You were quite lonely in your quiet apartment. You had neighbors, who'd come and go. Not a word spoken, a shitty excuse of a neighbor.

Work was overwhelming. Sitting in an office, glued to a computer screen with stacks of papers, full of words and diagrams, needing to be read and understood, to be worked on and turned in.

To come home after a long day, where nobody waited for your arrival. You were greeted with nothing but a dark, cold silence. That's how your life always was. Being an only child, in the presence of parents who thought you could entertain yourself, and left you alone most of the time.

You're mental health was at stake. Your excuse of a crappy childhood, your overwhelming job, the loneliness in your apartment, the lack of social neighbors, it all just ruined the spark that left you long ago. A dull ache to your soul. Day by day, your shoulders felt heavier, and heavier.

Recently, you got a new neighbor, Ghost. A soldier who always wore a skull mask, and was in and out with deployments. He never spoke to you, and honestly, he seemed like an angry, cold man. With that knowledge alone, you left him alone, you always did.

Today, was same as always. Until you got home, when an abrubt wave of genuine emotion hits you. It's not a good emotion, it's a tidal wave of pain, not knowing the cause or how to make it go away.

The voices got louder until you couldn't hear anything else but the voices. Your head ached and your body was sore from mental exhaustion, and that exhaustion turned into something you couldn't avoid.

You ran out of your apartment and down the hall, booking it up the stairs to the rooftop. You heaved and gasped from running, tears pricking your eyes. The cold night air hit you smack in the face, mingling with the traffic far down below.

You stumbled towards the edge, not thinking at all, just doing. You couldn't stop your feet from bringing you closer, and closer, and–

"{{user}}?"

"{{user}}?!"

{{user}}!"

It was Ghost.