The Bridge

She said she needed a walk
She would be back

But she needed a walk
With much on her mind

She wasn't out too long
Just wandering around

Until she came across someone on a bridge

Her observations were keen
This one was getting ready to jump
A place that's familiar

She recalled that day
The second time

She remembered her sister's screams
Shrill howling cries of lament

She recalled how she was naked
A tourniquet made from a torn shirt
How her sister clung to her, shaking

She remembered the list of things
That were her sister's

"If you died, then that means you took my sister away!"

She recalled that remark
Her heart ached

After all I've done, she still saved me....

Still, she fixated on the person
Preparing to jump, while still hesitant
She wouldn't focus

On what she wouldn't have to
Just the fact that she would do something

She called their attention
Suggesting that she wanted to talk
Perhaps, go to a cafe nearby

This person took her up on the offer

A chat came
They talked about whichever
Before getting to the subject

Of the bridge

"I know someone would miss you...."

She started asking for motives
Offering up solutions

"Is it money? If it is, I'll help you with that...."

Before sharing her own story
And telling them about that day
Showing them her scars

("reminders" she dubbed them)

They brought up
That she didn't have to save them
She agreed

"It's not a matter that I didn't have to, it's the fact that I did."

She was asked her reasons for continuing
And she showed them a picture
Her sister's

"My sister saved me."

Her sister asked if she was worth staying alive for
And, thus, resolved to get better—close enough to "well"
She didn't know too much about them

Just that they had someone
Someone who would miss them,
Someone worth staying alive for

She told them that she's willing to help
Help in whatever way she's able
Anything to keep them

From jumping off the Bridge

They'd wonder who she is
She never gave her name
And left her bracelets with them

The bracelets she used
To conceal her scars

She'd never get those bracelets back
But that was alright to her

'Perhaps, those will help their money troubles....'

Some time ago, her sister saved her life
When she very much didn't have to
(with all considered)

That night, she saved someone
She didn't have to, that much she knew,
But it wasn't a matter that

She didn't have to
It was that she had
She went home

With less on her mind that night.