when you met me

sink

Sink

The bars of the railing were icy cold. Mara felt the slippery concrete under her feet to distract her from the thumping in her head. And to top it all off, there was a random man talking to her, trying to get her to talk back to him. She wished she hadn’t waited so long to jump. There was so much fuss now.

The sound of even more sirens made Mara’s head snap around. The man told her to stay calm and that they were only there to help her. She tried to say she couldn’t be helped, but didn’t get a chance. Two boys, teenagers, shouted from behind the police cars GET IT OVER WITH, LOVE. YOU DON’T OWN THE BRIDGE. Mara leaned forward again as the man shooed the two away.

Dud sat in his casual clothes, twiddling with his phone, and willing the car to go faster. He put his head in his hands and tried to believe that Mara could never jump. But, Mara had done a lot in the past years that he assumed weren’t possible.

“Almost there.” The Officer said, swerving in front of a car as he weaved his way through traffic. Dud felt like jumping out and running. His mind told him that there was no way he could make it there any faster by foot. So he started to tap his foot anxiously.

Yet another car had screeched to a halt on the end of the bridge, and Mara didn’t even bother looking. She continued to stare into the grey mirror of the water, her mind wandering.

Dud jumped out of the car, slammed the door, and ran past concerned looking Officers, weaving between their blockading cars. He saw her hair, perfect brown curls and red tips. “Mara!” He shouted, needing her to know he was there.

Mara let a tear fall down her cheek. She smiled slightly, looked up to the reflecting sky, and back down to the river. “Better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad.” She laughed to herself.

“Mara!” Dud shouted again, as a negotiating Officer tried to keep him from getting any closer. “She’s my friend, she’s my friend!”

And all the noise was gone. She heard nothing, nothing but the gentle lapping of the waves, reflecting a world of total honesty. Honesty, that would be nice, wouldn’t it?  So, Mara fell, arms fanned out, ready to find out what Dud already knew to be a fact.