Leap Of Faith

Two

“I don’t want to startle you but……..”

Shit. The woman gripped the railings tighter, the voice cutting through the breeze and making her jump slightly. She regained her balance quickly, the cold metal feeling like it was burning her hands, she was gripping it so tightly.

Brilliant.

She was no longer alone. That was definitely going to make this harder than it already was.

Maybe if she ignored him, he’d just get bored and go away? Or maybe if she asked him politely he’d leave? People didn’t want to involve themselves with this right? Like, who really wanted to watch a 29 year old girl plunge to their death?

Although given what she’d read on the internet, there were a fair few sickos out there who would have.

Ugh.

She knew she should have gone for the pills instead. Or the razor. But that would have meant checking back into a hotel room and she’d be discovered pretty quickly. That was something she didn’t want. The river below looked fairly fast moving, and her hope was that she’d be swept away and that it would take a few days for her body to be recovered and matched up with the suitcase she was leaving behind.

She should have waited until later in the evening. It had seemed quiet, and she’d been stood here for the last two hours and he was only the second person that had come this way. The first had barely given her a glance, despite the crying. But then again, she had been on the other side of the railings at that point.

Oh why was this so hard?

“Um….. My name’s Spencer Reid. Listen…. Is there someone I can call? Someone who you need to talk to? You don’t have to do this.”

She glanced over to where the voice was coming from, seeing a tall gangly man with messy hair, a dirty brown colour. He was wrapped in a dark coat, an aubergine coloured scarf around his neck, the ends blowing in the wind. Looking back to the water she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She started to lean forward again slightly, the way she had been for the last twenty minutes. Hearing a rush she looked back up. The man had suddenly bolted towards her and was now only a few feet away.

“Don’t come any closer. Please,” she managed to choke out, sure that the wind would swallow her words whole.

“I won’t…. I promise. Just… Let’s talk okay. What’s your name? I’m Spencer,” he held his hands up in a gesture of surrender, as if to prove that he wasn’t going to move. His hair was longer than the average males and she could see him fighting to keep it out of his face, the same way she was.

“I don’t want to talk. Just…. Leave me alone. Please!”

“I can’t do that now…. I’m sorry but I’m here now. I can’t walk away. I’m involved.”

“You’re not involved at all. Just leave. Please. Pretend you were never here."

Spencer rubbed his hands together, blowing on them to keep them warm. It was freezing out tonight. She could barely feel her fingers now and her legs and feet were starting to feel numb too, the wind whipping through the thin material of her tights.

“I can’t pretend. I am here. And I’m not going to leave. Please just come over the railing. We can talk. We don’t have to go anywhere away from here. We don’t have to even talk about what ever it is that’s made you feel that jumping is the only way out….. We can talk about…. books or films, or colours. Or where you’re from. You’re British right?”