Fearless?

Fearless? - Chapter Twenty-Five

‘Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free,’ 

- Jim Morrison

Chapter Twenty-Five

Azelie took a deep breath in as she looked from where she stood and out to the bay, the view reminding her of how beautiful everything looked from the other side of the rails - the wrong side of the rails. The group had been lucky as it was a clear, sunny day - perfect for visiting the Golden Gate bridge. 

Her eyes scanned across the landscape in front of her, on one side, there was a water, and then land, with the city to the right - the buildings of downtown San Francisco standing tall, and on the other, there was the Pacific Ocean, stretching far into the distance. It didn’t even matter to Azelie that the bridge was busy with cars, the view was too beautiful to care about the traffic. She began to think about everyone who had jumped from the bridge, not just attempted but actually done it. Only a tiny percentage of jumpers ever survived the fall or the freezing cold water below the bridge, perhaps that was why it had the highest suicide rate of any location in the world. The promise of the final embrace of death drew people in, pulled them over the edge, and well, you know what happens next.

“What is it with you and bridges?” A voice questioned, from her left. Azelie turned, to find Cole looking out from the bridge, before looking back at Azelie, his green eyes full of question.

“What do you mean?” she asked, not really understanding his question. 

“You get all weird and quiet on them! You’ve hardly said three words since we got here! I don’t know if I should be getting ready to jump in after you,” He clarified, looking away from her and instead leaned over the rails slightly, looking down at the blue ocean below them. She let out a short burst of laughter. 

“Jumping in after me would be suicide,” 

“And you jumping in the first place isn’t suicide?” He retorted, a slight smile appearing on his lips. Azelie didn’t understand how he could talk about this. After everything with his mother, she would have thought that he would have avoided the subject of suicide at all costs - no matter how they first properly met. Azelie just smiled softly over at him as she changed the subject.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it,” she commented, looking out around the bay. She couldn’t believe that it was the last day of the trip already. She would be home in less than 24 hours, time had just seemed to pass so quickly. 

“Yeah,” He added looking out, he didn’t think he had ever seen a place quite as beautiful as the view of the bay. “Come on, Kelly’s been running around with Alex! God knows they will end up under a bus or something!” Cole added, turning to face Azelie. She quickly nodded, adding in a smile as she walked further up the bridge, looking for her loved-up pink headed friend and her as insane boyfriend.

Azelie knocked twice, huffing slightly as she did. The door immediately swung open to reveal Cole who looked like he had just gotten out of the shower, his hair wet while he only had a pair of PJ bottoms on. 

“Seriously Alex - there’s a limit to the amount of times you can forget to take your room key out with you!” He spoke quickly, not even looking up at Azelie as he opened the door and walking back into his room, leaving Azelie standing in the doorway feeling slightly confused to what Cole was going on about.