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| An Unusual Ghost Story |
The pale girl looked down at the murky water swirling below the bridge. The current was strong after the last two days of rain. It would sweep away anything in it. Perfect. She put one foot up and climbed to the edge. She just stood there.
Jump already, she told her shaking legs, but they were stuck in place. She took a deep breath. I can’t go back, if I do I’m dead anyhow, she told herself. Her face getting paler, she tucked her shoulder length hair behind her ears. After a few seconds her legs were able to move again. She leaned forward just a little.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said a voice beside her. She turned and looked at the bridge next to her. Sitting on the edge was a stranger, probably 18 or so, with black hair and black eyes. He was dressed in black, too. Everything from his shoes to his leather jacket was black. “I really wouldn’t do that,” he said again.
She turned to look at the water again. “It’s none of your business,” she muttered. But now that she had an audience, she wasn’t sure she could jump.
“I’m making it my business. Now, explain to me why you’re going to jump into a muddy river. If you’re explanation’s good, I’ll leave you to it. If it’s not, I won’t,” the stranger told her. He continued to watch her, waiting to see if she would jump into the river or not.
She glared at him. These were her last moments on earth, and here he was, prolonging them, making it harder to jump by the second. She sighed. She had wanted someone to ask her what was wrong, but why hadn’t anybody come when she needed them to? Now she didn’t want a sympathetic ear, she wanted an escape.
“It shouldn’t matter to you,” she grumbled. “I’m beaten every day at school for my money. I’m beaten every day at home for my salary. Dad’s a drunk so I have to work, and the pay is next to nothing. Mom left, and if I go back home, I’ll probably get beaten almost to death for running away again. Happy now?” she snapped.
“No,” he said. He crossed his arms. “You’re about to make a mistake, and I have to stop you.” He thought for a minute, and then looked at her again. “Could you at least step down from there so you don’t jump while I’m thinking?”
She was really frustrated now. This guy was absolutely ruining her last moments. If she didn’t hurry, the sun would rise completely soon, and someone would see her here and call her father. She couldn’t go back. If she was going to die, she’d rather finish herself. She got ready to jump.
“Don’t make the same mistake I did,” the stranger said. She looked at him. Same mistake he…? Then she really looked at him. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but he was almost transparent.
“You’re dead?” she asked him. She would have been surprised if she hadn’t been so tired. She just wanted it to end. “You committed suicide?”
The stranger nodded. “It sucks. You’ll be stuck in limbo for a long time. I’m lucky because I have a second chance,” he told her. “I messed up and got stuck in a coma, but if I stop 100 people from making the same mistake as me, I get to wake up.”
“So you’re just doing it for selfish reasons?” she asked. She wanted to be angry at him for it, but couldn’t quite blame him for doing it. He had his reasons for suiciding, just like she did, and he probably had some reason he wanted to go back.
He didn’t even try to deny it. He just nodded and looked away. He started thinking again. He stood up and motioned for her to get down from the edge of the bridge. She hesitated.
“Here’s what you should do,” he told her. “Go back to your house, sneak in and pack some things. Don’t take everything, or people will know you took off. Your shoes are covered in mud, and they left a trail right to here. Take them off before you get down and everyone will think you’ve jumped,” he instructed.
“Why?” she asked him. It was getting much lighter out, and people would be coming soon. “What makes you think I want to be stopped?”
“Because you can see me,” he replied. “If you didn’t want to be stopped, you wouldn’t be able to tell I was there. You can see me, so I know that deep down you don’t want to die.” He looked at her. His black eyes were stubborn, and she knew he was right. She didn’t want to die. Not yet. But she couldn’t find another way to escape.
She sat, careful to avoid her muddy shoe prints and took off her sneakers. She stepped back onto the safe part of the bridge. “How far do I walk without my shoes?” she asked him.
“Just until you reach the edge of the road. If you can get to your house without walking on the road itself do that. When you’ve gotten a few things together start walking. Get out of town. Start over and don’t look back,” he directed.
“I’m not the first person you’ve talked to, am I?” she asked.
He shook his head. “No, and you’re not the last. Get moving or someone will spot you.” He leaned against the bridge railing and crossed his arms. When she was out of sight, he looked at his palm. A number was there: 94. As he watched it, it faded and changed, becoming 93.
“Seven already,” said a voice in his ear. “You’ll get back sooner than I expected.” He looked over. An angelic figure with white wings and a scythe stood beside him. She smiled. “Are you going to stick around and wait for her to come back?”
“Nah,” he said to the Angel of Death. “She doesn’t need me anymore.” He looked at his palm and back at the Angel of Death again. “You still haven’t told me why you’ve given me a second chance,” he said to her. “Are you ever going to?”
“Maybe,” she laughed. “You could call it a whim. Let’s move on. There are more people in need of you.” She turned and started walking off the bridge. He followed quickly after, not looking back. As the girl returned to the bridge she saw them both fade away.
“Suicides end lives before their times. I don’t like having my work disrupted,” the Angel of Death once told a comatose boy. “Humans must learn to live for themselves and those who need them. If their lives are miserable, it may be possible to change. You will help them with that change,” she told the unconscious boy. “Do so and you may have your life back. Do so and you may give others their lives back.”
The story seemed better when I was thinking about it. Oh well. Thanks for reading.
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Posted by Sky_Blue on 2009-11-01 11:12:45 | Rating: | Views: 19
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