Chapter One: The Fall
Act 1: Where It All Went Wrong
I was there, you know—when he fell. I have no remembrance of anything before that moment—just the instant when everything went wrong.
Why was I even there to see it? I didn’t know either. But I was deeply intrigued by where this was going: the man who fell out of the sky—and me, his silent spectator—beholding what seemed to be the end of his story.
I couldn’t help but wonder how my existence mattered to his story and how his existence, in turn, mattered to mine.
I was there when it all went wrong.
Act 2: The Fall
All I could do was watch him plummet toward the ground, struggling against the inevitable. The fear of his permanent end blinded him to what was truly happening. It made him deny his own reality.
It never feels real to lose yourself—and he was discovering that in real time, right before my eyes.
Act 3: This Is The End
Eventually, he let himself go. Reality sank in, and he accepted the fate that awaited him.
I could see his countenance shift even from miles away—his body language changing from desperate resistance to reluctant surrender.
“This is the end,” he muttered to himself.
But was it?
Act 4: Rock Bottom
His descent finally reached its end. He struck the ground hard— unconscious, the wind whistling faintly in the air around him.
To him, he had lost everything. To him, it was all over. Nothing could make things right again.
He had forgotten one of the best things about hitting rock bottom: the only way left to go is up.
He thought his story was over. And though I had no idea why I was there to witness this, I could tell his story was just beginning— and that there was more to why our paths had crossed.
