Love through wheels

Attempt to sucide

Amanda shook her violently. “Wake up—wake up! I just saw this online. Your boyfriend posted this!”

Juliet’s eyes snapped open, still heavy with sleep. “What are you talking about?” she murmured, snatching the phone.

Her breath caught as she read.

“I’m grateful to everyone who stood by me… and I’m sorry to leave my mother with another grief… but I have to leave this world.”

The words blurred.

“What…?” Her voice cracked. “No—no, James—”

She was already moving.

Barefoot, heart pounding against her ribs, she ran out of the house, not even realizing she’d left the door wide open behind her.

“Where is he?!” she screamed the moment she burst into his compound.

“Juliet!” James’s mother rushed toward her, eyes red, voice shaking. “I saw it too—”

“Where is he?” Juliet cut in, her voice breaking into a desperate shout.

The driver stepped forward hesitantly.

“You know where he is,” Juliet snapped, grabbing his shirt. “Tell me!”

“Ma… he told me not to—”

“Tell me!” she screamed.

He faltered. “He’s… at the headquarters.”

“Take us there. Now!”

—

The car hadn’t even fully stopped before Juliet threw the door open and ran.

“James!” she screamed, her voice echoing through the building. “James!”

There he was.

Alive.

Sitting on his wheel chair.

“Why?” she demanded, her chest heaving. “Why would you do this? Why would you make everyone think you were—” Her voice broke.

“—that you were going to kill yourself?”

James looked at her, guilt flickering across his face. “I… I wasn’t going to anymore. I forgot to delete the post. I stopped… when I met you.”

Silence.

Heavy. Suffocating.

Juliet stared at him, her eyes glistening—not with relief, but something sharper.

“Look at me,” she said, her voice low but trembling with anger. “I can’t do this.”

“Juliet—”

“No.” She shook her head, stepping back. “I can’t be with someone who’s always standing on the edge… someone who thinks leaving is an option.”

His face fell.

“You don’t get to leave your mother with another grief,” she continued, her voice rising, “and you don’t get to love me… only to disappear!”

Her chest rose and fell, tears finally spilling over.

“I won’t wait around for the day you decide not to stay.”

She turned, her voice breaking into a whisper—

“I’m out of here.”

And this time, she didn’t look back.