Kenzie's POV
It was starting to become evening at this point. The sun was starting to set, and the sky was turning into mixtures of yellow and orange. While it was a beautiful scene, I still couldn't get rid of the thoughts that have been consuming me. I couldn't get my body to leave the bridge, no matter how hard I tried. At this point, I'm just going to accept my fate.
As soon as that happens, tears start to pour from my eyes. I can't stop them, and I don't try to. I guess this is where it ends. I feel terrible leaving all the people I cared about, but I tell myself they don't care. I tell myself to let go and forget about them. It only partially works. I look down at the water once again, but I still don't feel quite ready. Perhaps I'll continue to sit here for a little longer. So that's exactly what I do. I don't move from my position, but I still continue to cry. Well, that is, until I hear someone walking towards me.
I immediately look to my right, and through my tears I'm able to make out a rather tall man. At least, I'm assuming they're a man. They are dressed in a plain shirt with an Aztec patterned cardigan, and navy blue pants. They are also wearing sandals as well as a baseball cap. I probably should've felt scared and frightened by this strange man appearing out of nowhere, but I didn't. I'm not sure if he's been there for a while and I just haven't noticed him or not, but I wasn't bothered by him.
"Who the hell are you," I ask.
"Ah, that doesn't matter," he said as he walked closer to me.
I still didn't move from my spot on the bridge. I didn't know what his intentions were, but I didn't care. This guy was helping me take my mind off of those thoughts. He walked over to me and sat down right beside me. I just glanced at him, not really sure what to say.
"I know what you were planning to do."
I stare at him, confused. Had he been watching me? If so, then how long?
"I-I'm sorry, but were you watching me?"
He chuckled to himself. "Well, kind of I guess. Earlier I was walking down the path to get here and I saw you. I planned on just walking by, but the more I observed you sitting here on the edge of the bridge, I had a bad feeling about what might happen. I decided to stay here for a while, just to be safe. I'm sorry if you're creeped out by that, but I just wanted to make sure you were safe."
Somehow, even after all the thoughts I've had today, his words bring a small smile to my face. I'm not sure why, but to know he was making sure I was safe makes me feel better.
"Thank you. That's very sweet of you."
"But was I right? Were you going to do that?"
I look down, unable to meet his eyes. "I mean..I thought about it. I've actually been thinking about it a lot today."
He looks at me sadly. Even though he doesn't know me, he seems disappointed in me.
"I hope you know that that is not the answer."
"Yeah..I know."
There is a long silence between us.
"You know, I lost a few of my friends to suicide."
My eyes widen. "O-Oh. I'm so sorry to hear that."
The look on his face tells me that this is not the first time he's talked about this. "It's ok. It's in the past now. I try not to remember it, but since you were considering doing it I thought I'd bring it up. It's a terrible thing to do."
I nod my head. "I actually almost lost my best friend to that too."
This seemed to grab his attention. "Really?"
"Yeah. She tried to kill herself quite a while ago..but I never forget about it."
"And how do you think she would feel to see you doing the same thing?"
"She would probably be happy."
His eyes widen like mine had. "What?! Why would you say that?!"
"Well..she and I haven't been on good terms recently. We haven't spoke to each other in a long time. It's my fault too."
"Please explain."
So that's exactly what I did. I explained what happened between us, and how it was all my fault. I told him everything. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I oddly felt like I could trust him. He didn't have much of a response to my problems, but I didn't think much of it. He mainly just nodded his head as I explained. Once I was done, he finally talked.
"First of all, don't completely blame yourself. Blaming yourself gets you nowhere. I would know."
He paused for a second after this. I'm not sure why that seemed to bother him so much, but I didn't bother to ask.
"Second, you need to move on from the guy you're dating. I would agree with your friend that he has definitely changed you. He sounds like he's causing more problems than you're comfortable with, so I would do something about that."
"Lastly, you need to find your friend. It's pretty obvious that you've realized what you did wrong, so just try to be better. I'm pained myself for how your friendship ended, so go fix it."
Suddenly, as if my mind was finally free, I jumped up from my spot. I could tell he was startled, and honestly I was too. It was like I could finally think clearly for the first time. His words made sense, and I was going to do exactly what he said.
"Thank you so much! You're right! I need to fix all my mistakes!"
I run towards the path leading back to town. The first thing I'm going to do is break it off with Ryan. That random guy is right. Why should I keep trying with someone like him? He's basically the reason Emily and I aren't friends anymore. I almost run away, but I stop once I remember I don't know his name.
"Hey! What's your name?"
He smiled to himself, and glanced at the water before looking at me.
"My name is Namjoon."
plot twist lmao
