Blue Sacrifice (Blue Davison)

This was my day to die and I was the one who chose
it. I also decided how I would die. Nothing too bloody like my mother or
mysterious like my grandmother or public like Aunt Penny. While I wanted to die
quickly, I also wanted to die cleanly. My hope was my mangled body wouldn’t be used
to scare children one day like the stories about Great-aunt Selene.

My hope was the most difficult part of dying would
be jumping. Once I stepped off of the normally unused Riser Bridge, the icy water would pull me under before I had time to truly panic. A quiet cold day
with most people already at work and school, I’d die without good Samaritans to
jump into the freezing waters to save me. This was a good day to die.

Stepping up onto the highest railing, I stared at
the river. The waves beckoned for me and I lifted my foot to step off. Yet when
a gust of cold wind pushed me forward, I grabbed hold of the metal posting and
kept myself from falling into the water. Steadied, I caught sight of the very
top of the Riser Memorial Football Stadium.

School had barely started and I could still make it
to Calculus. Kids regularly came in late and the school didn’t make a big deal about
it. They were just happy anyone showed up. It would be so easy to jump down and
walk to school. Sign in and go to class. Make it to lunch with Lacey and have a
normal day. This day didn’t have to be the end.

But what about Lily Falls? Would this place
survive without its sacrifice? The voices told me no. The faces in the mirror
told me no. All of the signs pointed to this as my time to die, but it would be
so easy to live one more day. Or finish out the week, just to see if all my
studying led to making at least a B on the Calculus test. I could go to a party
on the weekend and meet a cute guy and touch him and let his warm skin help me
forget all of the cold following me.

Yet a sacrifice needed to be made or the party
might never happen. The weekend might never come without blood spilt and it had
to be mine. I had to die and the waves below welcomed me.

Stepping out with my left foot, I forced myself to
relax until I could let go of the post. My body weight leaned forward, kept upright
only by one booted foot. Surveying the quiet morning, I looked for the faces
and listened for the voices, but I was alone. The choice was mine to make. A
sacrifice was never taken, always offered. On this day, I would offer mine.

“I’ll jump in after you,” a voice said, nearly
startling me into the water below.

Turning towards the voice, I frowned darkly. Not
only had he interrupted me, but he had simply appeared. Was he one of the
faces? Studying him, I saw he was just a guy. A beautiful guy I had never seen
before, but Lily Falls enjoyed a transient population. Most of the kids I saw
at school this year, I hadn’t seen last year. Lacey and I stayed the same, but
we were the exceptions to the rule.

“What do you want?” I asked, holding onto the post
again.

“I’ll tell you what I don’t want,” he said,
stepping closer to the railing, yet keeping his distance from me. “I don’t want
to jump into the cold water to save you.”

“Then don’t,” I muttered.

Tilting his head, he gave me a little grin,
revealing a dimple. “Why do you want to jump anyway? Are you depressed, fair
lady?”

The fair lady crap was likely because of my pale
freckled skin. In Lily Falls, I was the only stereotypically Irish looking
person under the age of forty, save from Jordan Rynes who was known more for
his firebug habit than his blazing red hair. Besides Jordan’s family had moved away
during the summer.

Studying this stranger, I wondered about his
story. Why was he in Lily Falls and why did he have to visit the bridge at this
exact moment and ruin my plans? Seeing my gaze on him, he smiled wider. His
smile was so dazzling I suspected he was quite the charmer with the ladies.
Probably what they once called a rogue, but now referred to as a manslut.

“If I don’t jump now,” I told him, “I’ll just jump
later. Why do you care?”

“Oh, I’m old fashioned, you see,” he said, pushing
his dark brown hair out of his eyes, only to have the wind whip the locks right
back where they were. “I think a man should jump into a frigid river to save a
pretty girl.”

“But not an ugly one then?”

“Oh, yeah, I’d save her too, but she’s not the one
teetering on the edge of the railing.”

Unable to tell his age, I thought he was a
teenager, only because he had a sort of boyish appearance. It was probably his
dark hair still hanging in his eyes. His smile though was full of grown male
swagger. He smiled like the guys at the college did when girls on their third
beers asked if they had girlfriends. This guy also smiled like he was in on the
secret, but I still figured he was probably no more than a year or two older
than me.

“I’m just very sad,” I said, “and I have a
terminal tumor and want to die. Now go away.”

“Terminal tumor, eh?” he said, his bright smile
widening into something glorious enough to keep him flushed with pretty girls.
“Sounds awful. Did you get a second opinion though? Those doctors aren’t always
spot-on when it comes to diagnosing terminal tumors.”

Glaring at him, I wanted to be angry. Yet I didn’t
really want to jump and smarmy Joe had given me an out.

Jumping down, I sighed. “Well you’ve convinced me
to give life another chance. Thanks for that. See ya.”

“Not so quick,” he said, following me as I hurried
to where my backpack waited. “What if you’re tricking me and I let you out of
my sight, then you rush back to jump?”

“What’s your plan then, slick? Are you going to
stalk me because I think there are laws against that?”

Reaching down for my backpack, I looked up to find
him in front of me, leaning against the railing. He was smiling casually like
today was just any other day and this was just any other pickup. I suspected he
picked up girls a lot which was why he possessed so much swagger.

His eyes were gorgeous, a deep green like the
trees around here during the summer. His dark jacket wasn’t zipped completely
and I noticed a white tee covered with a black buttoned shirt. His jeans looked
well worn while his black tennis shoes appeared rather new.

Suspecting he was the kind of guy who rarely
struck out with girls, I also imagined he kept score like notches on his
bedpost. I’d seen enough of his kind at the college to keep me from moistening
my panties.

“All that red hair,” he said, giving me a smile I
returned with vigor despite my best efforts. “Not a lot of red haired girls
around here.”

“No, there aren’t. Are you a collector looking to
check off a redhead?”

“So jaded. Actually I checked that spot off back
when I was a wee lad,” he said in an accent I suspected was European, though I
couldn’t narrow it down more than that. Grinning wider now, he added, “I’m
Flynn.”

“Kate.”

“What a beautiful name for such a beautiful
redheaded girl. Too bad about your terminal tumor making you sad.”

“Go away, Flynn. I’m late.”

“Late for an appointment to get that second opinion,
I hope.”

Rolling my eyes, I ditched him and rushed towards
school. If I kept a steady pace, I would reach the front office in ten minutes.
I’d only be partially frozen by then, but the cold felt good. Everything felt
good because suddenly I was going to live the rest of the day. Dying would have
to wait for tomorrow.

After crunching through the autumn leaves flooding
the school parking lot, I opened the barn-style double doors leading into Riser High School. The lady in the front office was new and she tried to care about me
being late. Then Mrs. Moore explained how no one cared about anything in Lily Falls and she should just let me get to class. Minutes later, I was a few rooms down
from Calculus, trying to get Lacey’s attention through the window of her
classroom door.

My best friend was staring at her hands, mourning
me and probably wondering who she would have lunch with now that I was dead. I
figured she’d eat with Aya who was the only girl Lacey could tolerate lately.
Well besides me.

Staring through the window, I waited for Lacey to
feel me watching her. Finally a dark skinned boy, who also wasn’t paying attention
to the teacher, poked Lacey then pointed at me. I stuck my tongue out at Lacey
and she flipped me off. Relief flooded her beautiful face then she noticed how the
teacher Abby Parker had stopped her lesson to stare at me.

I stuck my tongue out at Abby too, remembering
when she was my mother’s best friend. This was a woman who once changed my diapers.
She was also the one who found my mom in a bathtub filled with blood. I still
remembered how Abby wept over her friend and promised she would take care of
me.

Abby Parker hadn’t taken care of me though. She
had loved my mom like a sister, but she knew what happened to Davison women
once they hit a certain age. Having suffered enough over losing my mom, she
wasn’t signing up to suffer over me. Yet I saw love in her eyes as she stuck
out her tongue at me, eliciting laughter from her class.

Leaving the door, I arrived at Calculus in time to
get in a little learning before class was over. If I died tomorrow morning, I
wouldn’t need to know anything about math. Yet if I managed to survive another
day, I wanted to do well on my test Friday. I wasn’t a teacher’s pet, but I
liked getting good grades. When teenagers died while on the honor roll, adults
usually spoke more fondly of them. With my family’s history, I wanted all of the
positive press I could get.

By lunch, the morning on the bridge felt like a
dream. I didn’t really want to die, so had I fantasized a handsome guy coming
to my rescue? Convincing myself Flynn was merely a mind trick, I waited in the lunch
line for Lacey.

Having met on the first day of kindergarten, Lacey
and I didn’t become friends until the end of the year. Only after the rest of
the class left one at a time to be replaced by new kids did we end up as the
final students from the first day. Figuring we were the only stable choices, Lacey
and I started hanging out. Sometimes I thought we were friends out of
convenience, but we were friends nonetheless.