I had been ready to do this for a long time, but today was the day I would finally do it. Now that he left me I couldn't find the strength to do it anymore. I closed the door to my room and slowly approached my bed. Reaching underneath, I grabbed the coil of rope. The manila rope felt firm in my hand, but it also felt like the only thing holding me together. It's strange how the tool I would use to kill myself was the only thing left to keep me together, but it's true. When I touched it, my blood should have run cold. I should have been rejected. But without her, I had nothing to hold me together, no one to help me with a drunk mom and dad, and this rope was the only thing I had left. Unwinding the rope, I looked at the dim light hanging from above. the ceiling. It hung from a dark metal rod; one that I knew would support my weight. My hands shook as I tied the rope around the light, then tied the end into a strong loop knot. If I entered it, I would be suspended about a foot off the ground, suspended in death. Perfect. Could I really do this? I stood up in the chair. People die all the time, but people keep moving forward, right? So why can't I move on too? I tightened the noose around my head, while my hands trembled. If . . . If only I could start over. If only today it hadn't happened. I could change everything. Nobody should have died. I glanced at the clock and saw that its green digits showed exactly eleven. "I'll never get that second chance. I guess it just wasn't meant to happen," I whispered. I hesitated, but only for a second, then kicked the chair, embracing whatever came next. I could feel my heart skip a beat as the chair hit the ground with a heavy thud. I suffocated, my lungs and my neck... in the center of the paper... I managed to save Cathy. My vision became blurry. My lungs and neck burned harder and harder and dizziness took over. I deserved all this and more. Death was approaching and this time I was ready. The rope suddenly broke. I fell and fell until I hit something soft, something thumping. I found myself lying, on my stomach, against what looked like a human heart. Impossible! It couldn't happen! I hallucinated everything. . . Right? How could this be real? I was dying. . . or was I really getting a second chance? Even if it had been a second chance, there was no way I could have saved Cathy. . . or was there? A laugh escaped me despite myself. "Let's go. I'm ready." Almost as if in response, his heart gave a tremendous beat. My whole body trembled and I, without knowing whether death or a real second chance awaited me, passed out, ready to face anything...