SAY DON'T GO || A Taylor Swift Story

05.

A/N: heavy chapter alert. Trigger warning for description of attempted suicide. Please don't read if this makes you uncomfortable. I love all of you so much, I'm proud of you for making it to today, and you deserve to be here. It will get better ♡︎

~T~

09.25.23

"That was fun," Travis said, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between us as we drove through the streets of the city. The party had gone well into the night, and now, it was about two in the morning as Travis was driving me back to my apartment.

"It was," I agreed. "Even if I don't get to see your so-called dance skills until you come to a show."

Travis grinned. "Everything good is worth the wait."

"If that helps you sleep at night," I remarked, staring out the window and taking in the city at night. I hadn't been in Kansas City long enough to explore every bit of the city, and the new scenery of the city gave it a sort of magical feel, especially so late at night, when the streets were no longer crowded with traffic.

We started across a smaller road with an overlook of the river, stopping at the crossing before the bridge for a red light. In the distance, I could make out a figure standing by the edge of the bridge, and as the car passed, I recognized it to be a young blonde girl, who was probably somewhere in her teenage years.

"Travis," I said to my boyfriend. "Pull the car onto a side street and stop."

"Why?" Travis asked. "Did you lose something on the street?"

I shook my head. "Did you see that girl on the bridge?"

Travis shook his head but tilted his head to look in the mirrors on the car so he could see what I was talking about. I could tell when he had seen her, because his entire facial expression shifted. "Holy fuck."

"Yeah." I nodded, a heaviness filling the air between us. "We've got to do something. What are the chances someone else will see and do something?"

Travis nodded solemnly, pulling onto the first side street he could find and parking the car against the curb. Wordlessly, we got out of the car and began walking at a brisk pace back towards the bridge.

"Here," Travis said, shrugging off his jacket and wrapping it over my shoulders. "I don't know how long we're gonna be out here, but I don't want you to get cold."

I smiled, reaching for his hand. "Thanks, Trav."

We hurried over to the bridge where the blonde girl was standing far too close to the edge for any reason other than the worst. Travis squeezed my hand and nodded for me to go forward, his silent way of telling me that he would hang back. I understood why he was doing it almost instantly; if I was a teenage girl at that dark of a point in her life, I would be even more terrified to be approached by a man in the middle of the night.

I prayed that I wouldn't startle her as I approached her, still maintaining some distance to make her hopefully feel more comfortable. "Hey," I said gently, just loud enough for her to be able to make out my voice over the sound of the rushing water.

The girl turned around, her hand gripping tightly onto one of the poles of the bridge. As soon as I saw her face, I felt my stomach twist into knots. "Vallie?"