On Edge

Chapter One

He didn't know how it had come to this. He just didn't understand. Yesterday was a great day. He got up, went to the gym, went home and played some video games, invited his boyfriend over, ordered a pizza and snuggled on the couch while watching TV. Yesterday was great, yesterday was fun, yesterday was... normal.

And today, everything was wrong. Eerily wrong. He knew it something was off since he woke up that morning. The first clue was the lack of text messages on his phone. He always woke up to a good morning text from his early-riser boyfriend, Tweek. The teen was so high on caffeine all the time that he barely got any sleep at night and always woke before the sun came out.

He texted his boyfriend, worried asking if he was okay... something just felt wrong. And that text was hours ago. It was now shortly after 7pm when Craig Tucker found himself looking down at his phone, feeling his stomach churn as he read the text in front of him.

"I don't think I can do this anymore."

Craig quickly replied, anxious for the answer. "What are you talking about? Where are you?"

It felt like hours for Tweek's reply to come, though realistically only a couple minutes had passed by.

"I'm on a bridge."

A bridge? What did he mean he was on a bridge? Craig was sick with worry.

"Tweek. I'm going to come and find you just tell me where you are."

"I can't do this anymore, Craig."

"Tweek please. What bridge are you on?"

"The one near Stark's pond."

"Okay. Stay there I'll be there in 5."

Craig quickly shoved his phone in his pocket as he rushed to grab his coat and run out the door into the freezing cold. It was already dark out, since it was only a couple weeks until Christmas. It was also snowing heavily. He was running so fast out to his car that he hadn't even noticed the patch of ice covering the driveway that caused him to slip. He hit the ground hard as he felt his phone crack in his back pocket.

"Shit."

He quickly took it out to examine it, but it was broken up badly. The screen was too cracked to send Tweek another text. Please just hold on for me, Tweek. He thought to himself.

He struggled to pull himself off the ground, trying not to slip again and made his way into the front seat of his car, not even waiting for the vehicle to warm up as he sped off to his boyfriend's apparent location. He drove fast in the snowstorm, squinting his eyes as he tried to see, but it was impossible to see even just a few feet in front of him.

Why was Tweek standing on a bridge? He couldn't be thinking of jumping could he? Craig thought about how rough the past year of Tweek's life had been. His parents separated just after last Christmas, mostly due to financial problems. His mom left him and his dad and went to move in with her parents. The separation was hard on Tweek and his grades began to suffer. The boys were in junior year now, meaning that next year they would have to start applying for college. Tweek was constantly stressed out, but his moods often fluctuated between highs and lows. Some days, he would be happy and you would find him partying hard at Clyde's weekly Friday night bangers.

Then there were days where Tweek could barely get himself out of bed. Sometimes he didn't even bother. He would just lie in bed all day, staring at the wall in front of him. But he would always tell Craig that morning when it was one of his off days. A simple one-lined message that would tell Craig that his boyfriend just needed a rest, even though it hurt Craig to know how much the blonde-haired boy was suffering. But today, when Craig didn't hear anything from Tweek until that evening, was more than just a "bad day". Tweek had given up. He had succumbed to his depression, and now Craig could only hope that his boyfriend would still be alive when he arrived to that bridge.

When Craig finally arrived, he jumped out of the car and didn't even bother locking it and instead ran towards the bridge, praying to every God he knew of that he would find his boyfriend, alive and well. He looked around, trying to find Tweek in the stormy weather, and gasped when he saw the teenager on hanging off the ledge, staring into the freezing water below him.

"Tweek!" Craig shouted as he rushed towards the boy.

Tweek continued to stare at the river, not saying a word.

"Tweek what are you doing here?"

"I don't want to live anymore, Craig."

Craig's mouth opened in shock at the boy's answer and he suddenly wished that his phone wasn't smashed so that he could call 911 and hopefully get some help besides himself in talking his boyfriend off the ledge.

"Tweek, just please come back over the railing so we can talk about this." But Tweek did not move.

"I've made up my mind, Craig."

"Tweek please don't do this, I need you in my life. I don't know what I'd do without you." Craig cringed slightly at how cliché his last sentence had sounded, though every word was true.

"There's no point anymore." Craig felt tears forming in his eyes as he realized how empty Tweek's voice sounded. His boyfriend had truly lost all hope, and Craig was beginning to wonder if he would even be successful in trying to talk him out of suicide.

Just as Craig was praying for a miracle to happen, for someone else to come and help him he noticed headlights approaching him, and quickly moved out of the way as the car slowed down next to him. The driver rolled down their window and he immediately recognized the faces of Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski and Kenny McCormick.

"Dude, Craig, what are you doing out here? Do you need a ride somewhere?" Stan asked him.

"N-no it's Tweek... You gotta help me." Craig stuttered out. Tweek didn't even seem to notice the other car that had pulled up.

Stan leaned out of the window to try and look past Craig, only to gasp and jump out of the car, followed closely by Kyle and Kenny.

"What is he doing? What's going on?" Kyle asked in a panicked tone.

"He's threatening to jump. I'm trying to talk him down but he won't listen. My phone's broken; you guys have to call the police."

Kenny quickly did what Craig asked and stepped away, dialing 911 and Craig felt relieved that help would be on the way soon. He didn't know what he would do if he lost his boyfriend, his Tweek.

Kyle cautiously walked towards Tweek and attempted to talk to his friend. "Tweek, dude, I don't know what's going on, but you have to climb over."

Tweek didn't reply.

Stan grabbed Craig by the arm and dragged him aside, as they left Kyle to try and talk to Tweek.

"What's going on Craig, how did he get like this?"

Craig shrugged. "He just texted me... Saying he couldn't do it anymore then told me he was on a bridge... I drove over here and found him."

"Did you know he was suicidal?" Craig shook his head. "I knew he was depressed... But I didn't think it was this bad..."

Craig looked up to see Kenny waving at the two boys to get their attention. He then mouthed the words "police and ambulance are on their way". Craig sighed in relief, a brief moment of relief that was quickly taken away from him when he heard Kyle's panicked voice shout out "Tweek no!"

Craig turned around only moments before he saw his boyfriend go off the edge of the bridge, into the cold water below.