"Remember me. Please never forget all we did. Even though we're far apart, please, remember me. Because if you forget, I might forget myself."
~*~
It was late as Cassie made her way home. It was a dark and foggy night and the mighty Mississippi was heavy with fog and churning with foam below her. Cassie took the back roads to avoid traffic. Her infant son slumbered peacefully in the back seat. Cassie was tired and worn out from the events of the day and almost didn't see the figure standing on the bridge. Cassie slammed on her brakes and jumped out of the car and on to the otherwise deserted bridge.
"Hey!" Cassie cried. The figure, now obviously a woman, turned her head and saw Cassie, then quickly turned away, looking at the rushing Mississippi below her.
"Look," Cassie began, breathless from fear. "You don't have to do this. I don't know what kind of pain you're going through, but I can guarantee that suicide is not worth it." Cassie couldn’t let someone kill themselves…again.
"How could you know, Cassie?" the woman said. She obviously knew Cassie, but Cassie didn't know her.
“I knew a girl… at my high school who drowned herself,” Cassie said hesitantly, conjuring up painful memories. “It messed us all up pretty bad, but especially her twin sister Sara. I guess Sara thought we all hated Kara and she hated us for it. She blamed us for driving Kara to kill herself and then moved away.” Cassie felt the tears forming in her eyes. “We all loved Kara, we just didn’t know how to show it,” Cassie began to cry. “I don’t know what I did wrong!”
“Maybe it was that nasty rumor you started,” the woman said nastily.
“Who are you?” Cassie asked.
“You know who I am,” Cassie didn’t say a thing, and the woman continued. “You lead her on, had her believing that John loved her and then smashed her heart!”
“Look, I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cassie stepped back. She wanted to be home, safe with her husband and her baby boy.
The woman got a crazed look in her eyes. “You can’t stop me from making the same decision my sister did!” she screamed.
“Sara?” Cassie said, finally recognizing her. “Oh my God, you look so different. I didn’t recognize you!”
“I knew you at once. Goodbye.” Sara moved to the edge, and Cassie rushed forward and grabbed her.
“Don’t do anything you’ll regret!” Cassie yelled.
“I won’t,” Sara struggled out of Cassie’s grasp and Cassie caught her by the shoulder.
“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t regret doing to Kara what I did. I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. Please don’t do this, Sara. I’m sorry. I can’t even say how sorry I am. Please,” Cassie pleaded. “Use some common sense.”
“I am,” Sara said calmly. “I’m going to see Kara.
Cassie admitted defeat and slowly released Sara. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I’m so, so, sorry. I just want you to know that.” Cassie felt like she was drowning in tears.
“Let me go. Make it right,” Sara said. Cassie moved back a step and Sara nobly stood on top of one the bridge’s pilings. Without a word, Sara gracefully stepped off and dropped toward the murky water below. Cassie made herself watch. She had done this to Sara, and she knew it.
A few minutes later, her tears gone and her heart as heavy as the fog in the air, Cassie crawled back into her car as it began to rain. Her son slumbered peacefully, listening to the rhythmic lullaby of the rain on the car’s roof.
She made it home, and laid her son in his crib, watching him sleep. She wondered how she would feel if someone said something that lead him to jump off a bridge, lead him to take his own life.
She went to her bedroom where her husband was waiting for her.
“What’s wrong, honey?”
“John, I have something to tell you…”