Just Jump

Chapter 1

Chapter One

          He didn't know it would hit him this hard.  He had no idea he would be standing on the top of this cliff with tears rolling down his face.  He didn't even know he had it in him to cry -- at all -- let alone now.

          He didn't even know how he'd gotten up here. 

          Letting his face drop to stare at the rocky, endless fall he soon planned to take, Kale felt more tears roll down his face.  None of what he was thinking made any sense.  Sure, he'd been suicidal before, but not like this. 

          Never like this. 

          Looking straight ahead of himself, he only felt himself wanting to fall.  His stomach had dropped earlier that day, with the news of what happened.  It hadn't made sense then and it still didn't make sense now. 

          Everyone said things would be okay, but they weren't.  How could they be?  How could everything ever be okay again after he heard that?  How did it happen?  No one told him how it happened -- they just said it happened. 

          Tears began to fall even faster from his eyes and he looked back down at the fall he was going to take.  His mind was kicking into overdrive and he couldn't concentrate, anymore.  His heart was pounding; it was almost as if he could hear the blood pulsing through his eardrums. 

          He could feel everything in him quitting.  He could feel his body wanting to fall to the rocks at the bottom.  Kale had never wanted anything more in his life and he was going to get this.  He was going to die. 

          "I want to die . . . "  He whispered, lifting his left foot off the ground and placing it over the open space in front of him. 

          His motto had always been "Just Jump".  Whenever someone came to him with a problem -- relationship advice, skipping school, court room advice, questions on how to deal with their parents, whether or not they should sleep with their girlfriend or boyfriend -- that's what he said.

          "Just Jump."

          Why was it so hard to follow his own advice?

          He was standing there, hanging by a thread.  He was wrapped up in his own world and lost.  He was trapped in a forest, confused and alone, and he didn't understand it.  All he could clearly think about was taking that leap and free-falling through the air. 

          So, why couldn't he do it? 

          "Kale . . . "  A female's voice interrupted his thinking process, "Kale, what are you doing?"

          "Jumping . . . "  He slowly said with a shrug.

          "Can I come over by you?"  Her voice was timid and raspy; it almost sounded like she'd been crying herself.  The only problem was Kale didn't want anyone by him right now, even if they needed him . . . and that was unlike who he usually was. 

          "No . . .  You probably shouldn't," he whispered. 

          Even as he spoke those words, the girl walked over to him and stood there.  She was silent, looking around herself before looking down at the rocky, green drop Kale had been staring at for awhile, now.

          She watched him standing there, looking around.  She watched him cry and tremble all over, but she still couldn't go to comfort him.  She watched him speak that he wanted to die, and still . . . she couldn't move.