THE
MODERN DAY BUSINESS PRINCE
by Erin
A man of about 29 was standing next to his office window on the 23rd floor.
He was a scrawny man who always looked worn around the edges. His life had never gone that well. He was considered a geek all throughout his school carrer and was still considered one even now. He wasn't even respected in the business world as he had never made any huge advances for his company. His girlfriend had just left him because she thought he was gay. Why she thought this, he had no idea. He didn't have any friends and was pushed around in the real world. The only woman who was slightly kind to him was the girl who was just above him in the company and felt sorry for him. Just then, his boss walked in.
"You have made no advances for the company. You are worthless to me, just another check to pay out. You have one hour to gather your things and leave. I will send your next check in the mail." The boss said and walked out, slamming the door as she left. This was the last straw for the man. He didn't think his life could get any worse. He picked up his chair and smashed it through the window just as the girl from upstairs walked in. He was standing on the window sill, about to jump, when she screamed.
"Nooooooooo!
What are you doing!?" The woman asked desperately.
"Don't
jump, please......" She searched for something in her mind that would make him
come off of the sill and back into the office.
"I.....I
love you." She said. The man looked back at her. His eyes full of hope.
"You.....you
do?" He asked shakely. Down below him, there were people gathering on the sidewalk,
looking and pointing up at him.
"Yes,
I do." The woman replied.
"Please,
don't jump." The man came down off the sill and back into the office. He walked
carefully up to her as not to scare her.
"You're
the only person who's really said that to me." The man said as the woman began
to realize how pathetic this guy really was. He got down on one knee.
"Will
you marry me?" The woman looked around, horrified. She saw the open window and
thought, 'Death would be better than this.'
"Well?" The man asked. "Will you?"
The woman walked past him and to the open window.
She looked down. Police had gathered and so had the firemen. The had a giant net to catch anyone who jumped. She carefully climbed up onto the sill and saw what the people down below did not see.
One floor down, just underneath the ledge of the window sill was a balcony. If she jumped, she might land on that. It might break her legs, but anything was better than marrying the guy who was now looking at her horrified.
"No." He whispered. "You're all I have, don't jump."
The woman took one last look down, made some careful calculations in her head that she didn't even know about but would stop her from dying and jumped.
Down she fell for what seemed forever but was really only a few seconds. She turned and fell towards the balcony and landed on it, not breaking anything but bruising herself nicely. She turned carefully from her position on the floor of the balcony and saw the man plummet down past her and miss the net.
A sickening thud floated up to her as the man hit the ground. She looked away and thought 'It was better this way.' She watched as the ambulance drove away with the crumpled body of the man inside.
A man from the office with the balcony came out to her and helped her to her feet. This was a man she had never seen before. He must have been new to the building.
He was stunningly beautiful to her point of view and was very kind. He drove her to the hospital and stayed with her throughout the night.
In a few months time, they got married on account that she was pregnant. Unfortunatly for them, they did not lead the storybook life.
A year after the baby was born, they had a horrible divorce and the woman lost everything.
The pain of labor and the stress of parenting robbed her of her good looks. She lost her job and had to live on unemployment for awhile. She died a wretched old woman, alone in her bed. Her body was discovered a week after her death. Just before she died, she thought 'I'm going to end up like that man. Lonely and alone and hideous and pitied.'
Only she died worse than that man, for as the man had died of suicide, she died of old age. Her beauty was gone when she died as the man had died with the beauty of youth. Quote that goes with this story:
"It is better to die young and leave a beautiful corpse than to die old and leave behind an ugly one."