Chapter 2 — jump boy
"What are you doing?"
"Holy chicken nuggets," Josh yells out embarrassingly enough, being startled by the sudden unexpected intrusion.
He didn't think he had any company — he made sure of that before he crossed over.
And yes, as cliché as it sounds, the golden boy never swears.
The last he did so was unfortunately in front of his mother who had looked so panic-stricken and close to tears and kept mumbling to herself what she must have done wrong in bringing him up to have him speak such foul words. Josh had to apologise over a hundred times to his mother for her to even look at him again and he promised to he will never use another curse word ever again. And well, he never does.
Not even when his mother is not around — it has become a habit, more or less.
"Chicken nuggets?" the boy who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, interrupting Josh's advances snorts, a sharp exhale through his nose, "Really?"
Just because Josh can't swear, that doesn't mean he's not allowed to express his outbursts of emotions — he just has to find a different way than using 'foul words', and so, he's been making up his own expressions, using otherwise normal words. It was bizarre at first, and mostly funny, but hey, it works — for him, at least.
Annoyed and partly agitated at the unwanted and definitely unexpected company, Josh turns to see who the intruder is. He squints when he realises that he can't place a name to the face, not that the action proves to be any helpful.
As it has been established, Willowcreeks is a small town; everyone knows everyone, and yet Josh can't seem to recognize this bronze-skinned boy laughing at him.
Who are you, the blond wonders, but chooses not to ask.
He can't be bothered anyway, he tells himself as he turns back to the bridge. He steps back into his previous position right at the very edge of the bridge. Josh takes one last deep breath. He–
"What are you doing?" the stranger boy repeats his initial question.
Josh contemplates telling the boy off, but decides against it, choosing to focus on what he's actually about to do instead.
What is he going to– Shit. He is not very sure himself on what he is intending to do. But he persists anyway.
He lifts his right leg–
"Oh," the boy starts once again, drawling out the one syllable word unnecessarily long, before saying, "Are you like trying to jump off the bridge?"
That heavy sigh that leaves Josh lips — he's not sure if it's because he's annoyed at the interruption or he is actually grateful. He takes a careful step back before addressing the boy.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing?" the boy simply shrugs in a very casual manner, crouching to sit, dangling his legs down.
He leans forward a little, and Josh is tempted to hold his shoulders just in case he falls — which sounds, he'll admit, a little too fearful for someone who's planning to actually jump off the bridge, Josh wills himself to stay back, keeping his arms pinned at his sides.
The stranger boy unaware of Josh's ongoing internal dilemma starts commenting, "A bit of a rocky river. Not too deep or shallow. Hmm," he nods to himself, leaning back and then turns to Josh, head cocked to the side a little, "Are you trying to jump off the bridge?" he repeats his question from before.
YOU ARE READING
the boy on the bridge ✔️
Teen Fiction"Are you going to jump off the bridge now or not?" "Are you going to stop me if I said yes?" "Of course not," "Then, what would you do?" "Probably count you off," "Wow," "Do you want me to count?" "No," "Why not?" "Because I'm not going to jump...
