Jeremiah couldn't believe his own eyes. He just stood there where he had been spying on Matthew with his mouth hung open. After a second, he shook the shock off enough to run to the edge of the cliff and peered down. He was able to make out Matthew's form right as it disappeared into the trees below.

He had been assigned to follow Matthew about a week ago, and up until this trip, he seemed like a normal teenager. He hung out with friends and did typical teenage activities. He thought the trips out to the woods were Matthew's way of trying to get out the house and get fresh air, but today he went way further than the previous times. He had followed Matthew all the way out here trying to figure out what the kid was doing. He couldn't figure out what made this trip different or why Matthew was suddenly talking to himself. Of all the scenarios that went through Jerimiah's head about how this trip would end, this ending never even crossed his mind. Why would he plan all this out, and travel all the way out here just to kill himself? Who was he talking to, or did he just like talking to himself? It sounded like he was arguing with someone. It didn't make any sense to him. He had to be missing something.

He was still staring at the trees below while these thoughts flew through his mind. He didn't know of any being that could have survived that fall. He knew he wasn't going to get any answers standing up on the cliff, so he took a step back from the edge as his body began to transform. He grew bigger in both height and girth as his muscles enlarged, and his face took on the aspects of a feline. He grew a shortened muzzle while his beard and hair grew together into a mane. The fingernails on each hand grew into razor sharp claws about two inches long. His body arched forward and two feathered wings erupted from his back through the slits in his body armor specially designed to handle his transformation. The polyester under layer stretched as his body grew, and the plates of hard plastic and viscoelastic materials shifted from their layered design to a single layer. The protection loss from fewer layers was mitigated as his entire body transformed into living stone. He straightened up as the changed ended, and stretched out his wings, which caused the sound of stone scraping on stone to fill the air. When they were fully extended, he pulled the wings down with incredible force and shot into the sky.

He always loved this feeling of freedom that flight gave him, and in moments like this he regretted not taking more time out to just fly around. He flew up and took a very much wanted, but ultimately unneeded, deep breath. Unlike his flesh body, his stone form didn't need air, couldn't feel temperatures, increased his strength, durability, and speed, but it also had a drawback. The new form dampened all his senses except sight. All the fine hairs and nerve endings that made those senses work were now made of stone, and while they still functioned, they were muted.

He pulled himself back from the moment and focused on the task before him. He needed answers so he could call in the information. He searched the vast forest below him for a place to enter the trees. He spotted a clearing about a hundred yards from the base of the cliff. He flew down to it, and as he landed, he took off in a steady run toward the cliff. When he arrived, the scene brought him up short. He didn't know what he expected to find, but the gruesome scene caused him to hesitate. He'd been in many fights and had killed his fair share of enemies, but seeing this young man broken and mangled on the forest floor was different. The young man was innocent if not a little misguided. He didn't deserve this ending, and it saddened Jeremiah that he couldn't have helped him. He changed back into his flesh form and pulled his phone out of the pocket. He sighed as the phone rang. He wasn't looking forward to this conversation.

"Jeremiah, do you have an update?" answered the voice on the phone.

"It isn't good, sir. It happened too fast and too unexpected, and before I knew what was going on, I was too late to intervene. He's dead. I foll-" He said quickly.

"What do you mean 'dead'? You said he was going on a hike today. Was there some kind of accident?"

"No sir. It wasn't an accident, and it wasn't an attack. It looks like he planned it this way. I had no idea. I followed him from his house to the forest, and all the way up to this cliff. I thought he just wanted to come up here for the view. Nature lover or something, and that was the way it seemed to start. He took in the scenes, jumped around a little bit, and then sat down on the edge of the cliff for a while. Then he stood up, and I thought we were going to head back, and that's when he did it. He just ran to the edge of the cliff and jumped off. It caught me completely off-guard. By the time I shook off the surprise and ran to the edge of the cliff, I was just in time to see his body disappear into the trees below."

"We don't know much about him. He might have survi-"

"Sir, I wouldn't have called without making sure first. I flew down to the scene before calling you. He's dead, sir. I'm looking at the mess left behind."

"Damnit, this is really bad. He just shows up on our screen two weeks ago with no explanation and now we can't get any answers from him. Go back to his car and see if you can find anything that might help us figure out who he really was and why he showed up on our screen."

"What about his body?"

"Leave it."

Jeremiah paused. "What? Why?"

"He chose to commit the sin of suicide. He chose to throw his life away. The animals can have it."

"Sir, I know you hate it, but we might be able to learn from the body. I'm not saying to give his body a full funeral service, but we could examine it and then have it cremated. It just isn't right to just leave it here, regardless of the situation."

He heard a deep sigh followed by, "You're right. I let my convictions sway my decision. I'll send out a team to retrieve the body."

"Thank you, Sir. And there is one other thing. Before he jumped and during the trip through the forest, he seemed to be talking to himself."

"How do you mean? Like he was crazy?"

"It seemed he was talking to someone named Spence, but nobody was around. I canvassed the entire area around him as we moved through the forest. It was just him and me. And it wasn't a cellphone because my jammer would have interrupted any signal."

"Well, that just leads to more questions that unfortunately we can't ask him about. But if he was crazy, it might make sense why he would throw himself from the top of a cliff."

"Yeah, it would make more sense, but I don't like not knowing for sure."

"I understand, but there is nothing we can do about it now. I'll make sure the team doesn't waste any time, maybe the body holds some information. See what answers you can find there."

"Yes, sir. I'll go to the car now, and I'll call you with what I find."

He hung up the phone and returned to his stone form. He took off back into the sky, and made it back to the cemetery in good time. He shifted again as he walked over to the car. He expected the door to be locked, but was surprised to find it open. He shrugged and started going through the car.