All In The Bright Place

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It was on a Wednesday morning, I had my earpiece and phone attached to my arm, as I jogged down the street of Fairfield. Every morning, I raced down slowly to keep my mind active. But this morning something strange happened.

There I was jogging down the street, as I noticed something usual. A pretty young lady in her early twenties standing at the top edge of the bridge, as she looked down the bridge stirring at the water down the bridge and its depth. She thought of jumping off the bridge to commit suicide. I couldn't let that happen, so I slowly walked towards her without her noticing.

"What are you doing?" I said to her, In shock, she turned towards me, as she froze at the sight of another presence.

"Jedi Markey…" I said as I drew closer to her, to create a calm conversation that will change her mind.

"Oh, My God." She replied in a pale tone.
Then she said, "Please God…"

"Well, I don't think that's going too…"

"Just God!" She interrupted.

I couldn't leave her there alone, so I climbed up to her position and stood next to her. She was surprised at my action.

"What are you doing?" She asked in shock.

"Well, I asked you first." I smiled at her and at the looks of how high the bridge was. It was terrifying.

"This is higher than I thought," I said.

"Stop that! Stop…" she shouted at me.

"Hey, Jexi." I stretched out my right hand towards her, as she kept staring at it, then she slowly accepted it. She handled my hand firmly as we both stepped down from the bridge edge. And that day was when our love story began.

In the bright place.

At school, Jexi was known as the party fun girl to be with. Her elder was her happiness, her best friend, and her trusted partner in crime. But after the death of her in a plane crash, everything changed.

She was no longer the Jexi we know, the fun and cool side of her just faded, leaving her with dark clouds and fear of the unknown. She no longer associated with her friends and tried everything in her power to avoid any assignments and grouped projects. She preferred to work alone or call her mom to cancel the school project, since she was among the stakeholders in the school, and that made things easy for him.

As for me, everyone called me a freak, because I don't do things the way others do them. I don't follow the rules and that scares everyone. But having them call me a freak and weirdo creates a dark hole in my soul. I've been suspended from school for three weeks and sent to see a therapist. Sometimes therapy does work. But for me to clear my head and wild thoughts. I Isolate myself from my mother, sisters, and my three friends to where they can't find me. My quiet zone

As time goes on. Jaci started to lose up, coming back to her fun self, because I was there bugging her. I never let her out of my sight. Soon, she started having feelings for me and I wanted her to express it. Although she kept ignoring her feelings. But not for long.

On Wednesday afternoon during class, the lecturer created a project and asked to join a partner to research the history of native Americans. Immediately, I picked her. Although she tried to resist, later accepted to work with me. The project was going well, as we explored places that no one has ever seen in native America.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked Jaci.

"Pennsylvania," she replied

"Why? But you've been there."

"Yes. It's warm and peaceful." She replied

"Okay, won't you ask me, where would I go if I could go anywhere?"

"Where would you go if you could go anywhere?" She asked with a quiet tone.

"I do go to a place no one's ever been before. Untouchable. Undiscovered. You could come… if you want."

My time with her was beautiful, as we visited places we have never been before. And for that, we left something special behind to serve as a memory and that we visited there. I created a new life for her. A life she would be glad she never had lost. But it didn't last long. She started listening to what other people said about me, she thinks I am a freak. She thinks I'm a weirdo. Still, I love her. I wanted her to know that sooner or later, she has to go back to the world all by herself without me.

I got angry with her when she asked me a question that hurts my heart. "Why do they call you a freak?"

I couldn't bear it, so I walked out and was absent from school for a month. She phoned but couldn't reach me. I was in my quiet zone. And when I decided to come back to school. She was angry and wanted to know why I wasn't absent. But in that angry face, I looked into her eyes and found love. True love.

"Tell me where do you go when you're angry? Show me the place." She requested as she drew closer to me. Closer to my lips. So I decided to take her to my quiet place. A place of peace and reflection. Now, I want to share this with her. We rode our bikes 160 miles away. Yeah! What a distance. And each stop we made, we shared something unique, special, and that I can't be erased.

We laughed, we cried and we made love to each other. It was magical. But I fucked up. I brought her home late and it made her parents angry, causing them to call me a weirdo. So I left with shame and ended it all. I don't know, I feel like I keep messing things up and am not sure how not to do that. Sometimes I go blank. I get to this dark mode, I think too fast to keep track of things, but now I can't slow it down. It's not about her, but my dark thoughts. So I am ending it now. Leaving a note to her, that I am so sorry for doing this.

It took a long time for them to find my body. Watching her blaming herself for my death hurts me badly. But I just had to go. And on the day of the project presentation, she said the most beautiful things I have ever heard.

"I used to be worried about everything. Things that seemed beautiful were actually meaningless. I worried about life. I worried about what will happen if I fall in love again. I worried that I'll get burned. I thought I didn't deserve to. But then I changed. I wasn't worried about what would happen if I lived.

I was worried about not remembering. Not remembering those beautiful moments, all the places and because of Sam. He taught me how to wander. How to love. He taught me you don't have to climb mountains before you can stand tall and face the world. That even the ugly places could look beautiful if only you look.

But still, I'm all of that, I miss seeing Sam. I missed that he was in pain. He was a dreamer and he dreamt while he was awake because there is beauty in unexpected places. And there are bright places even in dark times and if there's none you can be a bright place with infinite potential." This was what she said, as I stood there invincible with tears rolling out from my eyes. She couldn't see me, but she felt my presence. Goodbye Jexi Markey. I love you.

_{The End.
Thanks for the story.}