Become a Falling Blossom

The cold wind cut against her cheeks.
Standing by the window on the thirteenth floor,
she gazed silently into the night.

In the distance, a car horn blared,
and the traffic lights at the intersection turned green.

She exhaled softly.
A white breath dissolved into the darkness.

That station platform.
The freezing air.
The two approaching lights.

With each tick of the clock,
something inside her chest burned away,
bit by bit.

The pain melted,
lost its shape,
and became nothing but emptiness.

*"Live."*
Someone had once said that to her.

But those words were too heavy,
too sharp,
piercing deep into her slender neck.

She had never once been saved.
No one in the world knew this pain.

The wind grew stronger,
brushing through her hair.

Beyond the window,
the frozen ground seemed so far away.

Her fingers gripped the railing.
They trembled.

Just one step.

If she stepped forward,
everything would end.
The pain, the wounds,
the voices, the memories-
all of it.

-At that moment,
a flicker of light danced in the corner of her vision.

At her feet lay a white flower.

Had someone left it there?
Or had the wind carried it?

She picked it up,
and a tiny thorn pricked her fingertip.

There was pain.

She let out a small, breathless laugh.
*"I can still feel pain."*

She inhaled deeply,
lifting her gaze to the night sky.

The clock's hand moved forward once more.

And then,
she quietly closed the window.