Brink

Frankie was so afraid to approach her or even speak, nervous any motion she made would be the one to make the girl tip over. But as everyone around her was wailing, it seemed almost helpless. With each passing second, her sister’s death seemed to become more and more of a certainty.

“K-Katie…”

When she finally did speak, it all finally hit her. Her eyes were instantly stained red as her sobbing inhales filled the putrid, stagnant air. Meanwhile, Katie just waved her arms as if she was on a swingset.

“I’m… going to die anyway, right? Might as well… get over with it.”

Frankie wanted to collapse, but it felt like even the shockwaves from her knees hitting the ground would be the push that killed her sister. She mumbled and cried her way through a faulty appeal.

“K-Katie… No, come on… it’s not that t-time… you can be okay… we can go home- Katie, come home… come on, Katie…”

Katie refused to turn around and look at her. She just shook her head.

Frankie seized hold of her writhing emotions, grappling with them like a raging serpent. Swallowing her despair, she tried to speak coherently-

“I-I know, Katie. I know what’s going on. It feels terrible, I- I feel it too. I’ve felt it before, and I feel it now. Why, I- could just climb up there with you, right now.”

“Why don’t you…?”

Katie’s speech was oddly coherent, hard as it was to hear under the crowd.

“B-because… because…”

Frankie couldn’t think up any rational answer, so she just took the time to wipe her eyes. People were calling for staff now, but no one was coming.

“Frankie. You’re dead too… you know? You already are.”

Frankie shook her head, gulping down saliva.

“That’s wrong. I can go on a little bit longer. And see Cheryl. And see you. And see everybody else.”

Katie held her hands together, breathing in the wind through her skin.

“What would we do, if you had it your way?”

The little sister breathed the toxic atmosphere and cried out her final answer.

“We’d go home… and pretend things were okay. Pretend that- we’re gonna be fine, until… until things really do run out. Then… then we’re happy, because we don’t even know. We don’t even know we’re dying.”

“…Do you think that’s possible?”

Frankie nodded her head before realizing the girl couldn’t see her.

“I do.”

Katie jumped

back onto the bridge.

“Promise?”

Frankie burst into tears, violently grabbing her sister in a desperate embrace. Wailing as employees finally made their way through the crowd to see what was going on, she ignored their questions as she carried her sister towards the direction of home, crying all the way.

Katie looked back at the park, smiling in silence. Everything was going to be okay…

But a part of her was still just a little unsatisfied.