He couldn't help but feel like an alien. He looked around him as the wind blew hard in his face, the cold air making him shiver. He took a long drag of his cigarette as he stared down at at the forest. It was a long way down from the tree he climbed up on. He could see the city, but quite far from where he was, just a vague light. Nothing more.

He always felt like an alien, he always felt down. He was always sad, he could never be happy, no matter how hard he tried to cover it with smiles and laughs. It was never hard for him to lie.

He took out his old phone, a small nokia phone quite out of its age, but functioning okay. He only ever called one person from it, and he knew that he'll always answer, no matter what. He didn't hesitate to call him.

Ring. Ring.

"Aron? Do you realize how late it is?"

Aron laughed quietly, then stared down at his bare feet.

"You still picked up." Aron said nonchalantly.

"Why did you call so late? Are you okay?"

"George... how are you, George?" Aron leaned his head against the trunk.

"I- what? Did you just call for that? What the f-" George cut himself, realization hitting

him. "Where are you?"

"You won't get here in time, George." Aron's voice was monotone.

"Aron, no, seriously. Don't. You know everyone forgave you." George sounsed desperate, hearing him run out of his house and going to his car.

"I didn't forgive myself. But that doesn't matter." Aron sighed and grinned. "Do you know why people kill themselves?"

"What? No, I... I dunno, 'cuz they wanna die or something?"

"No, no.." Aron chuckled. "It's 'cuz they wanna end their pain. Y'know, sometimes pain can be too much, even if you like it."

A moment of silence. An engine turning on. Driving fast.

"Thank you, George. Thank you for everything."

"No, thanks not accepted, jesus fucking Christ, I'll be there." George's voice was stern but also filled with worry.

Aron hissed a bit in pain. "Wait a second, I'll put you on speaker, I'm kind of bleeding out."

"Bleeding out?! What in the hell did you do?!" George snapped. He probably picked up the speed so much by now.

"I just wanted to feel alive before I die." Aron breathed slowly after he put his phone on speaker.

"No, you won't die. I'm coming there. You won't die."

"I feel dizzy.." Aron groaned. "Please hurry." Aron's voice only grew weaker.

"I'll be there, don't worry, I'll be there, I'll find you."

"Why did I end up being the alien?" Aron asked so quiet, George had to turn up his phone's speaker to hear him properly.

"What do you mean?"

"Why am I always sad?"

"You're not always sad."

"That's... what you... what you think.."

"Aron, please stay awake, I'm almost there."

Aron knew George wasn't even close. Coming from California to Oregon took a long time.

"I never thought you'd give... give me a second chance." He was struggling to stay conscious.

"You deserved it, okay? You didn't deserve to go through the shit we caused you to go through." George sounded desperate.

"Is... that so?" Aron wanted to laugh, but he felt too tired. "I wanna sleep."

"No! Aron, please, don't..." George sounded like he was crying. Huh. How strange, he never thought he could even cry.

"Goodnight, best friend."

If the blood loss didn't kill him, the fall surely did. He fell from twenty feet up and hit the ground quite hard. There was a voice screaming for him, but he was never able to make out what he said.

In the end, George found him, but it was hours later.

He wasn't even breathing anymore.