Daughter of the Demon (I)

Daughter of the Demon-25-I can't Live Without You

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Chapter 25: I Can't Live Without You

~Jacob~

Why would she want to kill herself? Why was she doing to this? Did she know that she was destroying me with every further step she took?

The car was quiet. I didn't know where she could be. I had no idea. But Michael was driving with a determination that only came from confidence. He knew where she was.

So I asked him about it.

"I've dealt with this before, Jacob," he said shortly. "There's only one place where I can think of that she'd go."

"And where is that?"

"The bridge," he said. "She's going to jump."

I gripped the edge of my car seat. "Oh my god."

Michael looked at me out of the corner of his eye. "Can I ask you something, Jacob?"

I nodded.

"Do you love Jemma?"

I stared at him. Why did everybody want to know my emotional feelings toward Jemma? "I care about her a lot," I mumbled instead.

Michael gripped the wheel firmly. "Then you are not going to let her die, are you?"

I saw where he was going with this. Talk about a determination booster. "No way," I said. "I'd sooner jump off a bridge myself."

*****

~Jemma~

I was going to do it. I was really going to do it.

The demons inside of me had their way for the last time. I was getting rid of them, but in doing so I had to get rid of myself in the process.

I walked along the bridge in my bare feet. The crystal clear water swished below me. Cars passed, people brushed by me, the world was unaware of what I was about to do.

And yet, I was completely and totally aware. The fact that I was taking my life filled my every sense, made me think, made me realize things I wouldn't normally realize because I wouldn't be alive tomorrow to continue contemplating them.

My fisted hands shook. It was cold. But it wouldn't matter in a few seconds. I would be dead. Gone. Out of here. One less problematic child in the world.

I stopped in what I thought to be the center of the bridge. I moved to the outside, stepping over the thick cable and around the safety cement blocks. I clutched the poles behind me, thinking my last few thoughts. The wind blew my hair wildly around me, threatening to take me before I was ready. I had time.

Or at least, I thought I had time. Who knew that a teenager on the outside of a bridge could arouse so much immediate suspicion and assumptions?

Because the first thing I heard was a lady shout, "Oh my god, she's going to jump!"

And all it took was one person, one voice, one accusation, to be followed by more. And then you had a crowd of people, a crowd of stopped cars, and people dialing 9-1-1.

I stayed where I was. I was not changing my mind. I was not backing out. I was going through with this. I was doing it.

The chorus of screams and gasps and people screaming at me not to take my life blurred together and became a useless wall of noise in my head. I squeezed my eyes shut, blocking it all out.