I got out of the car and took slow strides up to the cliff. My head was spinning with emotions: anger, resentment, fear, disappointment. I reached the top of the cliff and looked down, seeing the sharp rocks and splashing waves of the lake. I tilted my head back, closed my eyes, and smelled the air around me. It smelled fresh of nature. The wind was howling and it looked like a storm was coming in. "Today's the perfect day," I thought to myself. I put one foot over the edge of the cliff playing chicken with myself. My heart was pounding against my chest. I heard the tune of a timpani in my beating heart. I imagined myself with the same fear and hurt in my eyes as my victims. In this moment I was feeble and I felt a desire to end that pain that I'd caused. I closed my eyes once more and put my arms out to my sides as if I was a bird spreading its wings for the first time. Then, I fell.
"I tried to figure it out."
Oh no.
"I really tried. But I couldn't." Damien sounded hurt.
I felt like being buried under the ground right there and then but I couldn't so I had to brace myself and face him.
"Maybe I shouldn't have gone to your house without calling first yesterday." He was getting closer. "But I don't think that's why you're avoiding me."
He was slowly backing me up to the locker.
The close proximity was blissful and scary at the same time.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Damien." I tried to keep my voice steady but I knew I was failing miserably.
"I'm sure you don't." Our noses were one inch from touching.
"I don't know what's going on but I need you to understand something." He continued. I was almost positive he could hear how relentlessly my heart was pounding.
"I am never letting you fight alone."
His eyes held a fierce softness I had never seen.
" I care too much about you." Our lips were only a breath from each other. "Your fight will always be my fight."
Perfect smile, perfect clothes, perfect boyfriend, perfect life. All these things masked how messed up Adina Powers' life really was.
She needed more. More love, life, and more realness.
She needed a savior.
She needed someone who had to get through his own hell.
She needed Damien Munroe.
***WARNING! Occasional mention of suicide.