understand how you can come from inside a building stories up and then to the ground, before I could even fall” I said, taking a few steps back. “What are you?”

The man began to approach me “Why dear, didn’t the Boy tell you about me? I’m the Hanged Man, you see.” A noose suddenly appeared around the man’s neck.

I fell to my knees and shook my head rapidly. “I-I don’t believe it.”

“Believe what you want, sweetie.” He stood right in front of me and held up my chin. “Don’t worry your little head so much. The Boy will be back soon enough.” He quickly let go of me, walked a few feet away and looked at a watch on his wrist. “Well, it appears it’s my time to be heading off.”

He began to walk into the center of the square, and then stopped for a second. “Wait. Forgot something.” He reached into his pocket and it looked like he grabbed something. He walked back towards me and stuck out his hand. “Don’t worry. It’s yours.”

I reached out my hand and he dropped something into my hand. I turned to see what it was and saw that it was the watch I had thrown. “But…how did y-” I tried to say before he interjected.

“It’s fine. Still ticking.” He said with a smile. He turned around and began to walk away, disappearing only after a few steps.

I looked down at the watch and the picture of the two of us. And I pressed the watch against my ear. “Still ticking.”