Lina: can you, like, please sit somewhere that's not the edge?
Luke: nah… besides, the view's goated. …listen… sighs… I was at home watching TV, wishing the day would just hurry up and end. Honestly, just making it through a single day felt like the hardest thing ever.
It was this loop I'd been stuck in for years. I don't even know when it started—sometimes I thought maybe since the day I was born. I just knew I was trapped. And then, outta nowhere, I heard Suicide Note.
That was the first time I ever thought about hurting myself. Just for a second. But the thought got cut off by the ad:
"Suicide Note. If the world feels like it's closing in, if it suffocates you every time you think about how huge it is compared to your tiny piece of it or how small the world compared to other things —visit the Tower. Get a new perspective. Change your world."
What did we call it again? Ah, peak advertisement.
So yeah… I went to the Tower. But I didn't go empty-handed. Where did i put it.... Here.
Shiny, right? This knife's been with me the whole time. Don't look so freaked out—look, I'll throw it away.
Chris: uh… sorry to cut you off, but like, won't that hurt someone if it drops on them?
Luke: nah, nobody's right under us. Anyway… where was I? Oh yeah.
I had a couple of rules—I'll get to them in a bit. I started climbing the Tower, met people along the way. Talked to them. Listened. Comforted them. They'd leave… and I'd just keep climbing alone.
The messed-up part? I left my house 'cause I felt trapped in a loop that was suffocating me… but then the Tower put me in another loop. Even worse. Because I realized no matter what I do..... no matter how to i escape , I'm just… destined to be in some suffocating loop. This one, or the next, or the next.
Until something broke it. The irony hit again , .... My only real friend up there.
He couldn't hear—deaf—and he couldn't write in English, except one word: "leukemia." But somehow… we still connected. Like, beyond words. And then one day… he died. In my arms. Signing this to me.
And that's when it hit me. I regretted never learning sign language. And that's where "Luke" came from.
Chris: thank you for being my weird friend.
Luke: …what?
Chris: thank you for being my weird friend. That's what you just signed, right? With your hand?
Luke: …yeah..... Right..... Hah. Anyway… and then I—uh... … just gimme a minute... I'm still here, just…... putting my phone down…... one minute…
.....
psst… psst… Reader. Come here. Wanna step inside Luke's head?
Who am I?... Who are you? …Okay. Let's go.
.....
Why didn't you tell me? Instead of staring at the sky, talking to myself… why didn't you just tell me? You could've saved us both. I would've waited with you at the hospital. Or at least… you could've taken me with you.
Wait for me. I'm coming. I'll be right next to your star in the sky. We'll shine together.
.....
Dalia: reader… come here. Why are you staring at empty walls? It's been five minutes. Luke hasn't said a word. We all put our phones on mute… waiting. Just waiting to see what our next move should be.
Luke: I wasn't ready for any of this...
Emma: We can't see you.
Luke: I wanted to quit... but it's like the universe was against me.
Lina: Luke, pick up the phone.
Luke: Guess I wasn't lucky enough...
________________________________________
Jessica: He still has the earpiece and mic, right?
Diana: I think so.
Jessica: Put the helicopter camera on him.
Diana: consider it Done. And what are you gonna do?
Jessica: This is my show. I'm not letting anyone die in it.
________________________________________
Ryan: Look at the TV—he's standing up.
Lina: I'll unmute mine so our voices don't clash, like we agreed since the beginning, okay?
Ron: No, let me talk to him first. Then I'll mute, then you can.
Dalia: Guys, no time to argue, he's moving.
Emma: Lina or Ron—we need to decide fast.
Dalia: Let me do it.
Tommy: ahm Woman—
Chris: Not now, dude.
Ahm.. Ahm.. Can you hear me, it's yours and only Jessica park
I've been giving you enough time , but... I'm afraid it's time for an adult to step in., Luke can you here me...
you just nodded at the camera.....not enough, can I hear your voice?
Luke: Make the helicopter come closer.
Jessica: John, you heard him.
Luke:
Closer... yeah, that's good.
After my light turned dark, after hope switched with despair... after losing that friend... I kept climbing. I wanted to stop, to go home, but the pressure—it wouldn't let me. Every time I wanted to step back, that same pressure pushed me ten steps forward.
I broke free of the loop that was suffocating me...to end up with something worst
That press killed me.....
Jessica: Luke...
Luke: I made some rules. If they happened, I'd stop and go home. But they didn't.
Jessica: Must've been tough rules.
Luke: Not really. First one was ... if someone recognized me.
Secondly .. if someone smiled at me friendly smile.
The Third one.. if someone asked about my story.
Fourth... if I met someone who told me to leave the tower with them.
Fifth... if someone in my family called me.
Luke: Cameraman..... John, right? Take this. My suicide note. And Show it everyone.
Jessica: Don't open it yet... keep the camera on him. I want to talk to him.
Luke: No. My note first, then we talk.
Jessica: John go ahead and open it. And Show them to everyone ...
It's empty from this side. Flip the paper… It's
still empty. …Luke, it's empty. …Luke… John, turn the camera towards him now.
Ryan: Where did he go?
Jessica: Luke, can you hear me?
Luke: …If anyone wondered whose fault this was—
Jessica: Luke, we can't see you.
Luke: It's the fault of everyone who ever saw me smile, or watched me hold a door open, or even when I bumped into them and apologized—yet none of them ever smiled back.
Lina: Come on, Luke… s'il te plaît.
Ryan: What was that?
Lina: I don't know, I muted my phone.
Dalia: I don't think we're safe to talk.
Luke: It's the fault of the place I grew up in. I waited for someone—anyone—to recognize me. I walked and walked, but they just looked me dead in the eye and walked away.
I even I walked the same street twenty times in circles.
Jessica: Luke, listen to me—
Luke: It's the fault of the people I met at the tower, and the people watching from home, and the people writing letters. Some left when they got better. Others stayed, to prove they are better.
Jessica: Can you at least show yourself?
Ryan: …Wow.
Luke: It's my family's fault for not asking about their missing child a year ago… and not calling him for three days.
Emma: Why did you say wow?
Ryan: The light—it lit for a moment. First the rooftop beside the tower, then the one in front, then the next after that. Each rooftop down the street, one after another, lit for a second.
Dalia: I didn't see it.
Ron: Neither did I.
Ryan: You looked away. But there are people… standing on those rooftops. All the way to the end of the road.
Lina: How could you see that? You might be wrong.
Ryan: Maybe.
Luke: The only thing we have in common with foreigners … is that we don't give a fuck about someone we don't know.
Jessica: But that would make us strangers, too.
Luke:.... We are.
Ryan: The lights are back on! What did I tell you—people are standing on every rooftop!
Emma: Yeah… yeah, Ryan… What are they doing?
Dalia: Look—Luke appeared!
Ron: Aren't they all moving in sync?
Chris: They're walking to the edge… all at the same speed.
Luke: …I wished, once.
Jessica: Don't take another step, Luke.
Luke: …I loved, once.
Jessica: Come on, Luke. Listen to me.
Luke: …I dreamed, once.
Jessica: Okay, fine—what did you dream of?
Luke: That we cared about each other.
Jessica: But we do. I don't know who you are, Luke, but I'm afraid of seeing you fall.
Luke: See? We're all strangers . You're only worried because you don't want to be hurt.
Jessica: You're on the edge right now… please, careful… Maybe you're right. But that doesn't mean I don't care.
Luke: We only care when it's happening to us. That's when we act. Or when it touches our friends—not because we truly care, but because we want our dynamic to be back to normal..... Our jokes.... Our chat.... Our hugs
.... That what effect us
After all
… we're all just…
............ strangers.