Frozen

2.7

I was jolted awake by the sound of the front door slam.

"Dalie?" I whispered. Cautiously, I flicked on the light and to my horror she was gone. A note laid on her side of the bed. Quickly, I opened it and scanned it.

My Dearest,

I am sorry. I simply can't cope with this any more. You know how difficult it has been for me this past year and I don't want to live like this anymore. I have planned this for weeks and believe it is the right choice. At precisely midnight I will be joining my parents by jumping off of the Queen Elizabeth the Second Bridge, because, angels have wings after all, don't they? I need to be with them. I will always be your guider and protector. I will love you forever, even in death but I need to be with my family. They need me too.

With love, your guardian angel.

I was numb. Queen Elizabeth the Second Bridge, midnight. I checked the clock. Quarter past eleven. The bridge was a forty minute drive. I grabbed my shoes and started out the door when I realised she had obviously taken the car. Hastily, I phoned up the local taxi service.

"Hello, taxi service how can..." I cut her off.

"I need a taxi now, my wife has stolen the car and is going to commit suicide." I gave her my address, "I need to get to the Queen Elizabeth the Second Bridge before midnight, I need to save her life." The woman seemed shocked but seemed to be able to process the seriousness of the situation I was in and a taxi appeared on my doorstep at twenty-five minutes past eleven. I realised whilst sitting in the cab giving the driver the same instructions as I did to the woman on the phone, that I could very easily come across as drunk. When he saw my dead-pan expression he said,

"Right, seatbelt on lad, we're going to get your wife." I sighed in relief. I hadn't realised until then that I had the letter from Dalie clasped in my hands.

When the bridge came into view I sat bolt upright. There was a huge commotion up ahead and we couldn't get through. I didn't hesitate. I jumped out the car and ran full pelt up the bridge. I ran between and over cars that honked at me in annoyance. Time was ticking too quickly and I was running too slowly. I could see police and other helpless witnesses hovering around in a semi-circle around her. A search helicopter circled above the scene. She had her pink nightie on and it was billowing around.

"Dalie!" I screamed. She didn't make any move to make me think she had heard me. Fear welded my bones together and suddenly I couldn't run as fast. I was only fifty feet away from her, "Dalie!" I saw her look at me just as the spotlight fell on her face. Everything moved in slow motion, "I love you!" I yelled to her.

Suddenly, I was able to see everything she saw. It was almost as though she had allowed me to see the deepest and darkest parts of her mind. The bloodied corpses of her parents stood in front of her. They had their arms outstretched towards her. Her arms elongated out to her sides like a bird and she went on her tip-toes, then reached forward towards them.

"Dalie, no!" I screamed again.

"Take our hands, we will hold you up."

But they didn't.

"Take our hands, we will make you fly."

But they couldn't.

"Take our hands and trust us."

But they lied.

My hands grabbed at the spots on the railing where her hands had been a few moments before. Her screams of realisation of her parents betrayal were unbearable. I watched her body fall.

I didn't hear the splash. In fact I'm thankful I didn't. I couldn't hear anything. And soon I felt like Dalie did a year ago when I dragged her away from her parents because police were prising my fingers off of the bars and escorting me over to the back of an ambulance. My Dalie was gone. I could never look at her face again, or hear her voice, or see her beautiful smile. She was gone.