A knock sounded on the front door of the Teslow house. Mandy hurried to the front door to answer it.
"Hey, Pumpkin, come on in!" Mandy jovially greeted Tia, waving her arm and stepping to the side.
Tia grinned at Mandy's exuberant enthusiasm. "Hey, Miss T, is Keely here?"
"I think she's up in her room. That girl's been quiet today!"
Tia giggled and headed upstairs. Keely's door was closed, so she knocked twice. "Keely? You in there?" When there was no response, Tia tried the knob. It was unlocked, so she let herself in.
"Keely?" she asked again, hoping to announce her presence, in case Keely was in her bathroom and didn't hear her the first time. Still no response. Tia shrugged and walked down the hall to Keely's sister's room. The door was open, and Bonnie was sitting at her desk, on her computer.
"Hey, Bonnie, where did Keely go?"
Bonnie glanced over her shoulder, and took off her headphones upon seeing Tia in the doorway. "What's that?" she asked.
"Your sister. Where did she go?"
Bonnie opened her mouth to respond before pausing, realizing she didn't know the answer. "She went somewhere? I don't know, probably down to the store, I guess. She didn't say anything to me."
Around the time Tia showed up at the Teslow house, Keely was sitting in the local coffee shop, Cup o' Cino, fidgeting nervously. Across the room sat a man in his early twenties, whom Keely presumed was in college, typing on his MacBook. Over by the wall, a couple seventh graders from her school were making use of the coffee shop's internet connection. The barista occasionally glanced over at Keely, who hadn't ordered anything, and hadn't brought a computer with her.
"Whatcha waitin' for, hon?" the barista eventually asked in a bubbly voice. She had vibrant red hair, and Keely guessed her to be about twenty-one. "I mean, d'you got a date, or are you just hopin' some cute guy will come in and start talkin' to ya?" She giggled at her own joke and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
Keely struggled to put a fake smile on her face. "No," she replied, "just waiting." She glanced at the other people in the shop: the college student had his headphones on, and the kids seemed uninterested in the conversation.
"Somethin' wrong, hon?"
Keely raised an eyebrow and looked back at the barista. "No, why?" She forced out a toothy grin.
"Oh, it's just... I mean, you're smilin' and all, but your eyes aren't smilin'. You know? You sure nothin's botherin' you?"
Keely shrugged. "Not that I can think of." On the contrary, Keely felt better than she had for weeks, maybe months.
"If you're sure..." The barista offered Keely another toothy grin before walking to the back, out of Keely's sight. Keely waited for a minute before picking up her phone. As the phone on the other end of the line rang, she walked out of the coffee shop. The bells hanging from the door jingled softly as she left.
"I'm sure she'll be back soon," Bonnie said. "You can hang out with me if you want."
Tia smiled. "Sure! So what's new?" she asked as she walked to a bean bag in the corner of the room and sat down on it, sinking slowly down.
"Nothing much, just trying to–" Bonnie was interrupted by her phone ringing. "Oh, that's her right now," she said to Tia before answering. "Keely, what's up?"
"Um... I, uh... don't know..." Keely tried to force out the words how to say this, but her voice hitched unexpectedly.
"Listen, Tia's over here and she's wondering where you are. Care to tell me?"
Keely sighed. Maybe it would be easier, and better, to lead her sister by the hand into this rabbit hole. "Um... well, I just left the coffee shop..."
"Oh, so you're coming back?"
"..." Keely searched for the right words as she walked down the sidewalk.
"Keely? Are you there? Are you coming back?"
"I'm— ...No," she said, after a pause.
"Okay, so where are you going?" Bonnie drummed her fingers on her desk as she leaned forward.
"... Away," Keely said after a beat. "I just... I don't think I can do this anymore..."
"So, you..." Bonnie slowly trailed off, looking out the window. "...what?"
"What's going on?" Tia asked.
"Look, Bonbon, I'm really sorry..."
Bonnie bolted up in her seat. "Keely, don't," she urged. "Please, please think about what you're doing." Tia tilted her head slightly to the side, curiously.
Keely went on, completely ignoring her sister. "It's not your fault. I just.. I don't know. I guess this is the only escape I see left."
"Keely, please, don't. You don't have to do this." Tia didn't like the direction this conversation was heading.
She kept walking on, ignoring her sister's pleas. "Almost there... I'm on Rio Vista right now," she noted, looking up at the street sign. "Don't feel bad. They say drowning is the most peaceful way to go..."
"Keely, just th—" Bonnie stopped abruptly. Tia frowned. "Keely, just wait. Please. I'm coming right now." Bonnie dropped her phone and grabbed Tia by the wrist, telling her, "Keely's gonna jump. We need to go."
Tia scrambled to sit up as Bonnie flew out her bedroom door and down her stairs two at a time. "Wait, wait! What do you mean 'jump'?"
"Oh nooooo no no no no no no no," Bonnie muttered as she dashed down the stairs and into her mother's study, only to find it empty. "No...."
"Bonnie, what do you mean 'jump'?" Tia repeated as she reached the ground floor. Bonnie crossed the living room floor, reached Tia in two deliberate strides, and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt.
"What do you think I mean? I mean she's on the bridge and she's gonna jump!"
The bridge in question was a fairly old part of Pickford heritage; it was made completely of stone, mostly concrete. It connected the small town of Pickford on the south bank and Pickford's farming district on the north. The railing on which Keely stood, looking down at the shimmering water, was wide and sturdy. Still, she had a hand on the adjacent lamppost, almost as if to steady herself.
Having never stood on the bridge before, she was initially shocked to see how high above the water it was. She inched to the edge of the ledge and kicked one of her sandals off, then started counting silently. It barely took three seconds to hit the water. She couldn't tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing.
I guess it isn't really that high...
"You're- you're not serious. You can't be..." The brunette searched the blonde's eyes, hoping she'd see something other than fear and dread, but she didn't.
Bonnie gave Tia an incredulous scoff before pushing her aside, calling her "useless" and storming out the front door.
"No, come back!" Tia ran out after the younger girl and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Look, we'll just go back to my house. We'll take my car there, okay? She's gonna be alright."
Bonnie was in hysterics, and could do little more than nod at what Tia was saying. Tia took a deep breath and grabbed Bonnie's hand, leading her running down the street to her house.
Keely had set her phone and bag down by her bare feet on the railing on the bridge (she had kicked off her other sandal to make sure she counted correctly the first time). The cool concrete felt invigorating.
I wonder how cold it is. Maybe I'll go into shock when I hit.
Is that good or bad? I mean... I guess there won't be a chance of a survival instinct kicking in if I do... so I guess it's good...
"I only ask that you can forgive me... Bonnie, Ashley, Mom, Via, Tia... Dad... Phil... all of you... please forgive me..." she muttered softly. The rumbling of an engine caught her attention. She looked over to see a produce truck coming down the road from the farming district.
"Please forgive me..." she sighed, focusing back on the water.
She had come this far.
Tia took a hard left onto Rio Vista. Ahead on the right, perpendicular to the street they were on, was Pike's Bridge. Bonnie could make out Keely standing on the ledge, right in the center of the bridge.
Keely's head turned up slightly as she heard the squealing tires announce the approaching car. She looked out towards the horizon. Why did I call her in the first place?...
She cast her eyes back down to the water shimmering beneath her, so silver and cold. She could nearly hear it calling her name.
Brakes screeched, tires squealed, and the horrible sound of rending metal pierced Keely's eardrums. She looked back out to the horizon. Without even having to look, her stomach plummeted.
A few people in a nearby market came out after hearing the collision. While the store manager called for an ambulance, some of the customers walked over to examine the wreck. The only one involved in the accident that was conscious was the truck driver, though he was quite disoriented.
A siren rang off in the distance. As the shoppers checked on the wreck, Keely slowly stepped down from the bridge and walked down the sidewalk, not even daring to look over her shoulder at the aftermath of the accident.
(I always get excited when a movie says its own title in the movie.)