Crossroads

Chapter 1

What the hell?

I hear the motorcycle passing me, but then the sound comes to an abrupt halt.

Shit.

Let's hope the person didn't see me. I don't want anyone trying to talk to me.

I need to jump.

Just do it, Lincoln. Just do it.

One last look at the water beneath me, and I find myself leaning forward, ready to end this hell.

"Don't you want to jump?"

The voice startles me, and I turn to my left, only to have my mind blown by what must be the toughest looking girl I have ever laid my eyes on. It's hard to tell how old she is; She looks like the type of girl that comes off older than she is.

"What?" She couldn't have asked that, right?

"Are you deaf? Is that why you want to kill yourself?"

Her words surprise me, and I can't help but stare as she raises an eyebrow at me. The way her chocolate brown hair flows in the wind gives her an almost celestial look, the lantern right above her illuminating her in the spotlight. She takes a step closer to me, her sapphire blue eyes gazing straight at me now, almost like they're diving straight into my soul.

"You know, my mom always says that people who kill themselves do it because they think it's the only way out. Dad says it's because they're cowards."

I can't help but stare at her, just then. She acts like a brat, even though I don't think she actually is one.

"And what is your take on it?" I retort.

Why the hell do I even bother? My hands are freezing from the cold metal on my skin, the pain slowly making its way into my system. But there's something about this woman. Something that's playing with the darkness inside me, luring it out of the sinister and hollow space in my soul.

"Oh, so you're not deaf." She smirks at me, and I have to suppress my own smile when I see the amusement dancing in her eyes. And then do I notice something familiar about her. I can't quite place it, but it's there.

"Not deaf, no."

"Okay... So what is it, then? Are you a coward or don't you see another way out?"

I don't know what it is about this girl, but I actually think about it for a second.

"Both, I guess."

Nodding her head, she wraps her arms around her stomach, a motorcycle helmet looped through her hand. Her black leather jacket suits the black pair of jeans she wears, and I swear she looks like she could be part of a Mission Impossible movie.

No matter how much I try to read her, try to gauge a reaction or anything, really... I fail. She's a mystery through and through.

"Then why don't you just do it?" Her eyes flick to the water beneath the bridge, and I can't help but follow her glance, watching the waves crash against the boulders. "Jump, if that's what you want."

I don't even notice how she approaches me while I stare at the water, my mind blank. Only as I turn around do I meet her intense blue eyes, now merely two feet away. She's holding on to the rail, the proximity of her hands right next to mine giving me a somewhat anxious chill.

And even though she irritates the hell out of me, I cannot deny that she really is beautiful. She's the kind of beautiful that makes you rethink every single time you thought you saw a beautiful woman - because this one is turning all the heads, stealing everyone's glances and everyone's breaths, seemingly without even being aware of it. I would've chased the hell out of her just a few weeks ago, that's for sure.