The next morning we found each other again on the bridge before school. We walked together and joked around more. In our first Spanish class together we passed notes back and forth. Making bad drawings and witty remarks to one another all class. We sat together in lunch and I made a point not to sneak up on her this time. I walked to her table intentionally in her line of sight waving my hands saying

“Here I am! No spooks this time! I’m going to sit at your table now.” I said as I sat down.

She smiled, shook her head and called me an asshole. We spent lunch helping each other with our Spanish work. When school ended we talked on the bridge again till the sun went down. I walked her to her street again and we had a similar goodbye like last time. Funny jokes and lines with horrible accents, but we parted ways happy. This became our routine every single day. We even decided to meet on the bridge during the weekend too. That wasn’t the only routine I noticed though. Every time I would ask her about her family or hint at taking her up to her house she would look at the ground and deflect it, switch the conversation to something else using her wonderful sarcastic and witty skills. I always found this weird but I didn’t want to pry, I had my fair share of secrets too. After about two weeks of this, when we were saying goodbye at the top of her street I grabbed her hand and kissed it.

“Have a good night your majesty.” I said as I looked up at her and let her hand go.

She seemed shocked and just said “You too.”

I headed home with her shocked blushed face imprinted in my mind.That was added to our routine and became a normal thing over time.

One day I let my curiosity take the better of me. After we said our usual goodbye and I rounded the street corner I waited about a minute and went back to follow her. There was only one question in my head and it was why she didn’t want me to know what house she lived in. I couldn’t help myself-I wanted to know the answer and I knew she wouldn’t tell me. I followed her till she entered this scary house that looked as if it hadn’t had any maintenance since it was built. To my surprise it was only a few houses from the corner that we gave our goodbyes. The yard caught my eye over the bizarre house. It was beautiful and seemed like a separate world from the house. It was well kept and by far one of the greenest grasses I have seen. Flowers of all colors and beauty surrounded the house like a mismatched flower garden. The fact that I never noticed it all this time dumbfounded me. I stared around the yard in amazement as she entered the house. That was going to be the end of it. I had a partial answer to my question and that was good enough for me. I planned tell her about this the next day and ask if she didn’t want me to see her house just because she had a house straight out of a scary movie, or if she didn’t want me to know her family had a green thumb. But before I could leave I heard yelling that sounded like thunder from inside of the ominous house. Something didn’t feel right in my stomach as I heard the thunderous roar continue. I gave into my undying curiosity and snuck up to a window on the side of the house. As I peered through hoping not to be caught I saw Emma laying on the ground and a man towering above her. His left hand clenched into a fist and his right hand pointing sternly at her as he roared.

“You better wipe that fucking smile off your face! From now on your ass will be home right after school!” the man snarled. His voice became muffled as I ran from the window to the front door, completely at the mercy of my legs. I reached for the door knob but my brain stopped me right before I could grip the knob.

I wasn’t even supposed to be here in the first place.

What was I going to do anyway?

The man was much larger than me and breaking into his house isn’t a good look either. I noticed how badly my hand was shaking and how I could hardly stay in my shoes. I panicked and just ran home. I couldn’t sleep the rest of the night. I decided not to bring it up until sometime had passed. One day she didn’t seem the same at the bridge in the morning. By now I was comfortable with looking at her eyes and reading them and I could see something was off. She still made jokes and goofed around but her eyes were trying to tell me something.

In lunch she finally broke down and her eyes filled with tears during our small talk. I asked if she was alright and she told me she was, and that she had a gift for me too. She took off her necklace made from energy drink caps and gave it to me. I tried to refuse it but she insisted. I put it on and smiled at her. She smiled back and wiped the tears from her eyes. She told me she was tired so I let her rest her head on my shoulder for the rest of our lunch. Near the end of lunch she was called down to the office over the loud speaker for early dismissal. That’s when she got up and took off running. She left her bag and just ran outside from the lunch room and headed towards home. Before she ran I saw her eyes flash terror again, so I took off running after her, calling her name. The security guard in the lunch room ran after us and radioed the office. We came to the bridge and she climbed on the rail. My heart sank. This couldn’t be real. I couldn’t figure out what was happening; Why she was doing this. I yelled for her to stop. She turned to look at me still standing on the rail. She started crying and telling me her father saw me kiss her hand and how strict he was. She told me he was abusive and that it went over the top when he saw that. She just couldn’t take it anymore.

I told her to take my hand.

We could run away from it all. I told her this wasn’t the only option. She started to reach for my hand when a car pulled up with school security and her parents. That’s when she said she was sorry and let herself fall backwards off the bridge. I tried to follow her. I climbed on the rail and was going to jump after her, knowing full well there was nothing I could do. But I was pulled off the rail by security.

Cherish your life and those close to you; because sometimes, it just ends.