THE STORM SCREAMED LOUDER THAN EVER, THE RIVER BELOW THRASHING LIKE A WILD BEAST, SPLASHHHHH!!! CRASHHHHH!!! WAVES SLAMMED AGAINST THE STONE SUPPORTS OF THE BRIDGE, AS IF THE WATER ITSELF WAS EAGER TO DEVOUR HIM. THE WIND HOWLED, WHOOOOOSH!!! TEARING THROUGH THE EMPTY STREETS AND WHIPPING AGAINST HIS CLOTHES LIKE INVISIBLE HANDS PUSHING HIM FORWARD.
SIYUN'S BODY TREMBLED AS HE LEANED OVER THE RAILING, HIS WEIGHT SHIFTING DANGEROUSLY CLOSER TO THE EDGE. THE METAL BENEATH HIS HANDS GROANED, CLANGGG… CREAKKK…, SLIPPERY WITH RAIN. HIS SOAKED HAIR CLUNG TO HIS BRUISED FACE, DRIPPING DOWN HIS CHEEKS, MERGING WITH TEARS HE DIDN'T EVEN FEEL ANYMORE. HIS LIPS TREMBLED, PARTING TO WHISPER A SILENT FAREWELL NO ONE WOULD EVER HEAR.
HIS EYELIDS FLUTTERED SHUT.
THUMP… THUMP… THUMP… HIS HEART POUNDED VIOLENTLY, YET EVEN THAT SOUND FELT LIKE IT WAS DRIFTING AWAY.
THIS IS IT… HE THOUGHT. IT ALL ENDS HERE.
THE WORLD SEEMED TO FADE, THE SCREAM OF THE STORM TURNING INTO A DISTANT HUM. RRRRUMMMMBLE!!! LIGHTNING SPLIT THE SKY, BUT TO HIM IT WAS NOTHING MORE THAN A BLINDING FLASH BEHIND CLOSED EYES. THE WEIGHT OF HIS EXISTENCE—THE MEMORIES, THE VOICES, THE BETRAYALS—FINALLY BEGAN TO LOOSEN THEIR GRIP ON HIS SHOULDERS. FOR A BRIEF, CRUEL MOMENT, HE FELT SOMETHING CLOSE TO RELIEF.
AND THEN—
A VOICE CUT THROUGH THE STORM. CLEAR. FIRM. RESONANT.
"IF YOU GIVE UP HERE… YOU'LL NEVER KNOW THE TRUTH."
SIYUN'S BREATH CAUGHT. HIS BODY JOLTED, HIS GRIP ON THE RAIL TIGHTENING WITH A SCREEEEECH!!! OF WET SKIN AGAINST IRON. HIS EYES SNAPPED OPEN, WIDE, HIS CHEST HEAVING AS IF HE HAD BEEN PULLED BACK FROM THE EDGE OF AN ABYSS. HIS HEART THUNDERED AGAINST HIS RIBS, BA-THUMP!!! BA-THUMP!!! BA-THUMP!!!, EACH BEAT MORE DESPERATE THAN THE LAST.
"…WHO…?" HIS VOICE CRACKED, A FRAGILE SOUND, BARELY AUDIBLE OVER THE RAGING STORM.
FROM THE OTHER END OF THE BRIDGE, THROUGH THE SHEETS OF RAIN, A FIGURE STEPPED FORWARD. HER SILHOUETTE EMERGED SLOWLY, ALMOST UNREAL, THE SOUND OF HER FOOTSTEPS TAP… TAP… TAP… STRANGELY CALM AGAINST THE WOODEN PLANKS THAT SHUDDERED UNDER THE WIND.
THE RAIN SEEMED TO BEND AROUND HER UMBRELLA, PITTER-PATTER… TSSHHHHH…, DROPLETS SLIDING OFF ITS SURFACE AS IF REPELLED BY SOME INVISIBLE FORCE. HER STEPS WERE UNHURRIED, UNTOUCHED BY THE CHAOS AROUND THEM.
SIYUN BLINKED RAPIDLY, HIS VISION BLURRED BY TEARS AND RAIN, TRYING TO FOCUS. AS SHE DREW CLOSER, HE COULD MAKE OUT MORE—HER FRAME, SLIM, HER UMBRELLA HELD WITH A STEADY HAND. THE STREETLAMP BEHIND HER CAST A DIM HALO, BUT IT LEFT HER FACE HALF-HIDDEN IN SHADOW, ADDING TO THE IMPRESSION THAT SHE DIDN'T QUITE BELONG TO THIS WORLD.
SHE FELT OUT OF PLACE. NEITHER FRIEND NOR FOE. NEITHER A COMFORTING PRESENCE NOR A THREAT.
ALMOST… ETHEREAL.
HER FOOTSTEPS STOPPED JUST A FEW FEET AWAY. THE SOUND OF THE RAIN BEATING AGAINST THE BRIDGE, DRUMMM-DRUMMM-DRUMMM!!!, FILLED THE GAP BETWEEN THEM. SHE TILTED HER UMBRELLA SLIGHTLY, ENOUGH TO REVEAL HER EYES. THEY WERE SHARP. UNWAVERING. CUTTING THROUGH THE CURTAIN OF WATER, LOCKING ONTO HIM WITH AN INTENSITY THAT MADE HIS BREATH STUTTER.
SIYUN'S CHEST TIGHTENED PAINFULLY. HE DIDN'T RECOGNIZE HER. HE KNEW NO SUCH FACE. AND YET—SOMETHING IN HER GAZE FELT FAMILIAR, PIERCING STRAIGHT THROUGH THE WALLS HE HAD BUILT, REACHING INTO THE VERY CORE OF HIS DESPAIR.
"YOU…" HIS VOICE TREMBLED. HIS HANDS SHOOK AGAINST THE RAILING. "WHY… ARE YOU HERE?"
THE GIRL'S LIPS CURVED EVER SO SLIGHTLY. IT WASN'T A SMILE. IT WASN'T MOCKERY. IT WAS SOMETHING ELSE—UNREADABLE. A MIX OF PITY, KNOWLEDGE, AND AN ODD KIND OF CERTAINTY THAT MADE HER PRESENCE EVEN MORE UNSETTLING.
WHEN SHE SPOKE, HER VOICE CARRIED CLEARLY, RESONATING OVER THE HOWL OF THE WIND, WHOOOOOOOSH!!!, AND THE CRASH OF THUNDER, KRA-KOOOOOMMM!!!
"YOU DON'T KNOW IT YET… BUT YOUR STORY ISN'T SUPPOSED TO END HERE."
THE WORDS HIT HIM LIKE A BLOW TO THE CHEST. HE STARED, HIS TEARS FLOWING FREELY NOW, BUT MASKED BY THE RELENTLESS RAIN. HIS THROAT LOCKED, HIS BODY TREMBLING, CAUGHT BETWEEN THE DESIRE TO LET GO AND THE SUDDEN, INEXPLICABLE FORCE THAT HELD HIM IN PLACE.
"MY STORY…" HE MURMURED, THE WORDS BREAKING, FALLING APART AS SOON AS THEY LEFT HIS LIPS. "WHAT STORY? IT'S OVER… EVERYTHING IS OVER…"
HIS VOICE VANISHED INSTANTLY, SWALLOWED BY THE STORM. SSHHHHHHHH!!! THE RIVER BELOW RAGED LOUDER, AS IF MOCKING HIS WORDS, AS IF DEMANDING HIS BODY TO FALL INTO ITS DEPTHS.
BUT STILL—HE COULDN'T LOOK AWAY FROM HER.
HIS HEART RACED FASTER, THUDD!!! THUDD!!! THUDD!!!, HIS KNEES WEAK, HIS BREATH A CHAOTIC STORM OF ITS OWN. HE WANTED TO COLLAPSE, TO SCREAM, TO DEMAND ANSWERS, YET ALL HE COULD DO WAS STAND THERE, FROZEN, HELD UP ONLY BY THE DESPERATE CLENCH OF HIS HANDS AGAINST THE RAIL.
THE GIRL DIDN'T MOVE. DIDN'T BLINK. SHE JUST STOOD UNDER HER UMBRELLA, EYES LOCKED ON HIM, AS IF SHE ALREADY KNEW THE WAR INSIDE HIS CHEST.
THE RAIN SLAMMED DOWN. THE WIND HOWLED. THE RIVER SHRIEKED.
AND UNDER THAT LONELY STREETLAMP, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BRIDGE, SIYUN AND THE MYSTERIOUS GIRL FACED EACH OTHER—HIS EYES DROWNED IN CONFUSION, PAIN, AND DESPAIR, HERS AN UNWAVERING MIRROR OF CERTAINTY.
TIME ITSELF SEEMED TO HOLD ITS BREATH.
NOTHING EXISTED BUT THIS MOMENT.
AND THE QUESTION—UNSPOKEN, YET THUNDERING IN HIS BONES—WAS SIMPLE:
WAS HE ABOUT TO END HIS STORY… OR WAS THIS THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY?