Second Chance

3 • Don't Jump

August 24th, 2011

The wind billows in my hair as I glance at the beautiful waters below. The sunset casts rays of light down onto the surface, creating millions of dazzling sparkles on the waves.

In the distance, I can hear the echoes of cars honking, people talking, and going about their daily lives. They're so close, but they know nothing of what I'm doing.

I stand on the edge of the bridge, right past the outskirts of the small city. Nobody comes here anymore, the old bridge abandoned, useless, and lonely due to the installment of the by-pass, a quicker route to any destination.

I step closer to the edge of the bridge, and look down at the water, a good fifty or sixty feet below me. The river isn't busy today, which is good. No one will be around to witness this.

Multiple tears stream down my face as I gaze out upon the calming waters on last time. I shuffle my feet, pulling myself a few inches closer to the edge. I bring my wrist to my face, examining the multiple scars for a last time as well.

I reminisce on what each one was for. The time that Cameron Lopp told me I was ugly, and stupid, and would never amount to anything in life. The time my parents and I got into a fight over grades. The time my Grandma died.

Memories swirl through my mind. I cry for each one of them. Never again will I have to think of them. Never again will I have to suffer. Maybe I can even see Addison and her mom once I'm gone.

I take one last step towards the edge of the bridge. I bend my knees, preparing myself to jump. I take a deep breath.

"MADELYNN, DON'T YOU DARE!" A deep voice bellows from behind me. The sudden voice startles me, and in the split second that I hear it, it's enough to make me change my mind about jumping.

Too late.

It startles me so much, that I fall head first off the tall bridge, screaming. I cry, regretting every moment I walked to this bridge, preparing to jump. I regret every time I brought a blade to my skin. I just want to live, and even that option has been taken away from me.

I open my eyes, which is hard to do because of the rushing of the wind around me. I immediately close them again, the water is becoming very near. I embrace myself for the hard impact. The impact that will send me into the life of death.

But the impact never comes.

I open my eyes after a few seconds, to see that I am miraculously hovering several inches above the water. I cry out in relief, thankful that I am not dead.

I am suddenly harshly spun around, so that I am hovering above the water, but so that I am facing above me. I slowly begin to rise higher and higher above the water, closer and closer to the edge of the bridge.

As I get higher, the more nervous I become. What if I fall? Most importantly, how is this happening? Am I dreaming? Am I actually dead?

I reach the edge of the bridge, and an invisible force pushes me onto the rough concrete. My body rolls several times until I come to a stop, lying on my stomach.

I begin to sob, thankful for my second chance at life, but very confused, I rest my cheek on the concrete, the cool breeze soothing me.

Suddenly, I see a pair of feet stop directly in front of me. I trail my eyes up from the feet, and up the rest of the body. I scream in fear when I see the boy who visits me in my dreams. The boy who I saw the night Addison died. The boy from my childhood.

"Fourteen is too young to die, baby. I told you, you've gotta stay alive," he whispered in his deep voice. And then he disappeared.