A frail young woman with gaunt eyes climbed the stairs to the terrace, her legs shaking vehemently, her transparent white dress fluttering in the mild breeze and her bony hands clutching a decrepit teddy bear close to her chest. She ambled towards the railing and the wind gained momentum. It whipped her face and sent her hair pirouetting into
the air; she knew they would become conspicuously knotted thereafter untangling which would become very tiresome, but what did it matter anymore. She lifted herself up over the railing and looked down at the multitude of traffic below. Immediately an uncanny dizziness gripped her and made her feel she could topple over any moment. She felt she was standing atop a lonely cliff, overlooking a frothy, churning ocean, the world enshrouded within a pitch black veil as the wind crashed against her and the cascading waves crashed against the robust rocks.  She clutched at the rusty railing and her teddy bear went hurtling below, as she let out a muffled and barely audible scream. She squinted at the street lights, and kept staring at them until all of them coalesced together into an amorphous contorted fiery mass, as a myriad of thoughts went across her head. She could not make up her mind whether to jump or not, allow that ocean of monstrosity to devour her completely. Jumping would mean her angst would end, she would finally be at peace, but that would also mean cowardice, a virtue she highly condemned. Maybe she should give life another chance? She no longer had a family left, was stranded homeless and purged of all convictions. The tsunami had taken away everything from her; her house, her parents, her siblings, her pet dog she loved more than anyone or anything else in the world, yet for some eerie turn of events she was alive and breathing when everything else she cared and loved, everything which kept her alive was snatched away from her in such an unruly manner. Death seemed a bright prospect.
She rocked to and fro, clutching at the railing so hard that her knuckles turned white. She’d expected it to be rather easy, but at the spur of the moment; it felt like the toughest decision ever. The waves of that turbulent ocean below seemed to rise higher and higher, fervent to engulf her, and she felt repulsed, terrified, and nauseous and the urge to get away from it, to recede to safer lands. She was feeling rather shivery too, and wished she’d draped a sweater at least. At that moment it hardly mattered, but now, standing at the crossroads between life and death, the scales of her craving tilting towards life, it felt like a huge necessity and comfort. She looked behind her. If she was careful enough she could step down and walk back to her ward and go to sleep, pretend as though this never happened. But one wrong step and she would meet her doom. She turned back at the mulling traffic and clutched the railing harder. Taking a deep breath she was readying herself to lift herself slowly down back onto the terrace, when she heard a panicky voice call out to her to wait. A rush of hurried footsteps and two very robust hands gripped her waist. It was her doctor.
‘Please, calm down, and don’t jump. I've got you,’ he pleaded in the most endearing manner, his eyes reflecting genuine concern for his patient. ‘I knew you would attempt this, but I beg you, trust me, I can help you out.’
She tilted her head, a mild smile playing across her lips and before she could say anything her doctor stepped up beside her and gripped her waist in one hand, pulling her closer to him and one hand he kept on the railing. The two of them were standing on the ledge conspicuously rather close to each other, and a slight movement could make both of them fall. She could even feel his breath upon her face, and she looked away to conceal her blush. It was rather ironic that the girl who had been mocked and cheated every single time she’d taken a leap of faith in love, could blush at the close
contact with a man and that too at the face of death, apparently.
‘Now, if you jump, we both fall. You don’t want to take an innocent life, do you?’ he asked. ‘Please step down. I beg of you!’
She looked up at him. ‘But why are you so concerned about me? What would it matter to you if I live or die?’
‘It matters, because a patient’s life is in the hands of the doctor. But it matters to me all the more because, I… I’ve fallen in love with you.’
What followed was a silence embellished with the ranting howl of oblivion, as the wind blew so hard that the trees seemed to be dancing in merriment and they both stared at each other. Even the ocean seemed to have become quieter. She couldn't recall how long they stood there like that, cradled against each other, and how long before she broke the awkward silence with a barely inaudible gasp of surprise.
He snapped out of his reverie and lowered his head. Staring down into her chest that was visible through the see-through white dress maybe? She couldn't tell for sure, he seemed to be in tears. Why was he in tears though, it was she who’d wanted to die!
Finally he spoke, in a shaky voice. ‘I know you have been stripped of every ounce of happiness, and it is… understandable of you to act like this. But that’s not a solution! You have to be strong enough to stand right back up. It would take time, yes, but I
would help you. Trust me, Matsuri, together you and I, we could do it. Please
let’s just step back down, together.’
An odd sense of gladness seemed to overcome her. This was life’s way of telling her perhaps that there was still a glimmer of hope left for her. Her doctor, who claimed to love her, had put his own life in risk for her by climbing up beside her. Isn't that what true love is? When someone is very dear to you, it is Love that gives you the courage to do very great things for them. Maybe after going through so many heartbreaks, she’d finally found true love and it was all worth it, after all. A tiny tear in the fabric of the thick black world with the lonely cliff and churning ocean occurred in the form of a cracked, jagged glimmer of light, as though from a far away lighthouse. The sudden appearance of the light gave her a sense of protection; it made her feel as long as the light shimmered the ocean won’t be able to consume her. 
‘Gunzou-san, do you really love me? Is a doctor allowed to fall in love with his patient?’ she asked.
He smiled. ‘But you’re only my patient as long as you in the hospital. And as to whether I love you, I've known it ever since I first looked into your eyes, right since when you were
discharged under my care. I don’t know how it happened; this is some indescribable feeling that pulls me towards you. I've never felt this way before. This peculiar feeling of
wistful longing yet accompanied with a painful mirth. Matsuri, trust me. I will
endow your life with all the happiness you've been deprived of, please just step down!’
The light glowed brighter. She inched closer to him rather bravely. ‘I trust you!’ she whispered.
Right at that moment, his eyes reflected elation like he’d never felt before. He bent down and touched her lips with his. Matsuri’s whole body went up in flames; a brazen torch seemed to erupt ablaze within her as he kissed her, infusing within her liveliness
like she’d never felt before. She felt more alive, more youthful, and more vigorous than never before. Her heart seemed to be crying out with joy that she wanted
to live! The light from the lighthouse was no longer a flickering silhouette, it glowed blindingly bright; so bright, that the ocean seemed to recoil in its glare.
They seemed to have been kissing for eternity, and when he finally stopped, she felt rather reluctant to let go, blushing heavily. It must have been a quite a show for the people down below, if anyone at all bothered to look up, if at all anyone was inclined to steer their attention away from the busy traffic, the world’s most wonderful kiss, in the most unlikely place and in the most unlikely manner. ‘Let’s get down,’ she said. ‘Let’s go back to the ward and have some coffee, and keep kissing me till I fall asleep.’
He flashed a toothy grin and indicated her to get down first. He held her carefully as she descended the precipitous edge. She was safely on the terrace and held out her hand for him to come down, but as he bent forward to take it, the inevitable happened. It took only a fraction of a second. He missed a step and went hurtling down, at break-neck speed, a petrified expression etched upon his face as he hopelessly flailed about to grope a holding, and all she could do was helplessly watch as her glimmer of hope fell towards his doom, an awfully heart rending scream escaping her throat.
The ocean proved its might, after all. The light emanating from the lighthouse, her beacon of hope dimmed away into an oblivion of nothingness, the curtain of blackness returned, darker than ever, and the galloping waves roared with frivolous contentment. The frothy and choppy waters climbed higher and higher against the cliff, and finally devoured her.