Reaching The Top

Meet Sandy Stevens, a 41-year-old entrepreneur, and owner of 'DrinksOnMe', one of the more popular cafes on the coast of North Haven. A girl who always had a smile on her face and is now riding the crest of a wave of almost 20 years of hard work.

She's finally got her own house, a high-end car, a holiday home in Portugal.. in fact, there's not much she hasn't got. The locals love her. She makes sure everyone enjoys her time in the cafe, especially her employees knowing that if they're looked after, they'll look after those paying customers. It's a system that's worked out well for the last few years, at least that's what she made people believe.

It's August 8th, 2019 and a random thunderstorm has hit the town. The cafe has been closed for about an hour and sits in darkness on the ground floor of a 13 story block of old apartments. Up on the roof, the fire exit is forced open... flying and slamming up against the wall. A shivering shadow walks out into the darkness. Whimpering is heard amongst the deep breathing as they walk over to the edge of the building... stopping for a few minutes to take in the wonderful view of the coastal town.

Down on the 13th floor, Dave Johnson, a 27-year-old father of 2 young boys is alerted to the noise of the fire exit door slamming open.

He opens up his apartment door to find that the hallway carpet is drenched as the thunderous downpours are flowing down from the newly opened escape way. He grunts and shakes his head as he closes his apartment door to make his way upstairs. He walks up the stairs which are now like a cavernous waterfall. He reaches for the door and slowly starts to shut the heavy iron door, as he swears incoherently under his breath. Just as it closes, he stops as he sees the whimpering silhouette of a person nearing the edge of the building.

He opens the door back up and says 'I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend'

A female voice beckons 'Friend? You don't even know me... leave me alone!'

Dave, astounded as he recognizes the voice 'Wait, What? Sandy?! Don't go any closer to the edge - whatever has gone on.. we can fix this!'

He reaches inside the fire exit to turn on the outside lights and sure enough, there stood Sandy Stevens. The one with a perfect life everyone wanted. Dave knew her well, as he has worked in the cafe for over 4 years now.
'Dave?' she says looking disappointed 'Dave, what are you doing here?! Just go, I don't want you to see this... I've had enough, we can pretend you weren't here - this needs to happen'

Dave explains 'Well, firstly, I live on the 13th floor... you left the fire exit open in the rain, our carpets ruined... BUT I don't care... .that can be fixed - much like anything that's happened with you, it DOES NOT need to end like this Sandy. You're better than this... WAY BETTER than this. I'm confused though... You? The happiest, most successful woman in North Haven, ready to marry Tommy Tipps, the most eligible bachelor in the county... Why am I seeing what I'm seeing right now?'

'Eligible bachelor?' Sandy snorts in disgust, before hanging her head in dismay '..maybe you're right'

'Wait, what?' Dave interrupts 'Don't dare tell me you're about to leap to your own demise, over something he's done...What's he done?!'

'It doesn't matter, it's over' Sandy turns and walks to the edge... one foot hangs in mid-air as her body starts to leans forward. Dave panics and leaps forward, grabbing her hand. 'Five minutes! Please! Talk to me! Five minutes is all I ask... then I'll go, hopefully you'll be with me, but please don't do this'.

Sandy turns and looks at Dave, her lips quivering as the icy showers blasted from high above 'He's the only one I've ever loved you know?' Her frozen glance stares straight through Dave as she goes on 'When Tom asked me to marry him, I thought I'd won at life'

'You have won! As a result of a massive amount of hard work, you have the man, the business, the house, the holiday home...need I continue?' Dave smiles '...and of course, when the time is right - I'm sure the most perfect little babies will be on their way!'
Sandy shrugs her shoulders 'Well that's just it, we can't have kids, not together anyway. I can, he can't'

Dave pulls Sandy closer 'that is not something to end your life over, there are treatments, there's medicine - this can work out!?'
Sandy explains 'Well, I've been putting in so many hours at the Cafe, that we've barely spent any time together lately. I'm sure he's starting to hate me - especially since we found out he can't bear his own kids.'
Dave laughs 'How can he hate someone like you?! That's ridiculous'

'I'm not the person I was when I met him.' said Sandy 'I'm always tired when I get home. I don't have time for friends, let alone the man I'm engaged to marry. I wouldn't blame him for seeking love from somewhere else'
Dave looks surprised 'look, we all know Tom can be a bit irrational sometimes. He's like you, he doesn't like failing, but he'd NEVER cheat on you'.

Sandy takes a deep breath as she looked to the ground 'Yeah, well in that case he's been wearing lingerie because the set I found this morning was definitely not mine...'
Dave brings his hands to his head in shock, he drops to the floor and after a brief silence 'OK, let me square with you'

Sandy put her right hand on his shoulder 'Whats up?'

Dave looks at her with a solemn look on his face 'I'm stood here, trying to stop you jumping - when in fact, 4 years ago, I was ready to jump myself. I'd just split with the girl I wanted to be with for the rest of my life. I had no job. No prospects. I was behind on my rent - I thought 'what was the point?''

He continued 'She cheated, and turned out she didn't feel the same way'
'What stopped you?' Sandy asked.

'Well literally seconds before I was ready to jump, I get a message off her telling me she was pregnant, and that the kid was mine. I grew up a whole lot in the 10 seconds that followed. I felt like I had someone to live for. I needed to get out of the rut I was in, and walked straight downstairs to look for work - that's where I bumped into you...'

'You looked rough that night, I felt like I needed to help' Sandy laughed.

'And that's why the world needs people like Sandy Stevens. It costs nothing to be kind. You helped me live my life and provide for my son, I hope I've repaid the favor with some good work. If my son wasn't born, I wouldn't have been here telling you this, hopefully my son has saved your life too. I realized that night - you can't really love someone else if you don't love yourself first. If you don't love yourself, you don't love them, so why the hell would you kill yourself over that?! That's just crazy. Get rid of Tom, it's not a failure, it's a lesson. Take some time out. Come back and rule the roost once more!'

Sandy takes a deep breath once more, as she looks into Dave's eyes. She pulls him back up to his feet and gives him the tightest hug she's ever given anyone. She smiles and with a glint in her eye, she says 'How about me and you go for a coffee?... I know a place'.