The lights of Times Square were flashing in the distance, dancing like the performers in the shows they advertised. Can’t say which ones, but… I’m sure they were fun. I’m sure they were being enjoyed by audiences who were laughing, crying… maybe a bit of both. Probably all tourists who wanted to experience the magic of Broadway, the scene of fantasy and imagination. No doubt they were all dealing with the evening traffic that made Manhattan hell at night, with all of the horns, chatter, and cheers overlapping each other.

But I wasn’t experiencing the sensations of sight and sound like them. I was celebrating my entry into adulthood at the Manhattan Bridge alone, a bruised and bloodied loser standing along a railing and waiting for something to break the silence that was partnered with a gentle breeze. It was strange… the traffic was near dead, which was unusual for the city that never sleeps. I guess everyone gets a little tired. God knows I was.

I stared at the abyss below, a cold black river of solitary solace. This wasn’t the first time I’d been there. Thoughts and ideations have been creeping in my head for a while now… ever since an accident a couple of years ago. You know the deal, family trip, car loses control, only the kids survive, blah, blah, blah. My life’s been a cliché and not in the way I’d hoped. I won’t bore you with the details… not yet anyway. This isn’t about that. This? This is a love story.

Like I said, this wasn’t the first time those thoughts were in my head; I’ve had the bad days of self-hatred and ass-kickings from my tormentor plenty of times. It was, however, the first time they got a good hold of me. Those feelings of failing, being life’s punching bag, and being an obligation for my sister to take care of. Eventually you lose control to those feelings. A numbness takes over, and those thoughts start to guide you like a marionette.

I awkwardly hopped onto the railing, using the steel beam of the bridge as support. If I wasn’t wearing boots, I probably would have slipped sooner. I stared down, the abyss waiting for me to make a decision. Quiet whispers poked and prodded me, and the abyss seemed to open up into a maw wanting to swallow me whole. Staring into it seemed to make the voices louder and stronger. A shaky breath escaped me as I wiped warm tears starting to well up.

“Don’t think about it. For once… just do it.”

I stared for a little while longer. Indecisive as always… I suppose the fear was good for something. Something else caused me to hesitate. Underneath my red jacket, the corner of a letter poked at me as if trying to jab me back from the ledge. I looked down and slowly reached for it. I pulled out the card… a birthday card from my sister, Jessie. I flipped it open, reading the words silently to myself.

Happy birthday, Jack! Keep kicking ass (or start trying)! Love, Jess

I’m not sure how long I stared at it, but a smile eventually tugged at the corner of my mouth. I scoffed quietly to myself.

“She’d dive in after you just to kill you herself, wouldn’t she?”

And suddenly, I felt the puppet string pull me back towards the safety of the bridge… until a gust of wind decided to push me back. I gasped out as the wind snagged the card from my hand. I jutted forward and swiped at it, narrowly grabbing a corner.

“Gotcha!”

The victory was short lived as I realized I no longer had the support beam to… well, support me. A sense of vertigo took over as I leaned on my toes and stared down at the river below. It suddenly looked much further down than I had realized, reminding me of my mortality.

“Oh, shit!” I eeked out.

My arms flailed to steer myself back, but seemed to just propel myself further somehow. I was a shrimp, so at the very least, I wasn’t offset by the center of gravity a bigger guy might have, but all it did was delay the inevitable as I began to slip forward. And as I teetered over the edge, I suddenly stopped. My arms were outstretched and frozen in shock, wondering if God or some other supreme being had interfered a second time in saving my life from certain death.

Believe me… my savior couldn’t be further from that.

The force that stopped me suddenly yanked me back. I let out a shout before falling back and landing on my back. I laid there in shock as a dull groan escaped my throat. A pair of footsteps approached me. I looked up at the figure as they neared me. Above me stood a woman, probably in her 20s, wearing a tattered overcoat that matched her brown hair. She stared at me with steely gray eyes that still had more color than her pale skin.

“Oi,” she uttered. “You off your bloody rocker, mate? What were you trying to pull?”

I stared in disbelief, still processing what happened. All I could make was a confused grunt. The woman groaned quietly in annoyance. My eyes drifted towards the crumpled birthday card in my hand. I clumsily pushed myself up to my feet and dusted myself off, flashing the card with a sheepish smile. She stared for a moment before letting out another quizzical sound.

“That would have been ironic,” she muttered. “You got any cash on you?”

My smile dimmed as I stammered. A slight smirk grew on her face.

“You don’t talk much, do you?”

“I-I-I… I mean... yeah,” I finally forced out.

“'Yeah,' you’ve got currency, or you’re the silent type?”

“Uh… both?”

“Well then, you might just be my new best mate!" she laughed as her smirk grew into a smile. "Personally, I think I earned a little bite for my heroics, yeah?”

She motioned for me to follow. All I could do was stare in disbelief. She stopped in her tracks as she looked back towards me. Her eyes narrowed as she smirked again at me.

“Y’know, it’s bad karma not to tip your savior.”

I nodded back after a moment. She chuckled quietly as she continued walking. I grunted as I snapped back to reality and hurried after her.

“Uh, miss? Where are we-”

“Trust me, you’ll love it.”