"Freak" "Loser" "Retard" "Idiot" "No one wants you here" "No one cares about you." It was these words that echoed through his head as Jeremy made his way home from school that cold winter day. Those words and countless others that had been hurled at him since the sixth grade. Hurled at him by people who he had once thought to be his friends. Laughter cruel and harsh filled his ears as he thought of his class mates. Shaking his head to try and rid his mind of their voices Jeremy pulled his large black hoodie closer. This hoodie he always wore to hide the bruises on his arms from the countless times he had been shoved into walls, lockers, door frames and of course other people. The dark sunglasses that sat on his twice broken nose hid not blood shot eyes from a night of parties but a pair of healing black eyes. Music threatened to break his ear drums as he blasted it in an attempt at drown out the voices in his head. The voices that echoed his tormentors. But today it wasn't working. Today the words made it through the lines in the music that kept him strong. "Spaz" *And I know I'm making something out of this life the call nothing^ "Freak" ^Will tomorrow be the same?^ "Idiot" ^Am I just running in place?^ "Creep" ^Little things, they try to break me down^ "Fagot" ^And no one's there to save you^. With a groan of frustration and pain Jeremy pulled the earbuds out and shoved them into his pocket. It isn't fair he thought but that's life. Taking a turn on to the river walk bridge he stopped and just stared out over the water. Pulling off the glasses he looked out over the rail towards the banks. This river was the sight of so many memories. Family picnics, parties, gatherings of all kinds. But that isn't why he came here no Jeremy came here to think. To think about life. About death. About what still held him in this world. Nothing. Leaning over the rail he dropped a coin into the water. As the ripples spread out he thought about jumping in him self. About this being his last day. About following that coin to the bottom of the river.
"It's not worth it." A girls voice called from behind him.
"Excuse me?" He asked with out turning around.
"Jumping in." She said stepping up beside him. "The chance that you'll live out ways the chance that you won't and next thing you know you'll never have another moments peace. And they aren't worth it."
"Who?" He asked.
"They people who hurt you. The ones who drove you to coming here. They aren't wroth the time you give them."
"And how would you know?" Jeremy asked her finally turning to look at her. She was shorter then him. With short uneven hair died different colours. Even in the cold weather she only wore a short sleeved shirt elbow length gloves and jeans.
"Because," she said, not looking at him but at her gloves as she pulled them off. "I've tried it. I've been there." Scares crossed white over her pale skin. "Jumping would probably be easier. Less painful. But anyone of these people would see you jump and at least one of them would try to save you." He looked at her face and she met his eyes. "I know I would."
"Why?"
Kalyn looked up at him. She just stared. "Why would you risk your life to save mine? I'm a stranger." He asked again.
"Because," she finally replied. "If I was put here for a reason then so were you." He laughed and turned back to the water. "You don't believe me?" She asked still watching him. She eyed the way his hoodie fit his shoulders. The sharp angles of his face. How his black hair fell over his grey-blue eyes. If it wasn't for the bruises on his face, the twice broken nose and the isolation she saw in his eyes Kalyn would have labeled him the tormentor not the tormented.
"You're saying i was put here to be a punching bag?" He asked.
"No I'm saying that you have a reason to be here and being a punching bag will just prepare you for that reason." She told him letting her gloves drop. "Woops."
"You aren't making any sense." He told her watching her gloves float down sinking as the material took in water.
"Sit? I'll explain it." She said turning to sit on the foot bridge with her back against the rails.
Looking compelled he turned and sat next to her.
"The only thing that's got me on with my life after I was 'saved' was that there had to be a reason my older brother walked into my room that night." She told him, her fingers dancing across her wrists. "I had had to much of the superficial Barbies that ran my high school. I let their words get to me I let their actions hurt me." She sighed and shifted slightly embarrassed. "I locked my door and turned my music up loud. No one ever comes into my room but for some reason my brother decided to invite me to the mall with him and when I didn't answer him he picked my lock. I realized then that there had to be a reason he opened my door that day when no one else would. That they finally let me go for a walk today. That I chose to walk this way when I never have before. That this patch led me to a boy who was going to make the same mistake I had." Through out this little speech Kalyn kept her voice light. But the images of that night and those afterwards swarmed in her mind. "My dad will buy me anything I want but he also insists on buying me those stupid gloves to hide my scares behind. I don't want to hide them. You know why?" She asked the question with out expecting an answer.
"Because they say I courted death and lived?" He gave her one any way.
"Exactly." She smiled at him. A true smile. The first true smile she had given since she couldn't remember when. "What's your name boy?"
"Jeremy." He told her.
"Jeremy, I like it. It's a very sexy name." She told him. "I'm Kalyn."
