I Watched You Drive By

Sam

The girl stood looking away from me and she kept on taking more and more steps toward the hole. I quickened my pace, hopping that she didn't suddenly decide to dive in. I reached her just as the rain hardened and she was taking another step. My hand grabbed hers and pulled her back. The girl gasped slightly. "Are you okay?" I asked. She didn't answer and her wet hair was everywhere, covering her face, so I couldn't confirm whether she heard me or not. A tug. "Are you okay?" I yelled louder, figuring that it would be loud enough for her to hear me though the deafening rain. Again, nothing, but a tug.

"Let go!" The scream came out of nowhere, surprising me so much that I did let her hand go and even stepped back. "I don't have any money, so leave me alone."

At that exact moment, the rain lessened and I stared back at the random girl with hair covering her face, dumbfounded. She thought I wanted to rob her? Holding my palms outward, I took a step forward again. "I'm not here to rob you." It was far from it, in fact. The girl shook her head while I talked. Thankfully, with that simple action, half of her face became clear of hair. A cognac brown eye glared out into the rain, the other one covered by wet black licorice hair. "I'm here to help you. Are you okay?"

I could have smacked myself for the stupid question that I kept on repeating. Of course she's not okay. She was standing on a bridge, in the middle of a raging, crazy, nightmare of a rainstorm, in nothing but a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. On top of that she was shivering like crazy. At least I had a coat on. I observed the place. Tommary Bridge was one of the last routes anyone would take, even during a rainstorm, and it was mostly due to that giant hole in the side. There was no cars on this bridge, except for mine, and no one but us. But here this random girl was, probably wondering why I'm still repeating that question and shivering.

The girl glanced up, as if she had heard my thoughts, and without making any eye contact with me, she said "Yes, I'm fine." The wind picked up, and I could tell that there was more rain coming from the earthy smell. "Now, can you leave me alone? Please?"

I bit on my lower lip, watching her hair move around with the wind, but never enough to get it all out of her face, and trying to catch her eye. "You sure?" I stepped closer to her. "You don't look okay. And if you want, I can give you a--." Stupidly, or more like very idiotically, I reached forward to push the rest of her wet hair out of her face. The girl jerked back-- like anyone would when a random stranger wants to touch their face-- and stumbled on her legs. I had to act fast. Before she fell backwards to her death, I slipped my right arm around her waist and turned us around so that we could switch position and she would be standing away from the hole. Only thing is that I tripped on her shoes as we were turning and the momentum it caused pushed the girl backwards and onto the ground. My left hand shot out and caught her head before it smashed against the concrete. I...ended up on top of her. Both of us breathing hard, we made our first eye contact. She looked away first and a second later, her body was quivering underneath mine.

"Please, don't do this."

Was she crying? I jumped up and off her as fast as I could.

"No!" I grabbed her hands and pulled her back up to a standing position. "No, I'm not that type of a person. You can trust me." She pulled her hands away, wiped at her now hair-free face, and took a step back. At least it was away from the hole. "It's just that there is a hole in this bridge and since most people are not aware of it, I just wasn't sure if you were. I was just...." As I watched, the girl shivered for the millionth time under a minute. I took my coat off and held it out to her. "Here, take this. You need it more."

She stared at my offer and shook her head again. "I need privacy. Please, if you're not that type of person, then leave. Right now." I could see how cold she was. We were both aware of it. And to refuse such a nice offer? Who is this chick? Her gaze returned to a spot over my shoulder, probably the hole.