She sat on the edge of the bridge, her feet dangling over the water below. This seemed like the only way forward, the only way to stop them, to stop the constant picking. Anyway, who'd really care if she did it? Her parents clearly didn't care or she wouldn't have been with the foster carers, they wouldn't care either, it would be far easier for them to be without her. From somewhere she could hear a voice chanting coward over and over again, getting louder and louder before she finally stood up. Taking a further step forward towards the edge of the bridge, she sighed as she looked down at her fate below.
"Go on, do it. No one will miss you anyway."
"No one wants you, why would they want a fat ugly lump like you?"
She took a final look around as she voices became louder and the abuse more vile, still she couldn't see anyone. That was the worst bit, if she could see who it was then maybe she could fight back?
"Leave me alone!" The girl shouted as she burst into tears and looked back at the water below her.
"You think we'll go just because you ask us to? Why would we listen to a nutter like you?" Came a reply moments later.
Jean walked quietly through the dark city on her way to meet her husband, James, at a restaurant for their anniversary. He'd left notes around the house telling her where to meet him, all of which had added to her excitement levels. From out of no where she heard a scream, she looked around and saw nothing. Silence engulfed Oxford again but only for a couple of minutes until it was replaced by the sounds of sobs. Being a police woman, Jean knew she couldn't leave this, it needed investigating so she headed in the direction of the noise. It was a few minutes before she was faced with the sight of a girl on the edge of a bridge, the girl couldn't have been much older than 16, Jean approached the girl slowly knowing that any sudden movement could cause the girl to jump.
"Hello?" Jean called as she reached the bridge. The girl looked up, this voice was different to the ones she'd heard before. There was a kind tone to the voice she was now hearing and no anger at all. She turned her head slowly and looked at the woman who was getting closer towards her.
"Please go, you don't need to see this." The girl cried.
"No I don't, you don't need to do this though. Please come down." Jean begged the girl, the girl stared back, her big blue eyes almost piercing right through Jean.
"No, I need to do this." The girl insisted.
"I'm sure things aren't as bad as you think but if you don't want to get down yet then how about you tell me your name?"
"She doesn't really care, she just doesn't want this on her conscious." A voice called out to the girl.
"No, go away to wherever you planned to go tonight. You don't care, why would you care what happened to me?"
"I do care, I'm a police officer so it's my job to protect people and right now it's you who needs protecting. I have a son who was once your age, if he was in this position then I'd have wanted someone to talk to him." Jean reasoned. For a while nothing changed, the girl continued to stare at the water and Jean continued to watch her like a hawk, having now totally forgotten about her anniversary meal now that something that was more important had come up.
"I'm... Marianna..."