Aislyn got out of her car and for a moment stared out at the cliff she had seen so many times in her mind the last few days. She could hear the soft sound of the waves, smell the ocean far below, and the sky was in the full bloom of a sunset. As she scanned the horizon of her carefully designed ending she noticed one small flaw in her plan – she could see the silhouette of a person standing at the edge of the cliff.

She walked towards the edge, stopping when she was a few feet from him. “Excuse me, Sir, but I have plans to die tonight.” She paused for a moment, awaiting some sort of a reaction, but the person (who she was now able to determine was a man) barely stirred. “And you are directly in my way, and I bet you’re going to say it’s not right.” It was the most straightforward explanation she could ever recall herself giving, especially without it even being asked for. Her heart started beating faster as she watched him turn his head and look at her.

He was only a little taller than herself; his hair was short, brown and messy. His eyes were dark and innocent. His body was that of a young man, but his eyes were those of a young boy just gone through a terrible disappointment, but whose hopes still belong to the promise of a fairytale ending. “Excuse me, Miss, but do you have the slightest clue exactly what you just said to me, and exactly who you’re talking to?” His voice was soft with a hint of understanding and absolutely no judgment.

Aislyn had no idea why he said what he said - how would she know him? She had never seen him before in her life. Even paired with his confusing manner of speaking, his affability made it difficult for her to be angry at him, but Aislyn couldn’t find it in herself to give up her most perfect ending. “I don’t care, you don’t even know me.” She spat it, afterward almost feeling badly for how harsh her voice sounded, but she found solace in the fact that in a few minutes any hint of guilt would disappear on the rocks below.

“I know, but I’d like to change that soon, hopefully.” She was slightly startled and further confused by the remark, but she was determined to continue with her big finish. Whether to continue with her plan or simply to spite him, she didn’t know, but she walked towards the edge, staring out at the water and sky when she got there. He continued, staring out at the sea with reverence, “We all flirt with the tiniest notion of self conclusion in one simplified motion.” At this, the boy paused then looked over at her, “You see the trick is that you’re never supposed to act on it, no matter how unbearable this misery gets.” His hair was just long enough to be tousled by the wind, and there was the slight gloss of tears to his eyes.

Aislyn could feel him still looking at her, but she didn’t dare glance in that direction. There was power in his soothing words; she could feel her face getting hot and her eyes beginning to fill with tears. “You make it sound so easy to be alive,” she told him before looking downward at the rocks below, “but tell me, how am I supposed to seize this day,” she said, taking a moment to banish the tears from her eyes. As her vision cleared, she took a deep breathing before looking over at him and finishing her statement with determination, “When everything inside of me has died?” For the first time in a long time, she felt as though she could cry, but she wouldn’t allow herself such a pleasure.

“Trust me, girl, I know your legs are pleading to leap,” the boy told her. His soft voice sounded full of compassion, a sound she had only ever heard from a few people in her life. “But I offer you this easy choice: instead of dying, living with me.”

Aislyn started, what could he possibly be thinking? He was a little too cavalier for her tastes at present, she just wanted to end things and have it left at that. Why should she allow him to introduce one last drama into her life? “Are you crazy? You don’t even know me.”

He looked down then back over at her and again replied, “I know, but I’d like to change that soon, hopefully.” He began walking towards her, stopping when he was only about a foot away, and looking deep into her eyes with an expression of earnest sincerity. “I would be lying if I said that things would never get rough, and all this cliché motivation, it could never be enough.” He sounded as though he spoke from experience, but Aislyn doubted the thought. How could he have ever experienced how she was feeling if he was so optimistic as to how this wasn’t the answer? “I could stand here all night trying to convince you, but what good would that do? My offer stands, and you must choose.”

Aislyn looked out at the horizon one last time, more and more confused by the boy’s behavior. What did he mean by making her such an offer? And as set in her ways as she had been when she walked to the edge of that cliff, his compassion had stirred her heart, and she found herself turning to face him with an answer and a chance. “Alright, you win, but I only give you one night to prove yourself to be better than my attempt at flight.” At this point she could feel a hot tear running down her cheek, and her words became louder and more emotional, “I swear to God if you hurt me I will leap, I will toss myself from these very cliffs and you’ll never see it coming,” she said, motioning out to the site of her said demise.

He smiled a little, wiping the tear from her face, “Settle, precious, I know what you’re going through. Just ten minutes before you got here, I was going to jump too.” He motioned out to the cliff and sunset as if to emphasize his plans previous to her arrival. She watched him with a sort of undiscovered adoration, then noticed deep scars in the wrist of the hand he was pointing with. Another tear made its way down her face as she took his hand and ran her fingers over and over the scar. He simply smiled again, a small sort of smile, and hugged her. Aislyn couldn’t remember the last time that she had felt safe, comforted, and as though she were in the very place where she belonged, all at the same time.