Brian

I just woke up.

I just got a phone call a while ago. Another one of my friends committed suicide. I don't get it. These guys were intelligent, fun to be around, people liked them. They made the world a better place by being in it, and now they're gone. I'm not sure how I feel. Sad, because I'll never see them again, but maybe that's just being selfish. Guilty, because maybe I wasn't a good enough friend to them. Mad, because they made a bad decision that affected everyone who cared about them. Another...

He stood on his porch, his frail hand holding unsteadily to the railing. His breath did not make a puff of white cloud, it was not yet that cold. But autumn was definitely here, and winter not far off. He wondered again if it would be his last. Winter for him, in any case, was here to stay, and there would never be a spring. He heard a noise, a rhythmic tapping sound, and looked across the street to see a young boy, walking along the sidewalk and letting a stick slap against the picket fence...