The Edge

I'm standing on the edge.  I inhale in the cold air, sending shock waves through my body. This has gone on for way too long. I reach it my pocket and find the letter he wrote me. The paper is soft, and torn in the middle. I used to sit and pore over his reassuring words that kept me breathing a million times over. Now he's not here to keep air in my lungs. My eyes go directly to the third  paragraph. I'm slowly suffocating as I read his words:

"I will love you always, you will be in my heart forever. My life would be a living hell without you. You saved me. You will always be my baby girl, always and forever."

I whisper "I love you always" for no one to hear. A stray tear rolls down my face, stinging as it hits the lifeless stone.  All I hear is his voice. I fall to my knees, covering my ears. His words haunt me.

No I have to do this. I wipe the tears off my face, and grab the crumpled piece of blank paper and black pen from my pocket. I use the rock as my surface and start to scribe my convinced death note:

"Baby don't try to blame yourself for what I'm about to do, I have been considering this for a long time. When you left I read your letter everyday for 7 months. I want you to take you letter back, it's torn and warn out but I want you to have it. And I never thanked you for taking care of me, thank you. You gave me strength to get through everyday, I guess it must have ran out.  I have tried to take care of your heart but I guess that's not my job anymore, I didn't deserve to have it anyways. This world will never be the way it should. I'm sorry for what I'm about to do to you, but don't use your tears up on me. Save them for when you will really need them. Be strong and always remember that I will love you always and forever.

I fold the sheet up and shove it in my right pocket with the pen. I pick up his letter up off the ground and try to flatten it as best as I can. I put it in my left coat pocket. I stand up as a chilling breeze threatens to knock me off my feet.

I take my jacket off and walk towards the old oak. "They will find it here" I think as I place it carefully on the bare tree limb. I remember when we used to come here on those warm summer nights. Sit and watch the sun set behind the clouds. We would laugh and sing and talk about those little things in life. I felt a smile on my face, first one in 7 months. This time it wasn't fake. My smile faded as I remembered that those moments would never happen again. "Snap out of it" I assert to myself.

The icy, winter air bites at my stripped skin. I walk back over to the edge. I look down into the dark overcast. "Well at least It will be peaceful on the way down, just me and my thoughts." I think to myself.

"Goodbye Mom, Dad, Shelby, Katelyn, Davey, Grant, thank you for everything you have done for me." I disclose under my breath.

I exhale the last air from my lungs, and prepare myself. I loosen my muscles.

"So is this how you cope with me leaving?"

His voice gave me goosebumps. A voice I hadn't heard in 7 months. His words come off his tongue like a beautiful melody, but somehow sting when they hit my ears. It felt like years before I could respond.

"What are you doing here?"  

"I came back to give you something." I didn't dare turn around.

"....Your mom said you were at the movies with Shelby.....but I knew better."

"Since when do you know a damn thing about me?" I hissed back.

"Well I knew you well enough to know that you would try something stupid like this. You know I thought you were smarter than this but..."

I cut him off "No! You are not going to come back here and show your face after 7 months and think you can judge me!"

"Look.."

"No. I'm not finished. You left me here for 7 months, alone. Then you come back and think you can judge me and my decisions I make?

"Well..."

"I am not finished!" I was screaming now. "You didn't even say goodbye!" Tears were pouring down my face.

There was a dead silence for minutes it seamed. I broke the silence "What did you have to give me anyway?"

"I wanted......." he muttered under his breath.

"What?"

I heard his steps behind me, getting closer. I was ashamed. I lowered my head so he wouldn't see my tears. He was getting closer, it was like I could feel him.

"Stop." I couldn't let him stop me.

"Please let me help you through this" he pleaded.
I could hear him behind me, taking another footstep.
"I said stop!" He stopped dead in his tracks.
"Baby girl, I can help you!"

His words had taken my breath away. Those words. Those 2 words had haunted me for 7 months. "Baby girl". I would awake hearing those words and fall asleep thinking about them. Then they would haunt my dreams. I fought for air. I was now staring straight into his eyes. I had never felt so vulnerable in my whole life. I managed to get enough air to choke out 6 words, "what did you just call me?"

He didn't answer me, but it was fine, I knew what the answer was. He looked down at his shoes like a lost puppy. I glanced down at his hands and saw a pastel blue notebook, with my name written in cursive on the front.

"What's that?"
Still looking down at his shoes he answered "It's nothing"
"It's got to be something for you to come all the way from California to give it to me"
"It's just....nothing it's nothing"
"No. Tell me."
"Find out for yourself" He looked at me and held out the notebook. I slowly took the notebook from his hands. For the first time in over 7 months I felt his touch. I wanted to forgive him, to jump in his arms and kiss him. I wanted to feel his touch again. No. I couldn't.

As soon as I had the book in my hands I knew what it was. I opened it to the first page. It was dated exactly 7 months and 3 days ago. I started to skim over the sloppy, careless writing.

"I'm so sorry for what I'm about to do to you. Don't try to blame yourself........" He started out the same way I wrote my note. I continued on ".....My mom picked me up from your front porch. I was coming to apologize about our fight. She said we were leaving now. I didn't have a choice. I was going to write you a note but.....I couldn't, It would have been to painful for you to read a note like that......." I stopped reading. I flipped to the last page. It was dated today's date. I didn't know I was crying until a teardrop hit the page. I quickly wiped  my face. I didn't want him to see me crying again. I looked up from the page. He was looking straight at me.

"You wrote me.....everyday....for 7 months."
"Yeah........I was going to send it to you but......I thought it would be better to give it to you in person. I guess its a good thing I came."
I just looked at him. I was shocked. I didn't know what to say. I looked down at my shoes.

It was a long time before he spoke up "If you want me to leave I'm not going to."
Again I was speechless. I had to do something. I peered up at him. He was crying. I walked up to him.

"I'm sorry" I implied. I was choking on my own words. Tears were shedding down my face again. He took his hand and wiped the tears off my face. I dropped the notebook and hugged him. I could hear his heartbeat. Memories of those summer nights flooding through my head. I felt like nothing could hurt me. I didn't ever want to let go. I wanted to be in his arms always, I wanted this moment to last forever.

Author's Note

I have absolutely no clue where I got this idea from. The story of the boy and girl I kinda got from experience but I changed it a lot. But I hope you like :)

Reviews

[∠( ᐛ 」..]

Wow, this story is so amazing.
I loved it!
100/100

[Speak in Silence]

Thank you :)

[Mr. Lou]

Its a good piece. besides what Kaitlyn Stone hasn't already pointed out,its a good piece.

[Speak in Silence]

Thank you :)

[Kaitlyn Stone]

It's a strong piece, but it could be stronger. I would change "has went on" in the second sentence to "has gone on" and "3rd" to "third." Also you might want to change "slowing suffocating" to "slowly suffocating". Pay close attention to your tenses as well. Sometimes you were in present tense and others you were in past tense...I would go back through and make it all past tense, but that's just my personal preference. The only other things that really stuck out at me was how it only stated "the edge" but the edge of what? What is the "lifeless stone" in the third paragraph? Also, I liked the conclusion with him coming back, but the last paragraph almost left me hanging for something more. Maybe add a few more lines of him saying something?

Hope this helps!

[Speak in Silence]

Thanks for all the help, I am actually going to go back and make sure I didn't make anymore mistakes. At the end I kinda wanted to leave people "hanging" you know what I mean? And the title "The Edge" could mean anything you interpret as such as the edge of sanity or the edge of the cliff, I am going to leave that for the readers to decide. What I meant by "lifeless stone" is kinda comparing the stone to someone who is dead. Like when you are dead you are usually cold. And it's winter outside so the stone would be cold. Hope this helps you understand a little better :)

[Kaitlyn Stone]

True. Thanks :)

[Speak in Silence]

Your welcome :)