Descent To Darkness

In a large skyscraper that could illuminate the buildings from below, there sat a man going through papers. This man, Lucas Bennett, didn't have a happy face; instead, his face was only filled with sorrow. He had red hair and bright eyes, and he was handsome too. Despite his outward appearance, his heart was heavy with grief.

A young man walked into the office. "Mr. Lucas, all your appointments have been scheduled."

"Cancel them," replied Lucas in a hoarse voice.

"Sir, we can't. This could be a major turning point for our company. We can't just throw it away."

"I told you to cancel them. I didn't hire you to be my advisor; I hired you to be my secretary. Now do what you are told."

"But sir, this could cost us millions of dollars..." he was abruptly cut off by Lucas.

"Does it look like I care? I just told you to cancel them."

"Sorry, sir. I shall do it."

The secretary walked out with an unhappy face. What could he do? He could only hope that nothing would happen to the company with this huge loss. As he walked, he was greeted by other employees.

"What happened in there?" asked a woman with short hair.

"He refused."

"I don't blame him. He did just find out this week that his wife cheated on him," chimed one of them.

"You're right. Poor guy, he must be crushed."

"I have to go break it to the board about his decision."

Oblivious to the whole situation, Lucas sat in his office, swirling a piece of wine, trying to drown his sorrow. "I can't believe she did this to me. I did everything for her, but this is what she does to me."

"Why don't you just end it all here?" a voice whispered in his ear.

"End it all here," he muttered to himself.

He walked out of his office and was greeted by all his employees, but he didn't bat an eye toward them. He just kept walking and walking with hollow eyes.

He went up a staircase that led to the roof, and without turning back, he walked to the edge. He looked straight down at all the cars bustling in the street. It didn't help that it was a skyscraper.

"Why do all novels make suicide seem so easy?"

He wanted to jump, but the height was terrifying, and he couldn't even think of jumping. "Damn you, Lucas. You've been a coward all your life, and the time for you to man up, you're still scared."

He tried to jump again, but thoughts of his children, especially his daughter, clouded his mind. He couldn't just leave his children, especially his daughter. She was so pure and couldn't be left in this world on her own before the corruption of the world could get to her, just like it got to him.

He took one last look at the world below before he turned around, not knowing the troubles that lay ahead of him. "Oh my God," said an employee.

"What's wrong?" asked another man.

The other quickly whispered something into his ear, making the man's eyes widen with shock. "The boss isn't gonna like this one bit. How is this even possible?"

Lucas walked back into his office with a bright smile on his face and a bit of hope in his dull eyes. He had a reason to live again, and he was going to do what needed to be done. A knock resounded in the room, pulling Lucas out of his thoughts.

"Yes."

His secretary entered the room in a hurry, a look of worry plastered on his face. "What do you want, Ben?" asked Lucas.

"Sir, it's about the company."

"What's wrong?" he asked as worry latched onto his voice.

"Michael has stolen the company."

"What? That's impossible." Michael was his best friend and his right-hand man. He just couldn't believe that his friend could do something like that.

He stood up from his chair and walked toward the door, ready to confront his friend. He walked toward Michael's office, his footsteps feeling heavy. He silently wondered what he had done wrong to deserve all of this.

He walked into the office where a man could be seated. "Hello, Lucas. What's up?"

"Cut the crap, Michael. Did you or did you not steal the company from me?"

"Yes, I did," he replied with a straight face and a smile.

"Why? How could you do this to me? When I got rich, I took you in and made you the man you are today. How could you do this to me?"

"Don't try and pretend to be a saint, you bastard. You stole the one woman I ever loved and turned her into your wife just because you were angry at me. Do you know what I had to go through all the time, seeing you acting so cozy with the woman I love?" he replied, his voice booming with anger and rage.

To this, Lucas could only remain silent.

"This is just payback for all you did to me. You better pack your stuff from this building before I make you leave forcefully."

He didn't say a single word to all of this and just silently left. He walked toward his office and started packing his things.

"Sir, if you want, I can leave too."

"Don't worry about it, Ben. It was me who dug my own grave, and now I'm getting what I deserve. Don't ruin your future because of me."

"I have enough money saved up from the business to live comfortably with my daughter for the rest of my life," he thought to himself.

He walked out of his office and called all of his employees to do a farewell before he left. When he was finally about to leave, his phone rang. He had time to pick it up.

"Hello, is this Mr. Lucas?"

"Yes, who is asking?"

"I'm a doctor, and I am here to talk to you about your daughter. She was rushed to my hospital by her friends. We tried everything to save her, but we couldn't. The cause of her death was too much consumption of drugs, which ended her life shortly."

"I can't believe it," he muttered to himself.

He dropped his phone and all of his belongings and walked past all of his employees as tears filled his eyes. He walked to the top of the building, but this time he didn't hesitate as he jumped down from the edge. The wind blew on his face as he fell to his doom. They say when you die, your life flashes before your eyes, and that was exactly what was happening to him now as he recalled his life.

He remembered how he won a lottery and from then on decided to leave his family due to all the money, even dumping the girl he loved because of the money.

He did surgery to make himself muscular and acquired a skin disease that could terminate his life because of the trends of the world. He started taking drugs and smoking too, which caused him to have lung cancer. His life expectancy rate wasn't great.

He stole his best friend's girlfriend just because he was mad at him and married her too. He had children and didn't even try to make it his priority to raise them, as all he ever did was focus on his business. As a result, his children became corrupted by the world.

The one child he gave attention to went into drugs and died because of it. Looking at his life now, he realized how terrible of a human being he was and how he deserved all of this.

"If only I had another chance, I would change all of this and make amends," he murmured to himself.

He fell until his body finally hit the pavement, but what happened to him wasn't pain coursing through his body. Instead, he was greeted by a gentle voice and darkness.

"Hey, Luke, it's time to wake up for school."

"What the f*ck," he muttered, confused by the sudden change in reality.