She was about to let it all go to an end when a voice interrupted her, “You don’t really wanna jump, do you? You don’t want to end your life.” She thought about it. For a few minutes she didn’t reply. She shook her head.
“I guess you’re right,” she said. She heard him breathe a sigh of relief.
“Okay now step back over and we can talk. Okay?”
“O-Okay I guess,” she said shakily. He could tell she was scared.
“Come on, step back over,” He urged. She just stood there, scared to move.
“I-I-I can’t. I’m too scared,” she said in a tiny voice.
“Okay, I’m gonna help you over. Take my hand,” he offered as he slowly moved toward her being careful not to make any sudden movements to startle her. She still stood there frozen. She just couldn’t take her eyes off the shallow river.
He tried looking into her grayish-blue eyes but saw the tears running down her face and knew she was truly afraid to move. He picked her up and lifted her over the side. He set her down.
“Phew!” he said. She ran up to him and hugged him. She began crying into his chest. He could feel her trembling. She cried for about 10 minutes, then he spoke up. “What’s your name sweetie?” he asked.
“Jordan,” she mumbled.
“Okay Jordan, I’m AJ. Now let’s go back to the lodge, okay?” he asked, assuming that was where she was staying. She agreed to go with him. When they got there, he took her to his room and asked, “What happened to your face?”
“Can we talk about it later?” she asked nervously.
“Okay but lets get some ice on your cheek. It’s starting to swell. Alright?” he said.
“Okay,” she said softly.
After about 20 minutes of putting ice on it she was starting to nod off. He noticed and took off the ice and checked her bruise out.
“What happened to your face?” he asked again, “It looks like a hand. Did someone hit you?” he asked getting suspicious. He had his hand under her chin so he could get a better look at her bruise and so she would look him in the eyes.
“Can we talk about it later? Please?” she asked practically begging. Tears welding up in her eyes. He could see the fear.
“Alright we’ll talk in the morning. Okay?” he said. She nodded. Then he gave her some clothes to change into, then tucked her into one of the 2 beds, and in no time, she fell asleep.
He watched her drift off into dreamland. After a while he noticed she was twitching and whimpering. He figured it was a nightmare, so he put his hand on her shoulder and she calmed down. Then he crawled into his bed.
He looked her over. She looked to be about 5’4” and she had shoulder
length medium brown hair. She didn’t look that old, maybe 14 or 15. She
was also very thin. Then he wondered, ‘What caused her to want to jump?
And why is she so nervous? Does she know who I am?’ With those thoughts
he fell asleep.
