Twisted Manhattan

It was a chilly night in Manhattan. A sad girl walked the snowy streets, feeling snowflakes fall against her smooth, tan skin. She had been walking around for almost half an hour, wearing just a plain, old, thin, white dress in the middle of december. In her arms, she held a small shih tzu puppy. She loved that puppy so she knew that she was doing him a favor. She paused. Right in front of her, was a woman standing under a postlight, wearing a thick, red, coat. She wore a matching red hat on her head. The woman turned around, her thick raven hair flying behind her gracefully, as a big smile formed on her glowing face. She waved to the girl, who came running over to her, holding the precious puppy securely in her arms. The woman smiled. “Hi. I’m Jeanette. Wow he’s such a sweetie!” the woman said, sticking a finger out towards the puppy, allowing him to lick it. The girl felt a tear slowly roll down her cheek, as she handed her puppy to the woman. The puppy looked at the girl, whining and crying. The thought of someone else cuddling, holding, and playing with her puppy pained her bleeding heart even more. She sighed. “You take care of my little rascal.” she said, petting the dog and placing a kiss on the tip of his nose for the last time, before she stiffly turned away from him. Her bottom lip quivered at the sound of her puppy whining and barking loudly. She hugged herself and sped up her movements, until she can no longer hear the dog’s cries.

Now, the girl found herself standing on the edge of a bridge, where she had imagined herself so many times before. This wasn’t the first time she stood there. Actually, she had been there many times and stared down at the deep waters. All she wanted was to sling herself back and fall. However, many times she tried and many times she had failed. “Hey. I’m Jeremiah.” a deep voice said. She turned to her left to face a handsome young man, about her age, hanging onto the parapet. He stared at her with the same sad glint in his eyes. “I saw you here yesterday too.” he says in greeting, as if they weren’t standing at the edge of a bridge, looking down at the winter-dark waters below. The girl only smiled back at him and nodded. “So, what’s keeping you?” he asked. “Nothing.” Upon her reply, he furrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw. “Then, what are you waiting for?” He was right. What was she waiting for? The other nights that she stood at the edge of this bridge, she was afraid, like something was pulling her shirt, preventing her from taking what she desired so badly in this world—to finally rest. However, this night was different. She felt calm. She looked up at the starry night sky and closed her eyes, taking in the cold, winter breeze. Her hair fell from her face as the wind swept by her. The boy only looked at her in awe. Right at this moment, she was beautiful to him. He smiled and she looked back at him, returning the gesture. They kept their mouths shut, silently taking in each other’s presence and for once, everything felt alright. All of the chaos in their lives started to fall back into place, with one thought running through their heads. Finally, I’m not alone anymore. The boy touched her face, as he let go of the parapet. She watched him fall into the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean, with a smile on his face. The beautiful image stuck to her brain like super glue and with nothing left to hold her back, she too allowed herself to fall back, feeling the nice breeze on her skin. The last thought she had was how light her body felt, as she fell.