I watch from below as he steps over the edge, arms outstretched, magnificently dressed in red, white and blue. He doesn't know what he is doing. He steps willingly into the firm embrace of gravity. An embrace I know gravity will be loath to relinquish. He falls towards me in seeming slow-motion, and my conscious mind is no longer in control of my body. I m aware of the ground beneath my feet, hard and paved with slabs of stone, as my body tenses. He is almost half-way down the building now. The air is tugging at me: I am gravity's sworn enemy. He does not know what he is doing. My legs brace against the alleyway floor. He is going to die. My arms shoot downwards by my sides and my head tilts upward a little more. Peter...

My legs kick against the ground and I am pulled upward so forcefully the breath is almost knocked out of me. I have left the world of solidity for a place of much more freedom, but my brother has not. I catch him by the hand, but gravity is not giving up without a fight. I am dragged downward...