Adriana looked at the list carved into the rail. It was a list starting with Jimmy Crook in 1947. A list of people that had come to that spot to jump and die. There were 27 people on the list. She was about to add her name to that list with the year, but she stopped herself for a minute. Was it worth it?

Was it really worth it? That was the question. Her parents fighting, her little sister doing drugs...drugs! She was only twelve! Suicide, for some people, is the only way out. For the rest, it's the cowards way out. Was it really worth it?

Of course it is, Adriana thought. She could feel the early morning dew settling heavy on her shoulders. The sunrise was coming soon. If she was going to do it, she was going to have to do it now. She took out her father's pocket knife, and hurridly carved Adriana Meggars 2001 into the rail, and she took the first step. She made it over the rail, and was sitting on it, looking into the water. It had rained a lot lately, so the water was a bit higher, and the current swifter than usual. She looked down, and she thought of everyone. Her friends at graduation next month, her little cousins sleeping under her care every other Saturday night. She breathed deeply. It's not worth it, she thought. She tried to turn around to get off, but slipped, and barely caught on the rail. She looked down. If she let go, would she be able to swim for shore? "Help me!" she yelled. "Please someone help me!"

She knew that no one would be there on the bridge at that time of morning except her, but she had to try.

Josh, at the opposite end of the bridge, leaned on the rail. The chilly early morning air wrapped around him in a cold, tight blanket and he pulled his windbreaker tighter around him. He was tired. He was tired a lot these days, but that was nothing new. And he seemed to have a cold that he couldn't shake, no matter how much Orange Juice he drank or how many Vitamin C tablets he took.

"Help me! Please someone help!" he heard someone yell. It sounded like it was coming from the other end of the bridge. Then a scream that chilled his blood like no other sounded, and he got up and sprinted to the other end of the bridge, a couple more times hearing, "Help!" from the voice. He was getting closer to the screamer, and he finally reached the end of the bridge. She--at least he thought it was a she--screamed again. "Where are you?" he yelled out, hoping to locate them.

Ariana couldn't believe her luck. She lifted a couple fingers, hoping that it would be enough for her rescuer to see. "I'm over here," she yelled. She felt the vibration in the bridge as her rescuer ran over to where she was. She looked up, almost afraid that it would cause her to lose her grip on the rail.

He looked over at her. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Ariana," she said. She could feel herself slipping slightly.

"Ariana, I'm going to help you," he said. "Give me your hand."

She swallowed. She tried to give her rescuer one of her hands, but when she tried, her other hand slipped and she could feel herself dropping. She screamed, and hit the water. Her mouth filled with water, and her scream was silenced and replaced with coughing and sputtering as she accidentally inhaled the river water. Finally, she broke to the surface, and she screamed. She was going down the river, and there was nothing to stop her. She was crying with the thought of not surviving after she had changed her mind. But when a bend came in the river, a fallen log was suspended about a foot off the river surface, and her rescuer stuck his hand down to grab her. Before she went under again, she shot a hand up like an eager student in an honors class. She felt the contact of a warm, human hand, and that hand pulling her out of the water.

She could hear her rescuer groan momentarily from pulling the weight of another human. As soon as she was far enough out of the water, she helped by partly pulling herself out of the water and onto the log. She was dripping wet, her teeth chattering, and coughing up river water left and right. Her rescuer helped her slide off the log and onto the damp bank of the river, and back onto the path leading from the woods to the bridge. He put his jacket around her shoulders, but she was chattering too much to say more than, "Th-th-th-thank-k y-y-y-you."

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Y-y-y-y-y-yeah," she said. "Th-th-thank you f-f-for s-s-saving m-m-me."

"No problem," he said. "Besides, I heard you, and if I hadn't at least tried to find you, it would have been on my conscience," he smiled. He had wonderfully cobalt blue eyes, Adriana noted. He looked at her for a moment more, and asked, "What were you doing on the bridge this time of morning?" he asked.

"Wh-wh-what w-were you d-d-d-doing-g h-here?" she countered. She was grateful to him for saving her, as she should be, but she didn't want to go into her personal life.

He smiled, somewhat mysteriously. "Maybe, when you grind down what's on the outside, we were here for the same reason."

That baffled her beyond all reason. "I sh-should get home," she said.

She took the jacket off her shoulders, and held it out to him. "Nah, you keep it," he said. "I think you might need it a little more than I will on a morning like this," he said. "Good bye," he said, and turned around to walk away.

"W-wait," she yelled after him. "What's your name?" she asked.

He stopped, and turned around to face her. "Just call me Josh," he answered, and walked away into the rising sun.