Cechuv Bridge

Every day has been either the best or the worst day of my life, he thought to himself. He realised that he was talking bullshit, but he didn’t care. Apart from those dismal in-between days, when you just plod along, filling in the time between sunrise and sunset, he had always either felt on top of the world, or it had seemed as though the world was crashing down on him. Today belonged to the former category. It was one of those days when unhappiness seems like something which happens to other people. He remembered that he had been miserable at some points in his life, but those memories felt like part of another life. Not feeling happy was inconceivable to him right then, and he wished that life could always be like that. Normally such a thought resulted in the familiar downward spiral of over-analysis, but today everything was right. He had no need to let his mind take over. He could quite happily sit down on the grass and do nothing, think nothing, simply be. He was completely free. Alone in Prague, with no responsibilities to anyone and no need to go anywhere unless he felt like it. A huge grin spread across his face as he began to dance to the music playing on his Walkman. Normally he would never even think of dancing in the street, let alone dare to go through with it. This was what he loved. Sure, it was a beautiful city, and the sun was shining, but this was a different feeling altogether. He was euphoric. He didn’t need to worry about appearances, he didn’t need to be polite to anyone. He was a thousand miles from home, maybe more, and no-one in the city knew who he was, nor would they ever see him again. This feeling was freedom. He had no need to wear any of the masks he was forced to put on at home. He was living the life of a part-time bum, and it felt great. He sat in the park for a while, enjoying the feelings. Shortly he decided to go and get something to eat, and he started to walk. As he crossed the Cechuv bridge, the sensation became more and more intense. He began to feel an almost overpowering urge to jump off the bridge. It was unlike any feeling he’d experienced before, a feeling that things could never get any better than this.