The rush hour was beginning to ebb but the red lights of the City still made it a slow drive. As the people rushed around to get home to have dinner. David and Beck headed for a pick up. David read the file as Beck drove on. The pick up was at a busy subway station. A jumper had decided to ruin everyone’s day by taking his own life. At the subway Beck pulled onto the sidewalk. Slowly she drove towards the entrance opening. A Cop was standing at the opening and police tape prevented anyone from entering. Beck stopped as close as possible. David got out and nodded to the Cop. Beck walked over to him, “Hey Mathew, how does it look?” “He made your job easy today” he replied. “Easy?” Beck asked. “Yea you’ll see what I mean” he smiled. Beck looked at David and then jerked her head in the direction of the subway. “Lets get on with it” she said and lifted the tape to slip underneath. ‘
Taking the staircase down into the station David and Beck carried the trolley for the body and a couple of body bags for good measure. Train deaths are never a pretty sight. The human body explodes if the train is traveling fast enough, or is caught in the wheels and dragged along the track spraying blood and body parts as it goes., so they knew it was going to be a messy job. David followed Beck down the stairs into the dark green tiled station. At the bottom the corridor split in two. “I think he likes you” said David. Beck looked at him with disgust. “What?” David smiled. Beck rolled her eyes and walked on, pulling the trolley. They came to the top of the stairs leading down to the train track which had more police securing it. “Didn’t you go out with him” David asked. “A long time ago” replied Beck. They looked down at the platform and could see that the train had come to an emergency stop. All the carriage doors were open. The train was part of the way into the tunnel on the far wall. Police were questioning members of the public on the platform near the bottom of the stairs.
Carrying the trolley down the stairs, David and Beck pushed past the people and moved down the platform. Doctor Li spotted them as she was talking to the conductor. She walked towards them “ahh hello you two, Follow me” she smiled and turned to walk towards the tunnel. The Doctor signaled for the train to be moved and a conductor waved at the driver. The train shuddered and slowly moved forward into the tunnel. As the track became slowly visible it revealed a streak of blood from the point of impact which lead to a large pool of dark blood with a mangled black body, in one piece. “This is what Mathew meant” said Beck. David looked down at the body and nodding. “ 34 year old male, Suicide” said the Doctor. “Have fun” she smiled and walked away in the direction of the stairs.
David and Beck jumped down to the track and realized the twisted black mass was a full body neoprene wet suit. The suit had kept all the body parts inside. There was a lot of blood, but that wasn’t their job. “Thoughtful guy” David said as they lifted the suit from the track, grateful the jumper was so thoughtful in his darkest hour. Even in killing himself he hadn’t wanted to cause any un-necesary trauma. David guessed the jumper had some experience with train suicides. There is no way he could have thought of this otherwise. He was probably a regular commuter and witnessed a train suicide before, something that would be etched on his memory forever. Trauma can do that to the mind he, thought and felt he was being watched.
They got the neoprene bag into two body bags and onto the trolley. Back at the surface Mathew the cop said to Beck “call me sometime” Beck smiled awkwardly and got into the car to drive away. David slid the trolley in and shut the back door. He nodded to Mathew and got into the car. “Poor guy” he said as he clicked in his seat belt. As he looked up at the crowd beyond Beck, that had gathered around to see the action, he locked eyes with a tall thin faced guy in a black bubble jacket. He then looked away and walked away through the crowd. David thought for a few seconds and then dismissed it. Turning to Beck he said “I think he loves you” Beck started the engine and looked at David “They always do” she said and smiled, slowly moving off along the sidewalk.
That evening David ascended the stairs to his apartment after three more natural death pick ups that day. The tube station pick up had effected him a little more than he would have liked. How low must someone be to want to take their own life, fully aware of the mess that would be left behind. “He must have been fully prepared to meet the other side” thought David as he reached the top of the stairs. “Long day?” asked Mrs Dean as she swept the floor in the hallway. “Yea kinda” said David as he looked for his key. “You seem different today” she said in a concerned voice. “ Ah you know, just one of those days” David waved. “ Would you like to come in and talk about it?” asked Mrs Dean. “No, no I’m fine, thanks Mrs Dean. I just need sleep” he said as he fumbled to get his key in the lock. “ Well if you change your mind. My door is always open” continued Mrs Dean as she continued to swept the floor. “Thanks” smiled David as he pushed open the door.
Sitting on his sofa, David poured the last of the fluorescent green liquid from the bottle. He hoped he would see the woman again. He needed answers. With her voice repeating in his head “you have a job to do” he took the glass and drank the bitter liquid in one go. Sliding the empty glass back on the table, he lay his body back on the sofa, waiting for the feeling to take over him. As he stared forward at the picture of his family on the wall, the room began to vibrate. He rested his head back and close his eyes. “I’m ready” he said.
The rythmical vibrating was in sync with an electrical buzzing sound that filled his mind. It grew louder and louder. It became so loud it absorbed him completely. At that moment the room duplicated countless times in two directions at once, into infinity. The pressure on his mind was almost too much to bare as he was woven into the fabric of space and time. He fought the panic to stay calm. “I’m ready” he said to himself. He moved at the speed of light through eternity, he was light, then, silence. A white light in an eternal place. Another light was in front of him, another being. He couldn’t see a face but he could feel the love from this being emanating into him. Filling him with love. Time stood still “are you the voice in my dream?” he asked. “Yes” it replied. There was no voice, but he heard it. “You said I have a job to do?” David asked. “You will know in time. Follow the signs.” Then suddenly he was aware of being back in his body.
David opened his eyes slowly, the vibrating ebbed away and the ceiling of his apartment came into focus. He sat there for some time as he returned back to his body fully, thinking about the message he had received. “Follow the signs” he said out loud. This only gave him more questions than answers. “What signs?” He sat up slowly and looked at the empty bottle on the table in front of him. He needed to buy more…
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