His head was swimming. He wasn't sure what to make of this change in events. Bracing himself against the wall, he used that as an anchor to climb onto the railing of the balcony, uncertainly placing his feet on the thick stone. Once he had climbed there, he straightened up, leaning away from the wall to depend on himself for this. Now is just became a matter of balancing. Just like the rest of life. Tipped too far one way, he could fall back to the safety of the balcony floor. Tipped too far the other way, it would be certain death down 12 stories to the busy world below. He wondered if anyone was looking up, wondered if anyone could see a figure in the late afternoon, precariously balancing on the edge like he was. He questioned idly if someone had even thought to call the police, or if they were watching just to see what happened. If someone was watching, eventually a crowd would gather to see what had nabbed the attention of another. But he doubted that he had been noticed. People would move on with their lives until he had a body to show for it.
He gingerly shuffled forward, taking care as if he really didn't want to topple over, moving until he was too far from the wall to gain dependency on it again. He didn't look down like most would. That would cause him to tip and lean, and he wasn't keen on ending this just yet. He instead looked to the horizon, to the skyscrapers and the buildings, breaking the even line of sunlight and earth. It was peaceful to him, calming to his soul despite the quivers that ran through body. His mind felt as if it was muddled like a feverish patient. Only one thought came through the foggy mess of his head and that was of flying. His mind helpfully supplied a quote, from someone, from something he had read or heard. "The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it." And he didn't want to doubt it, he wanted to fly and reach the sky.
He could hear movement from behind him, inside the apartment as the bodies inside stirred out of their stupors. In just a moment, he knew he would hear the surprised swears and the fumbling as they realized the situation and would come to pull him off his perch and back inside. Common sense nagged at him to do just that, to follow the hands before they pulled him off. But a higher, more persistent feeling made him want to find out just if he could fly, just if that quote from a story was true. Letting his eyes slip shut, he extended his arms to his sides in a mockery of wings and tipped. His name was shouted but it fell on numbed ears as his body and balance decided to test the difference between fate and destiny. Funny how he realized seconds later that the quote was from Peter Pan.