Flash Of Life

The Bridge

"... and sent!" I said as I sent my final email to my friends. I think it was pretty good.

"Hey girls. I hope you all get this at one point or another. I just wanted to let you know that you guys have been the best friends a girl could ever ask for. I don't know where I would've been without you. Thank you so much. But with what has been going on, I decided that there's no point for me to stay here. I'm sorry. My dad is dead, Christina is dead, and my mom was arrested. I've had enough going on in my life that I decided to end it. I'm so so sorry. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I'll be watching you guys, and maybe even show signs that I'm there with you. I'm not sure how heaven works. Or hell, wherever I end up. I don't know. Just know I'll be with you wherever you go. I love you guys! -Mary"

I was pretty proud of it. I thought it was well written. I sent it to Kelly, Eileen, Holly, and Kayla. I felt bad though because I just met Kayla and now I was leaving her. Oh well. Maybe I'll watch her the most if I can. I turned my car off, put my iPad away in my bag, and got out.

I walked over to the Fitzgerald bridge. It was the highest one above a river. The Fitzgerald bridge was named after the Fitzgerald family after they all died in a fire. The parents and their 3 kids. The 3 kids were young, only 9, 6, and 3. All girls. Crystal, Melanie, and Suzanna. I only saw them around town, and let me tell you, they were adorable girls. Especially Melanie.

I sat there for a while. Thinking of how I wanted to do this. Did I want to hang myself over the bridge? Did I want to jump? Did I want to "fall"? I didn't know. I just knew I was ready. So I got up, and was about to jump when I heard someone yell. I turned around and saw Kayla running toward me. Great!

"Stop!" She was shouting.

"Why?" I asked every time she said stop.

She finally stopped running and walked up to me. We were about the same height. She looked at me with what seemed to be seriousness in her eyes.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I got your email. And I live around the corner so I figured I could catch you." She said breathlessly.

"Why would you catch me?" I asked confused.

"Because I'm jumping with you." She answered.

"Unless you explain to me how shitty your life is, I'm not letting you." I said to her.

"Okay! Have a seat!" She said as she was sitting down on the ground.

"It all started when I was 3. My younger brother Shaun was born. I knew I would like him, and I did. When he turned 3, my sister, Malina, came along. I remember thinking that it would be nice to have a little sister. And it was. Then when she turned 3, my other brother, Jacoby, came into the world. My parents were happy and done. When Jacoby was born, I was 9. We were all very close. I loved being the oldest. My siblings looked up to me. When I turned 13, I spent the night at a friends house. I was having the time of my life. Then I got a call at 9 at night. My house was on fire."

I stared at her open-mouthed as she continued talking.

"Since my sleepover was up the street, I ran out of my friends house and up to my house. Sure enough, it was engulfed in flames. The firefighters were trying to put it out. I looked around for my family. I couldn't find them. That's when I ran to a nearby cop, with tears streaming down my face. I said to him that my family was inside. My parents and my younger brothers and sister. He then ran and told a firefighter. After that, 2 firefighters ran into the house as the fire was dying down. They came out a little while later with nothing. I was sitting in the fire truck with a blanket around myself. As soon as the fire stopped, a firefighter came up to me."

She was shaking now.

"I looked at him. He had black smoke burns on his face. He must've been one of the firefighters that went into the house. He said to me that he and his partner didn't find anybody or any human remains in the fire. They were going to look again tomorrow, but they were certain they didn't find any. He then asked me if I knew if they had planned on going out tonight. I told him no."

Kayla looked down at her feet and took a deep breath.

"About a year later, I still hadn't heard of anything regarding my family. I was about 14 at the time. I had been staying with my aunt and uncle for the time being. I came home one day from school to find a detective in their house. I walked in the formal sitting room, where everyone was, and the detective told me to sit down. I sat across from him. He looked me in the eyes and told me that he found my family, but not the way I was hoping. He said that their remains were found about 15 miles from the house. Someone had murdered them, and then set my home on fire. That person then buried my family in 3-foot deep graves. About a few months after that, we finally got their remains back and instead of burying them, we cremated them. About a month after the cremation, we moved here."

"I'm so sorry Kayla." I said interrupting her.

"They still haven't found the person to this day. I have nothing to live for because my aunt and uncle won't adopt me so I'm going to an orphanage. I don't want to do that. I wanna die and go see my family."

"It's not my position to tell you whether you should jump with me or not. I'm jumping though." I said as I got up. Kayla got up after me.

She linked my hand in hers as we stepped to the edge. We starting counting down.

"One..." I said.

"Two..." She said.

"Three!" We said together as we jumped.

--

"They were holding hands!" I said to myself as I looked down, crying.