Oneshots and Drabbles

Goosebumps

TW: suicide

- - - - -

There wasn't much I could do.

As I watched my sister stand atop the railing of our beloved bridge, there wasn't anything I could do but weep along with her.

"Annie, Annie, I miss you. Why'd you have to go?"

A few inches in front of her, I sucked in a breath, cupping her warm face in my hands.

"I'm right here," I whispered, though I knew she couldn't hear me. Still, I wiped the tears from her face with trembling fingers. It came in the form of a gentle breeze carrying off the drops with my silent response.

I had tried. I had tried so hard to keep her from choosing the same end I had, from seeing only the dark and the pain that surrounded us both. Though she had ignored them, just as I probably had, I tried to give her all that a ghost could give. Birdsong early in the morning, rays of sun that were unusually warm, a misstep that ended in a bruise rather than a broken bone. It wasn't enough, though. I knew that.

"I'm coming to meet you, Annie." She smiled brokenly with a swipe of her cheek.

Another sob tore through my chest. No, she wouldn't. She would never get to meet me because I hadn't fulfilled the reason I decided to stay back.

I had begged to stay here with the one condition that I would keep my sister from harm. I had failed. Because of that, I would never move on, would never be able to see her again.

Her fingers began to loosen their grip on the lamppost that protruded from the rail. Panic gripped my hollow chest and I flung out an arm. The car parked on a distant, adjacent street blared its horn for a moment before going silent. I whipped back around to Mal and felt a drop of relief at the surprise in her eyes, her instincts forcing her to regrip the lamppost.

I couldn't let her do this. It had been my fault for choosing to ignore her, for not realizing that she had been suffering along with me. If I had just decided to speak to her, hold her hand a little longer while I could, maybe neither of us would have been here. I had failed while I was alive and now I was going to fail again.

The dark sea churned beneath us, ominous and deadly and cold. "Mal, please." I gripped her hand and attempted to push back her hair. "I'm right here, so please, don't do this." I trailed around behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, tugging backward as hard as I could.

All it did was send a wave of goosebumps along her skin.

Mal gritted her teeth at what she mistook for a sudden chill in the air. "I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanted. But you're not here. You left me, Annie. You left me, too."

I wanted to scream at her that it was the worst decision I had ever made, that I had never really left. Another shuddering breath took my lungs and a heavy wind pushed against Mal, inwards and away from the fate she was pushing herself into. The lamppost behind us flickered, over and over again. As I gripped her shoulders, the metal beams under the bridge creaked softly. I'm here, Mal, I'm here.

But there wasn't anything more I could do. She closed her eyes, a final tear slipping down to her chin. Her hand left the lamppost. There was no sound as her shoes left the railing.

I felt myself die once again as a soft splash echoed through the night.