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Chris Chaos · (06-02-2021)

The water was beginning to churn a bit under the new breeze that rolled in off the Gulf. The bay is known for this. Chris twisted his lip at the man hanging below him.

"So tell me again, what is in the briefcase?"

The man was growing a bit frantic now, feeling Chris's grip loosening.

"I already told you! It is my second chance!"

Chris laughed a bit.

"You're gonna have to do better than that."

The man's eyes went wide, and he began to talk a bit louder.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME!"

"Shhh........not so loud. Wouldn't want them to get the wrong idea, would we?

The man had a hateful look in his eyes now.

"What I want for you is for you to convince me not to toss you off the biggest fucking bridge in front of all of Pinellas County.".

The man scoffed a bit. Surely he wasn't serious

"So it would go from suicide to homicide, why would you risk that?! There are cops everywhere!"

Chaos smiled at the man.

"Because I don't feel that you actually want to do this. I can make it look like an accident, and I can still play the hero. Sometimes] our favorite heroes are the ones who could just as easy be villains. I feel like this was a cry for help and I am your help. I am going to make you make a decision today.....one that can alter the course of your life forever."

"So you are trying to play god?"

"I am god."

48 hours earlier.

Derrick Preston was leaving the gym, his grey tee covered in a sheen of sweat. It had been a good workout and a much needed stress reliever. His life had been so hectic lately.

He pulled his keys out of his gym bag and clicked the U on them, his car beeped and flashed its lights in the distance.

He always kept his phone in his gym bag. He didn't want any distractions while he was getting his workout in. When he got to his car, he pulled his phone out of his gym bag before stuffing it in his trunk and shutting it.

Getting into the car and taking a last bottle cracking sip of his water, he slid his thumb over the screen and the phone illuminated.

As he pressed the button to start the car he looked down and his expression went from satisfied and relieved to forlorn.

It was an email from his attorney. He also had one from his boss. Along with two text messages from his kids.

His attorney wasn't supposed to email him this soon. He sighed as he clicked

OPEN.

Apparently the judge denied the plea deal. Florida had very draconian laws in these sort of things that favored the woman heavily.

Even if she was a total monster.

She was threatening to take the kids. Take the house. Take the cars.

All the money he made, all the assets she wanted.

And that she would most likely get.

He had to be in court this week. 9 am. Wednesday.

His attorney said it wasn't going to go well. His affair was highly publicized after his wife caught them red handed and smashed the girls car with an aluminum bat. In the parking lot of his job. In broad day light. At a major trading firm.

Thank god for insurance.

It was a new intern who worked the desk. She was a fresh faced 19 year old. His wife was jealous since day one.......

He told her not the park there.

Women never listen.

Part of him wanted to open a new browser and search for local cheap motels (lord knows he would be living in one soon enough), but he decided to open his other email first.

This one was from his boss. It was equally as grim.

They didn't get the contract.

Apparently his news story, combined with the fact that he had been a little off his game with so much on his mind, has turned off the clients.

The other part of the email mentioned something about company wide layoffs. A performance review meeting. Unemployment benefits. COVID-19.

Pssht. Covid didn't exist in Florida. Didn't he watch the news?

About the only thing the news was good for. FOX news and the Sun Sports, about the only two channels he gave a fuck about.

With a sigh he opened his text app as his expensive car idled under him.

His son: "Miss you dad. Wanna go fishing soon. Scored a touchdown last night, wish you were there. Next time. Love ya."

His daughter: "So......I have been thinking a lot about everything that has been going on. I hate to do this Dad, I do, but I think I want to live with Mom when this is all over. I think it would be better for the both of us. Jake is coming too......"

He tossed his phone on the seat next to him. His relationship with his family had steadily broken down and now it seemed had hit a breaking point. His "wife" was a jealous mess, one kid hated him and one kid pretended he didn't, and financially he hadn't been getting the job done lately.

The house was going to be foreclosed soon, and he had hidden the documents from her.

It had made everyone on edge, especially him.

He went to put his luxury car into drive, then tilted his head. He had another idea.

He picked up his phone and dialed a number in. He waited as he turned on the AC knob.

"Did you take care of that thing we talked about?"

He nodded, the first smile that cracked his lips in months.

"Okay, leave the briefcase in the bushes by the side door. I'll come right now."

He hung up, flinging the car into drive and speeding out of the parking lot, nearly causing a crash.

36 hours ago.

He pulled into his driveway. HIS driveway, since he paid the bills. The briefcase sat under the passenger seat. When he got home, however, a grim sight welcomed him.

All of his stuff was outside. His clothes, his shoes, his jewelry, hell his entire dresser and nightstand. He couldn't help but laugh to himself.

Petty bitch.

She would get hers. Once he reviled what was in this briefcase.......

Without bothering to even give it a second look, he put the car in reverse.

"MOTELS IN PINELLAS COUNTY"

As he drove....many thoughts crossed his mind. His job, or what was left of it. His family, or what was left of it. His future.......

Did he have one?

Money was never usually an issue for him. Now it was. Family always came first, now they wouldn't speak to him.

If only they knew what was inside this briefcase....everything would change.

Why didn't he have the courage to just mention it? Why was the element of surprise, having a one up so important to him?!

Nothing a strong drink couldn't fix.

About 30 minutes later he was swiping the card to get into his room. He poured his drink and took his shirt off.

He fell asleep before he ever got to take a sip.

24 Hours Ago

Derrick awoke in a pool of sweat. He had nightmares all night. He couldn't live with himself, and it was effecting his sleep. He shot up out of bed like a cannon and threw his shoes on. He didn't even bother to check out, he just went straight to his car. Shaking as he shoved his keys into the ignition, he began to drive, heading straight for the skyway bridge. The entire way he was cursing.

Cursing his wife.

Cursing his kids.

His boss, his intern, his car.

Most of all, he was cursing himself

What did he have to live for anymore? He was a failure at all aspects of being a man. Surely nobody would miss him, right?

He glanced over at the brief case.

At least THAT would exonerate him. At least THAT they could remember him for when he was gone.

The sun was rising over the bay, and he decided what he was going to do. Grabbing the briefcase as he pulled over, slowing down to a stop, he shut his door so far that he swore his mirror may fall off.

Who cares? Wasn't like he was going to use that mirror again anyway. Or any mirror for that matter.

He stepped over the barricade and through the fencing that separates the abyss from the highway, and sat down. Setting the briefcase next to him, he began to edge towards the drop.

Passerby's in their cars, surely heading to or from work, would see this. Surely they would call the cops.

Good, let them call.

As he looked down over the water, the picture of his kids crossed his mind. He was waffling.

God, he even was a failure at killing himself.

PRESENT MOMENT:

Chaos grinned at the man he was holding on to. The man's entire body hung vertically of the bridge, held in place by his wrist and the strong forearm of the strange blonde man he had never met that was wearing, in his opinion, a very fashionable dress shirt.

"I'm going to the moon tomorrow"

Derrick was puzzled by this. Was the man who was attempting to "save" him actually a loon? The moon? Was he on drugs?

Chris looked down at the water.

"Have you ever wondered what having no gravity feels like? If you could just float around with no repercussions? What it feels like to be lighter than air itself?"

"No....I've never wondered that!" there was a bit more of a frantic tone in Derrick's voice than before now.

"You have made your decision, that is why you are here....is it not? You wanted to do this, but it was your hesitation that stopped you. That last little bit of humanity you had left. Your soul, your conscience. You have your entire life hanging in this briefcase.....and you chose to throw it all away instead of using it to your advantage.....why?

Derrick was agitated now.

"What is this, a therapy session?! We're hanging off a fucking bridge and you want to go Socrates on me?!"

"You're the one hanging off the bridge, Derrick. I am the one holding your life and potential death in my hands. Why? Because I was just like you once. I didn't know what I wanted or who I was. I didn't know where I was going. I let the human in me make the decisions. Now.....I have a briefcase too. Yes. And in that briefcase is my second chance also. But I have to make a decision. Do I want to go get it or let it pass me by? Will I get it? Who knows....but you know what...I'll never know unless I try. And try like hell. It will make me better in the end knowing that I went into a situation with an uncertain outcome and came out of it knowing exactly who it was I truly am......"

"A fucking lunatic?!"

"Perhaps. I prefer machine. Heartless. Cold. Zero remorse. I go into a situation where I don't know if I am going to live or die.....I don't know and for the first time in my life....I am okay with that......."

Derrick looked into Chris's eyes.

"You know what. You're right. It will all be fine, no matter what happens. I always land on my feet. I am Derrick fucking Preston!"

"Atta boy!

"I don't wanna do this anymore......I don't wanna end it all........help me up. Come on, I'll buy ya a beer."

Chaos began to laugh. This took Derrick aback a bit.

"Do you think it will hurt, Derrick fucking Preston?"

His eyes went wide for what felt like the 100th time.

"Will WHAT hurt?"

"Hitting the water from this height. Surely it has to feel like concrete......"

Derrick began to panic now, wiggling to get away from the deranged man holding his wrist in a vice grip.

"You never know until you know. Your odds are 50/50, and those odds are pretty good!"

Derrick continued wiggling, but Chaos had him locked in tight.

"Do you trust me?"

"HELL NO I DON'T TRUST YOU! I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!"

Chaos laughed again, muttering to himself that Derrick would probably trust him less if he DID know him.

"Consider this your Leap of Faith Derrick, and I hope you find what it is your looking sure....because I have surely found mine........."

Chris let go of the mans arm, sending him plunging towards the Bay. All that wiggling, it made him look as though he was TRYING to get away.

In a sense, he was.

Derrick hit the water as emergency crews began to signal for the helicopter and boats. Chris stared at him all the way until he hit the water with a thunderous splash.

Standing up and wiping off his knees from the cement, he walked over and grabbed the briefcase. He handed it to Theo, who had appeared by his side.

The cops who he initially told that the man on the bridge was his cousin came running over.

"YOU JUST LET YOUR COUSIN FALL OVER 200 FEET FROM THE BRIDGE!"

"Cousin?" Chris said.

"I didn't know that guy.......

He walked with Theo to the car and threw the briefcase into the back seat. He didn't even open it, he didn't have to.

He now had someone else's second chance in his his possession........

and he was taking it to the moon............

and beyond.

TO

BE

CONTINUED

Threaded Mode \| Linear Mode Second Chance Part 3: Leap of Faith
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