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22:31 pm, one extra minute since the time Luca is home. Yet, nobody is worried, the man keeps going.
It was known by all of Luca’s friends that his mental and physical health wasn’t even close to be the best, or even average at all, and that is why each of them kept an eye on the ex-prisoner, always asking where was he, if he took his meds and so on. He was just tired, really tired. The medicine lost effect long ago, and even longer did the therapy stopped helping, but nobody noticed, they were even proud of his apparent improvement. ‘How sad’ Balsa thinks every time he hears those words, knowing that in reality it was the complete opposite, worsening by every second that passed. Luca got to his limit, he just wanted to stop being a burden to everyone, he was really just a waste of money, food and a hundred more things. He just wants to stop feeling this way, but since he knows the economic problems of all his mates, Luca was sure it would be impossible. This has to end.
22:45 pm, 15 extra minutes since the time Luca is home. Tracy is slightly unsettled and always watching the clock, her leg is trembling, but still decides to not call anyone. The man keeps walking, even with his health, he keeps a fast pace, how curious.
If you ask Luca when was the time when all went downhill, he would just say ‘I can’t remember’ because of two obvious reasons: It was so long ago, and he lost all memory of himself after going out of jail. Once he entered university and managed to make friends was when the idea of therapy appeared, maybe with that he could remember who he is, when his birthday was and maybe get better in general. Even so, there was this one thing he knew very well… He was an inventor, a great one! And that he was working on a great invention, one that would change the world… but, if Luca tries to remember what is after that, he will just trigger a panic attack and a painful headache. The inventor’s first session was three years ago, exactly the day that he was walking with a place in mind.
22:58 pm, 28 extra minutes since the time Luca is home. Both of his roommates, Tracy Reznik and Norton Campbell, are now worried, thinking about calling him, but decide to wait just a bit more… they trust in his friend. The man keeps walking, with every step he is closer to his goal, Balsa’s mind is going by every memory he had until that moment.
The once prisoner doesn’t really know what he did to deserve his friends, he was a criminal, he killed someone (or at least, that was what they told him), but then… Why would someone want to be close to him? What made them so sure that he wouldn’t hurt them? To be honest, he couldn’t find an answer, and doesn’t really like to think about it, because anyways, it was too late now, he was already hurting them, just as he always thought. In front of the man was that mountain he loved to go with company. His friends…. Naib, Eli, Edgar, Victor, Andrew… Tracy… Norton…. Luca just gave a shaky laugh, ‘So i couldn't really tell them how much i loved them, i guess i was always an ungrateful bitch, huh.’ He talked with the wind, his only companion on this cold winter night. But… thinking a bit further Maybe that was the reason that this morning he prepared breakfast for his roommates, maybe that was the reason he left a cake in the refrigerator and maybe that was the reason he hid some boxes under his bed. It was his small ‘thank you’ and ‘i’m sorry’ he couldn’t say out loud.
23:20 pm, 50 extra minutes since the time Luca is home. Norton calls desperately at the inventor’s phone, just to discover it is off. Both friends are now totally worried, Tracy started calling everyone, maybe… they know something. The man starts going up on the mountain, he keeps talking with his friend, the wind, his heart goes faster with every breath, just as if something was following him close.
The soon to be dead inventor is getting close to the top of the mountain, who knows how tall the place really was, he didn’t really care too much, since he calculated that it was enough for him to finally fly and end this once and for all. Luca’s legs are trembling, it was exactly at this moment that he asks himself ‘Is this really what I want?’ but in reality, he can’t do much now, his body took control and he can’t stop it now, he was already gone.
23:40 pm, 1 hour and 10 extra minutes since the time Luca is home. Everyone is starting to panic, nobody knows where the boy is. Victor, Naib and Eli are on their way to the home that he usually arrives every night, they need to start searching since the police won’t do anything for just 1 hour or so of disappearance… if they only knew how Luca was. The man sits on the edge, looking at the starry sky above and how it is reflected on the small river below him… a really wonderful view, he was at least happy that this was going to be his last memory, but deep on his heart he knew that the last thing he wanted to see was the face of those that he loved. Luca turns on his phone.
The ex-prisoner's mind is going around his first days of college, the day he met everyone, how they cared for him, how they gave him a reason to live. Luca couldn't even notice when tears began to fall from his eyes, he didn't want this. He wanted to go back, but…. Why can't he get up? Why does it look that he is just getting closer to his fall…? Looking at the phone tha man notices the 20-30 or more calls that he couldn't answer, that plus all of the messages… Luca could just sob in pure desperation while copy-pasting his goodbye made days ago on the group chat. This… really was the end… Not even the inventor could believe it, it was already too late when he noticed that he lost control of his body, when he noticed he was standing with his back facing the void walking slowly in reverse… when he noticed this was a decision that he could never change.
00:00 am, 1 hour and 30 extra minutes since the time Luca is home. Everyone is looking on different parts of the city in search of their friend, screaming his name and sending the two available animals to help find him.
Norton checks his phone, and soon enough he felt how the air left his body and started feeling dizzy after reading what Luca sent, without wanting to, he starts running. The man trips on the edge, you can even hear the soft and weak 'I'm so sorry' traveling through the air as something falls, the fall doesn't seem to end for Luca, even less when in that moment every memory came back to him, his childhood even came back to him. It was late, just… too late.
A scream is heard.
Norton Campbell kept running and screaming the missing one's name, he raised his volume once he found him, but he couldn't do much, Luca Balsa already learned to fly. The water from the river splashed up into the street, while a crimson color started to appear from the bottom, what did he expect? it was full of rocks down there, it was pretty obvious that Luca had it all planned. The prospector collapsed on his knees once he was beside the river, one of the persons he loved more… is gone, just as it always happens. His phone rings, with a low whisper he says 'I found him.'
00:40 am, 2 hour and 10 extra minutes since the time Luca is home. The ambulance is here, the police lights are so bright that the one who found the body can't see much.
Nobody could believe this yet, Luca Balsa, 26 years old, who fought all of his life to remember who he was and what he was there for… was gone for real. They could never hug him again, never show him love again… they never managed to tell him how much they loved him.
Nothing was the same since that day, a lot of them were questioning if there was anything they could have done differently… maybe if they had started the search before… but the answer would never be known.
The seer of the group laments himself on his thoughts 'If i would have just trusted my instincts…'
At the end… Was there really someone at fault? Not even the dead man wanted to say goodbye this way, he just couldn't control his body anymore to stop that fate, so no one could have really done anything for him to be alive now.
The last message on a group chat was a paragraph full of sorrows and apologies, but what really will never leave the mind of his friends was the last words:
" I could never say this while i was alive, but… I really love you all, thank you for making my life a little more bearable! Stay together, don't let this separate you, ok? I would feel reeeaaaally guilty on the other side!! I'll wait for everyone there, please take your time, I don't want to see you here so soon, and time i have a lot.
We will see eachother again in another life… or another world even!
Goodbye.
- Luca Balsa (⊗﹁◓´) "