Prologue:
Eleanor was irrelevant. At least she felt that way most of the time. No, Irrelevant wasn't the right word: ignored? Insignificant? No, it was more like, forgotten. Forgotten was the word the best fit the emotion.
Her parents, as heads of the local science center, were always away for work, whether it be out of state, country even, or simply spending all the hours of the day at the lab. At first, when Eleanor was a newborn, her mother would stay home with her and take care of her, but as soon as she was old enough to be bottle fed, Mrs. Parker hired a nanny to look after Eleanor. Her parents had never meant to have a child in the first place. It had all been an accident really and now they were stuck with a baby girl who stole too many precious hours of their day so for fifteen years of her life, Eleanor hardly saw her parents. When she was sixteen, her parents quit paying a sitter and left her to herself. She was quite the lonely child. There was always school however. Where no one knew her parents didn't really take care of her, how they sometimes forgot they had a kid at home who needed to eat and the fridge was pretty much always empty. This was the sole reason Eleanor enjoyed school. She got attention, she craved attention and when she didn't get it she forced it. Breaking rules, smashing things, fighting. Anything to get people to notice her. Until she was eighteen, she built bots to fight in the slums of the city. She got arrested a few times, broke into a couple of stores, stole a few things. It was all so addicting. Who knew attention could be just as addictive as nicotine?
It was the seventh time she had been arrested that month, when a cop sat her down and told her what she needed to hear.
"Ms. Parker-"the cop was interrupted by Eleanor's sharp voice.
"It's Eleanor, Leo for short."
"Eleanor," the cop sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "you can't keep doing this. Soon, the fines are gonna go up. They're gonna send you to jail kid. Real jail with people who have been convicted for homicide, murder. Is that what you want? This is all on your permanent record." His voice started to rise in frustration.
"At this rate you'll never get into college. You'll never get a job. Nothing you want will ever be available to you. Do you understand?"
This was the moment Eleanor woke up. She had to face reality. Jail? She didn't think all the petty crimes she had done for the past five years could land her there. It was that moment she knew she had to change. She had to make herself be better. Fix her own problems and stop acting like a child.
"Yes sir. I understand." The words were shaky, scared. Then, like routine, she bailed herself out of jail with her mom's credit card like she had been doing for five years walked out of the station, looking both ways before she crossed the street and headed home. She knew her parents would probably be at work all night again, working on their "huge project". A project that was important than Eleanor. Everything was, wasn't it?
Slowly, she made her way up the stairs and plopped on her bed. The walls of her room were bland, everything in that house was. Blankly, she stared at the wall. Promptly, she burst into tears.
What did she do to deserve this? Why didn't her parents love her? Why did she try so hard? Was it even worth it?
That's when she realized, it just wasn't. No one cared about Eleanor Rose Parker. She was just another face in the crowd, a drifting voice never remembered. So what did it matter if she was dead? She was eighteen years old with nothing but a criminal record to show for herself. It was pitiful. This was when she made the decision to take her life. It would be easy honestly, she lived only five minutes away from the bridge. Tomorrow was the day she'd do it. In the morning when the sun was shining and could kiss her goodbye.
Yet, she was afraid so she gave herself an out. If someone, anyone smiled at her, looked at her like she existed, like she was there, she wouldn't do it. This was her resolution and her last thought before sleep took over.
The day Eleanor Parker almost killed herself was the same day she met Tadashi Hamada. The day was young, the sun was shining and it was seemingly an ordinary day. Tadashi Hamada was forced to walk to college on that particular morning, leaving his moped at home to fix later. At the same time, Eleanor Parker was making her way to the San Fransokyo bridge to take the one step quick trip to the bottom of the river. On her way she crossed paths with Tadashi, though she had no clue who he was, and as they locked eyes, he smiled at her and went on his way. Immediately, Eleanor turned around and headed back to her house. She had made a promise, you see, that, if on her way to the bridge one person smiled at her,just one, she wouldn't jump. She'd turn right back around and go home like nothing ever happened and so she did.