Keep Me Hanging On [Jaime Preciado]

The time was 2:39 AM on a chilly night in March. I had walked the long journey here wearing nothing but my distressed old black skinny jeans, a floral tank top, crappy old vans that were hanging on their last life, and my oversized plain black hoodie. My face was bare, free from any make up, the adornment on it came from the shiny metal on my medusa, nose, and eyebrow piercings. And my chocolate brown hair was un-styled, as always, a mixture of wavy, straight, and un-brushed with messy bangs. I stopped giving a fuck about my appearance ages ago.

I gripped the railing tightly and took in several deep breaths. I was going to do it. Today I was going to die. This would be the last time I ever had to worry about my problems. I would finally be free.

There was nothing holding me back from taking the jump, it had been seven minutes since the last car passed, and no one ever walked this way but me. I began to cry as I leaned over preparing to step over the iron bars of the railing, each tear streaming down my face and falling into the icy rushing water below. Suddenly, bright lights were shining on me and I heard a voice screaming out.

"STOP! PLEASE DON"T DO IT!" The voice came from a man. I turned my head to see the person keeping me from following through with my suicide, the bright headlights of his car washed out most of his features, all I could see was his silhouette: Average in height with hair standing up on end, kind of like a scared cat.

"WHY SHOULDNT I? WHY DO YOU GIVE A FUCK WHAT I DO? YOU DONT EVEN KNOW ME!" I bawled to this man once he was only a few feet away from me. My view of him was much clearer now, he was obviously Hispanic, had a full sleeve tattoo on his right arm, dark brown eyes, and wore a black T-shirt with a white logo printed on it, black skinny jeans, and a pair of black vans that were in much nicer condition than mine.

He was calm when he spoke "That’s true, I don't know you... My name is Jaime Preciado. What's yours?"

"Hi-me? What the fuck kind of a name is that?" I sniffled.

He laughed a little at my remark, but still remained serious "It’s spelled just like Jayme. It can also be pronounced Hi-may... I'm Mexican so its normal. And don't try to change the subject. Now tell me your name."

I stared at the water then spoke, my tears had stopped at this time "Clover. Clover Boyce..."
"That’s a really pretty name, I like it... Clover, can you please back away from the edge there and come talk with me?"

I nodded hesitantly, I didn’t want his help. I didn't want anyone’s help. I wanted to be left alone. I wanted to go to sleep and never wake up. I wanted a lot of things that I couldn't have. But I knew this guy wasn’t going to give up on me. It was almost comforting knowing this complete stranger cared about me. Jaime offered his hand to walk me away from the bridge, and I took it, my own hands were trembling. He led me to a grassy patch that was just a two minute walk away from the bridge, it overlooked the calmer section of the river and the beginnings of a small forest was just a few feet away.

Jaime sat down on the grass, pulling me down with him. "Clover, why were you trying to kill yourself back there?" he was handling the situation as if he did this all the time.

I stared at the ground and began to cry once again, Jaime placed his hand on my back and muttered comforting words to me, reassuring me that it was alright to cry. Why did I want to die? Why wouldn't I? Oh god, I'm rhyming. Gross. "I don't think I want to open up to a stranger about that... But I can tell you that I'm severely depressed, and no one seems to believe that or care." I admitted through sobs.

Jaime wiped the tears away from my face. "It's perfectly fine if you don't want to tell me yet, but I'm not going to be a complete stranger forever. You were wrong when you said no one cared. I care. And I want to help you get better." he told me, his words sounded genuine, not manufactured like that of the people who have tried to deal with me before.

I looked up from the ground to Jaime's face, he was smiling at me, I tried my best to smile back. It had only taken me a few minutes to take a liking to Jaime. "You think you can actually do it? I'd like to see you try." I sniffed, giggling a little at the end.

"I don't think so, I know so..." Jaime said whole heartedly. There was a brief moment of silence and we both kept looking at each other with our little grins, then he ruined it all by speaking. "Do you know what time it is?" He asked.

I shrugged and pulled my phone out of my pocket. 3:02 the screen read. The glass was completely shattered. It was completely my fault though, I always threw it and smashed it against things when I was upset, and I never had the money to get it fixed.

Jaime scrambled to his feet "Oh shit, it's getting really late... Where do you live Clover? I'll drive you home."

I picked myself up off the ground "I live at my parents’ house, it's in the town a few miles away from here... But I don't want to go back there. I hate it there."

Jaime sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, thinking for a second. "Well I don’t want to take you back anywhere you don’t feel comfortable, but where am I supposed to take you then? I mean, I could take you to my place, but I'm not sure if you'd like it."

"I'm sure I'd like it just fine." I told him. Any place would be okay with me really, I just didn't want to face my family. I had already disappointed them enough and felt like what had happened tonight would just worsen our problems. "Where do you live though?" I asked.
"San Diego." Jaime answered.

I had only been to San Diego a handful of times in my life, which I thought was a bit strange considering the fact that the town I had lived in my whole life was only a short distance away from the city. "Cool..." I said quietly.

"Cool..." He said quietly back, there was a pause, then he spoke again "Do you wanna go now?" I nodded. He nodded back. Repeat that a few more times, and then we both started laughing.
Jaime turned away from the water and began to retrace the steps we had taken to get here. I followed after him. And for the first time in what seemed like forever, I was smiling. Not the fake kind of smile you put on for cheesy family photographs, this was a real smile. It had taken Jaime less than an hour to accomplish what my friends and family had been attempting to do for years: cheering me up just a little bit.

The grass we walked through was like a tiny jungle, thick and tall enough that it almost hit my knees. There were also dozens of mosquitos hidden in it, they were eating Jaime alive, but I was left mostly untouched thanks to my long sleeves.

I could see Jaime's car just a few metres off in the distance, the head lights were still on. Those were the lights that saved me, if it weren’t for them I would be floating down that river lifeless right now. I bit my lip and tried not to think about it too much.
"It’s unlocked, so just get in on the passenger side." Jaime told me, swatting the last few mosquitos away from his arms.

"Got it." I said, then sped up to get to the car a little faster.
My hand grasped the car door handle and I tugged it open. The inside of the car was nothing extravagant, but it wasn't shabby either. The interior was completely black, there was minimal garbage left inside, and the dash was decorated with a few quirky items. One being a figurine of a cat with wispy white hair covering its body. I picked it up once I had seated myself. “What’s with this thing?” I asked.

Jaime pulled his door closed and fastened his seat belt. “Huh? Oh that? That’s my sheep cat. It’s a long story. But I fuckin’ love sheep cats in the rain.” He answered vaguely.

I snickered then placed it back on the dashboard as Jaime started driving.

Notes

Hey guys I'd just like to thank anyone who actually took the time to read this, it means so much to me! I really hope you liked it, and please give feedback, I'm trying to become a better writer and it would help me a ton to know what I'm doing well with and what needs improvement. I guess that's it, the next update should be on its way very soon! Also you can read this on my Wattpad (freezingcake) too.
~Mikey <3