#1

As I stood on the high bridge over the road, I could feel the chilly yet cozy evening breeze grace my cheeks. It felt cooler where the tears have run down but I wasn't crying anymore. I came here with the intention to do one thing – the final thing, to end my sorry life here tonight.

I looked up and took in the gloomy images of the clouded night sky for the one last time. It looked like the perfect night to die, and that strengthened my resolve.

Without any further hesitation or deliberations, I climbed up onto the fence, spread my arms out like an eagle, and closed my eyes. Just a little more, I wanted to feel this breeze just once more before I let myself fly off from this life

"Dude, what the fuck?!"

I was startled by the sudden scream and that made my body twitch, which should have made me fall off the fence and hit the concrete on the road down below, but I fell to the wrong side of the fence because someone grabbed my belt and yanked me backward.

This was not how it was supposed to go – I felt a rush of rage at being interrupted in what could be the most significant and last moment of my life.

"Who are you to stop me?!"

I looked up to see who this person could be but was dumbfounded when there were nobody around as I looked around.

"Can you please get off me now"

Oh.

It was only then I realized I actually fell onto the person who ruined my suicide or rescued my life, depending on from which perspective one wants to phrase it.

I rolled off to the side and quickly got up to look down on this disturber. It was a girl wearing a way oversized black hooded top and dirty jeans. She looked so scruffy and ungroomed that she almost looked like a homeless person despite the fact that her face told me she was probably similar to my age, fifteen to be exact.

"Why did you do that?"

I angrily asked her while she was still laying on the floor on her back.

"You were gonna jump off and kill yourself weren't you?"

The girl asked me in a voice that carried not so subtle hint of annoyance.

"Yes, and it was none of your business"

"So I should have just let you jump off and die?"

"Yes"

"Nah, I couldn't let you do that"

"Shut up you bitch, nobody 'let' me die or live. If I kill myself that's my own decision and action"

"Don't be so selfish"

"Oh, so you gonna lecture me now, a complete stranger that has nothing to do with me, about how suicide is selfish? Bitch please, I don't need that crap"

"No. You've got it wrong. I didn't mean it that way at all"

"What do you mean then?"

"It's my shift tonight to clean this road, which means if you jumped down, I would have to scrape your remains off the road myself"

"What the hell?"

"And it also happened to be that I was passing by just now, so I would have been the first person to see you dead. That means I'd probably need to call the police myself and that would be very troublesome. And if by any chance they suspected I pushed you down or something like that, that would be even more trouble for me"

"So… you stopped me from dying because that would have caused you inconvenience?"

"Now you get it. So please. Don't kill yourself on this bridge. Go find somewhere else, or at least not on Tuesday night"

I was a bit dumbfounded by her explanation, but I had to agree it would indeed have been very troublesome for her if I died right in front of her eyes, on the road she was supposed to clean – was that her job or something?

"Anyways, help me get up"

"Get up yourself. I'm gonna move along now"

I turned around and started to walk off

"Dude! I can't get up! My back hurts" – I heard her scream behind my back.

Jesus. I guess I might have hurt her when I fell and landed on her.

I reluctantly walked back towards her and extended my arms down. She grabbed my hands and lifted her upper body a bit, but quickly let go and dropped again with a groan.

"Ah fuck. This hurts"

I felt a pang of guilt

"Where does it hurt? Are you okay?"

"No. My lower back hurts when I try to lift my body. I will fucking sue you if this is some serious injury"

"Welp. You didn't have to pull me down"

"Yes. I should have just let you die"

She was probably right, but in any case, I was still alive for now and had to do something for the trouble I caused

"Should I call an ambulance?"

"That's a bit too much, let's try one more time. Grab my body instead of pulling my arms"

"Ok"

So I lowered myself and put my arms under her each armpit and pulled her up

"What are you doing! I said help me up, not hug me!"

"Whatever, just bear with it"

I managed to pull her body up into a sitting position and let my arms go. She was finally able to at least sit up but panted and groaned in pain.

"Does it really hurt?"

"Yeah, it should pass but it hurts for now"

"Sorry"

"I don't think I can work tonight"

"You are a street cleaner?"

"Yes, part-time. And this area is my shift tonight"

"Well I suppose you are right. It would have been pretty troublesome for you"

"Exactly. Now, hand me your phone"

"What? Why?"

"Duh, I need to call my boss to say I can't work tonight"

"Call him from your phone"

"I don't have a phone"

Oh. Maybe she forgot to bring it or something. So I handed over my phone. She then called her boss and I overheard her apologising and explaining to her boss – sorry, I can't come to work tonight, some idiot landed on me and hurt me, no it's okay it was an accident, don't worry I will be alright, sorry again and thanks.

She finished the call, let out a big sigh, and handed the phone back to me.

"You got a pen?", the girl asked me.

"Why?"

"I need your number, so I want to write it down"

"Why do you need my number?"

"So I can get you to pay for the hospital fee if it comes to that"

"Look, you are the one who pulled me down on you"

"Yes. Now I think I should have pushed you down and take the wallet from your dead body"

"Gees, okay, here you go"

I handed over a pen from my shirt's pocket – which made me feel a bit embarrassed as it must have looked like I'm some kind of a nerd – and she jotted down my number on the back of her hand as I recited it to her.

"Ok, now, get lost. I will call you if I need to go to a hospital"

"You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, just jog on now will ya. And remember, don't kill yourself here, not on Tuesday night"

For someone who technically 'saved' my life, this girl was quite irritating, and I no longer felt any sense of guilt or responsibility to help her anymore. I got up again and walked off, leaving her rustling and groaning sound behind.

#2

Sometimes it takes you a long time to consider and decide to do something, especially if it is something quite hard and requires a resolute mind, and if you get interrupted at the moment you are about to do it, the motivation kinda dies off and you don't want to, or can't, try to do it again – at least for a while.

So although I was definitely decided on ending my life on that Tuesday night, it was now Saturday afternoon and I was lazing around in my bed reading irrelevant news and half funny jokes on my phone. Then suddenly I got a call from a number I don't know – a landline? Who uses them these days? Normally only spammers use them so I instantly rejected the call, only for it to annoyingly ring again. I repeated the process few more times, but it looked like whoever was trying to scam me or sell insurance (wait, aren't they the same thing) seemed quite set on it. Ok, I will answer and tell him to fuck off.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I only have a minute, so just listen. Come meet me at the clock tower by the city park entrance in 30 minutes. Bring cash. Got it?"

"What? What is this?"

"It's me, the one that you hurt on Tuesday night at the bridge"

Oh.

"I want my compensation. Bring money. Now."

"You had to go to a hospital? How much was the fee?"

"Shut up and just bring whatever you got. Time's running out!"

"What time?"

"For the phone you stupid! I only have one coin, I can't talk any –"

Then the connection ended and the beep beep sound was all I heard.

Wait, this girl said back then she didn't have a phone. She doesn't actually have a phone? In this day and age?

In any case, if she did really have to go see a doctor, she was right that I should probably cover for her fee, as long as it's not some big operation or whatever she had to do. But how much do I bring? What is appropriate? I guess I will just take cash out from ATM.

I quickly changed from my home clothes and left the house. She said to meet her in 30 minutes but if I missed the next bus going to the city park it would take me much longer than that considering how infrequent the buses run.

It took me almost an hour till I arrived at the clock tower by the park, and I immediately spotted the girl with the same oversized black hoodies. I didn't realise before because she was laying on the ground, but she did look quite short actually, for her age – assuming we are a similar age. She wasn't facing my direction so hasn't seen me, so I just walked over and tapped on her shoulder.

"Hey"

"Gaaaaaahhh!" She let out a big squeal

"Whoa calm down. It's me"

She then turned around and saw me

"Don't surprise me like that, dumb ass! And you are sooo late!"

"Erm sorry, I missed the bus"

"Lucky you, you can even take a bus!"

What does she mean by that?

"Anyways, did you bring money?"

"Erm yeah. Did you go to a hospital? Is your back okay now?"

"My back is fine now. But I still want compensation for my suffering"

"Gees. What do you want?"

"I'm super hungry. Burgers. I want some burgers"

"What the hell? You called me to come out here to buy you some burgers?"

"Yeah, I didn't know where else I could get money from quickly. Then I thought of you and how you owed me your life"

"Look girl, I don't owe you my life, and I'm not your cash machine"

"Whatever dude, this is the least you can do for me right?"

Sigh. I guess I'll just play along. Buy her some burger set, go home and forget about her for good

"Right, let's go then"

Then we walked over to a burger franchise branch near the park. It was Saturday afternoon so it was pretty packed

"You can go find the seat. I will order and bring it for you. What do you want?"

"I want to order myself. You give me your money and go find the seat"

"No way I'm just gonna hand over my card to you"

"Oh, you have a card?"

"Yeah I didn't have much cash"

"Hm… right.."

"So?"

"Well, it's okay. Let's just wait in the queue together. I will order when we get to the counter"

"It's packed. We may not get a seat"

"Don't' worry, we will find something"

Whatever.

After some minutes we got to the counter as it became our turn

"May I take your order please?"

"Yes! One Set A, extra-large, a cheese burger, a double bacon burger, chicken nuggets, and onion rings, 12 pieces each please"

"What? Isn't that too much?", I asked her incredulously

"Don't worry I can eat it all. So what do you want for yourself?"

"Wait, that's all just for you?"

"Yeah, so you order what you want to eat"

Man, this bitch..

In the end, I just ended up getting medium chips and a drink. She asked me 'are you sure that's enough?' but I just nodded and paid. Considering I haven't had any part-time job for a while now and living off the money I've saved from long ago, I didn't want to spend so much money for one meal with a girl I will never see again (and didn't expect to see again in the first place)

We managed to find a table just in time after a couple left, and as soon as we sat down the girl started to – for lack of better description – shove the food into her mouth in frantic speed.

"Man, you must have been starving"

She didn't answer, but paused for a moment to look up, gave a big grin with her cheeks bulging out from all the food, the black hoodie still over her head, and gave me a thumbs up. For some reason, I found this expression really funny so I let out a chuckle, which I hastily stopped, but the girl didn't seem to mind and just went back to her feeding frenzy.

When our silent meal finished she finally lifted her head to sit up and pulled off the hood, revealing her very messy hair that looked like they haven't been washed for longer than I wanted to know.

With her eyes closed, she took a big gulp of her soft drink and let out a big burp

"Whoooaa, that was satisfying"

This girl really has no manners

"Right, I'm glad you enjoyed your meal. I guess we are settled then? I will get going now, please put the tray back. Bye"

I stood up and headed towards the door and got suddenly yanked back by my belt.

"Wait, We are not finished!"

"What more do you want?! You ate so much already!"

"Ice cream. Ice cream. I want ice cream. I haven't had ice cream for ages"

Then it struck me. Maybe she really was a homeless girl or at least in a very poor financial state, living off what would be minimum wages with her sparse part-time job hours. Maybe that also explains why she does not have a phone. Maybe she is so poor these things I take for granted are luxury for her. With a pang of guilt, I accepted her request and we left the burger place to look for an ice cream shop.