(FLASHBACK)
The air was extremely tense. Amanda fixed her gaze on Frederick's mother, the confusion on her face as clear as a crystal. Vanya Zikora sighed loudly. Was she telling her the right thing? she wondered. But she knew Amanda had a right to know. After all, they were her memories, only they were gone.
"Can you explain what you mean by 'about the first time we met'?" Amanda finally inquired. Because, if she recalls correctly, she first met Mrs Zikora in the hospital, so what was she talking about?
"That's exactly what I meant, my dear. Although the word 'tell' would be inaccurate, I would rather say 'remind' you of our first meeting." Amanda's head began to hurt as she spoke more. Is she still dreaming, Abi? she wondered.
"Can you remind me?" Amanda spoke up once more.
"Yes," Vanya said with a sad smile.
"I believe it was two solid years ago," she continued, her eyes distant. Amanda listened intently without making a sound, her curiosity triumphing over all else.
******
'Two years ago'
The city of New York was bustling as usual. The car population was as high as it had ever been, with the moon illuminating the night and the street lights shining brighter than ever. Despite all of this, a young African girl no younger than 14 stood alone on the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. A hospital gown was draped over her body, and there were spots where blood had stained the gown. It was almost comical that no one had noticed such a frail creature.
Amanda was standing near the bridge's edge, dried tears lining her pure innocent face. She stretched her neck and looked down to see a massive body of water beneath her. She had already made up her mind; today was the day she would end her life. She didn't see the point in living any longer; life had become meaningless to her at this point.
She began climbing the edge of the bridge after little thought, which was painful given the cuts on her hands, but she was successful in the end.
A normal person would have paused at this point, even if only slightly. Because, just so you know, suicide was not a walk in the park, nor was it as simple as people made it out to be. Contrary to popular belief, it required a great deal of guts. Even so, it was an act that a fool would perform.
Amanda's mind flashed back to why she was doing this again, causing a single tear to betray her and slip out. She then removed both of her legs from the edge, but the strangest thing happened: instead of falling forward into the large amount of water, she fell backwards to the concrete floor.
"Just in time, eh? For a split second, I thought I wasn't going to catch you." From beside her, she heard a male voice say. Someone had apparently stopped her from carrying out her, shall we say, rather foolish plan.
"Let go of me right now," she squeaked, surprised. She struggled for a moment before the boy let her go.
"I was expecting a thank you, but that'll do," the young boy said. The sarcasm in his voice indicated his dissatisfaction, and the eye roll was an added bonus.
Amanda looked at the boy, puzzled "Why would I ever thank you? Did I say I needed to be saved? Nawa o."
"You may not have requested my assistance, but as a reasonable human being, I decided to save your foolish self from whatever you were about to foolishly do!" His octave rose higher and higher as he spoke. Frederick looked at Amanda, who was undeniably beautiful, but didn't she realize that life was precious?
Amanda was enraged. Who did he think he was, appearing out of thin air and insulting her?
"Yo-u y-ou," she stammered before properly speaking, "you infuriating nincompoop." She knew she could have done better.
The boy let out a small laugh. "For your mind now you know big words, clap for yourself na," he said, and his slight accent from minutes before vanished. Amanda was taken aback by this. What were the chances that she'd run into someone from her own country among the millions of people in New York City?
Her surprise quickly turned to rage after recalling his response. She wondered how someone could be so irritating. She was a rather calm and collected individual, and for someone to irritate and enrage her was truly admirable.
"Frederick Andrew Zikora, I didn't raise you to talk like that to people, let alone strangers," a displeased voice called out, prompting Amanda to realize that there was also a woman standing nearby, staring at them both. It appears to have been the young boy's mother.
Frederick, who was fifteen years old at the time, became apologetic in response to his mother's words. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. It was clear from the way he said it that he didn't want to apologize to Amanda.
"My dear, I'm so sorry about my son's manners. Are you okay?" Vanya Zikora's younger self enquired. Amanda was about to jump off the bridge, according to what she and her son had seen. She wasn't sure if it was fate that led them to this girl, but she was glad they caught her in time.
Amanda felt a warm feeling in her heart as a result of the stranger's kind words. Her own mother would never speak to her so calmly, always as cold as ice. Never giving a damn.
Despite the fact that she had no idea what was going on, she replied softly, "I'm fine."
Amanda looked at the two people in front of her and thought, 'Why can't they just leave already, anything I did with my life was clearly none of their business.' But why do they appear to be concerned?'
Mrs Zikora was well aware that what Amanda said was not true in any way. She was aware that she was not in good health. The various sizes of cuts on her hands were also highly questionable; they were simply far too numerous, and blood was still clearly flowing out. Her hospital attire, in fact, contradicted her words even more; she appeared to have just escaped from a ward or something. Not to mention her tear-stained cheeks. If that wasn't a warning sign, she didn't know what was.
She went on with a shutter. "Now, ple-ase can you b-oth leave, I have a-a schedule to keep up with". And when she said schedule, Frederick and his mother knew exactly what she meant. Amanda realized what she said and how she said it sounded rude, but she didn't mean it that way. But she knew, she knew that this was probably her last chance. The nurses would have been looking for her whereabout by now. It was 'now or never,' as the saying goes, and Amanda desperately wanted it to be 'now.'
Mrs Zikora and her son both looked at Amanda as if she were mad. She might as well have been.
"Remember when I called you foolish?" Frederick said with a low sigh. "I just confirmed it, you are indeed a very foolish girl," he said during the intermission. Another round of insults? She pondered. And she was expecting him to say something completely different. He was gorgeous, to be sure, but his attitude was truly outrageous. He knew nothing about her or why she was doing this at all, yet he judged her. Ridiculous. People are always the same.
"yo-" He cut her off before she could finish what she was saying.
"You regard life as a void. Let me tell you, there are people who would have preferred to remain on this planet, but that was not their fate. Then 'you' decide you don't want to live any longer. Many people would go to any length to keep their loved ones with them!" Young Frederick had veered off track unknowingly. He had no idea when the last sentence had slipped. Amanda deduced from his words that he had lost someone close to him. She felt terrible after hearing that.
Mrs Zikora didn't say anything this time as her son spoke. He was finally expressing his emotions, something he hadn't done since her husband's death. She only hoped that Frederick could prevent the young girl from doing what she was determined to do. She hoped, however, that he would be gentle in doing so.
"See, I'm sure you think taking your own life requires strength?" In a mocking tone, he continued, "But do you want to know the truth?" In a low yet dead serious tone, he said, "The truth here is that you're weak and immensely pathetic." Amanda was moved by his harsh but truthful words. Tears welled up in her eyes. She knew what he said was true, which was why it affected her so much.
Both Frederick and his mother's eyes widened to great extent as the next thing they saw was Amanda falling freely to the ground.