I breathe in the air of the sea as I walk up the hill to the top of the overlook. I had been planning this for a while now, but I was finally going to do it. Tonight was the night. The night when I would be free of this. Free of all my heart ache. Tonight would end all of my pain and suffering. I would escape my horrible life. I wouldn't have to deal with my problems anymore.

Why deal with them when you can escape them? If I do this, then my parents would be able to afford a nice house instead of the ragged, cramped apartment. They would be able to have three decent meals a day, instead of having to buy everything that was generic brand. In my house, one box of cereal had to last for a month. They wouldn't have to deal with all the shit that I've caused them anymore. I wasn't only doing this for myself, I was doing it for the two people who have put up with me for eighteen years. My problems have only made them suffer day in and day out. I want to change that. All of the expenses I had caused them would slowly start to vanish if I were gone. So, ultimately, this was the right thing to do. My mind had been made up for several months now. Ending my own life to protect the people I most deeply cared about seemed like the best option, the only option. There was no way around it.

Reaching the top, I sit and dangle my legs off of the edge. I sigh, thinking about how this rash decision would also hurt my parents as well. My thoughts constantly wrestling with one another. Do I jump and end it to keep my parents from poverty? Or do I turn around to save them from tears? Eventually, my mind decides to end it. Anything to get them on their feet. Besides, it would be best for me. I wouldn't have to hurt anymore. I wouldn't have to be made fun of for stupid reasons. It would be so much easier for everyone around me. Ready, I stand and let my right foot hang off a bit before leaping, anticipating the roaring waves below me.

I hit the water hard, causing it to almost knock the breath out of me. Knowing that the rough impact would make my lungs give that much quicker, I manage the best smile I can while underneath. I jerk as I hear slight shouting from above, or at least what sounded like shouting. My ears were so filled with the water that I couldn't make out exactly what it was.

As my lungs begin to give way, I feel arms wrap around my waist. I fight whoever it was, attempting to continue to go down. However, it does no good as we slowly begin to rise. I give one last attempt to break free, but the person only holds their grip on my tighter. Why can't they just let me do what I have to do?



The last thing I remember before everything went black, was my head bobbing above the water.

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"Is she alive?" I hear being whispered as my mind begins to function again.


My eyes flutter open, and I instinctively lurch backwards when I see five strangers standing around me.


"Who are you people?"

"I'm Niall, and this is Harry, Louis, Liam, and Zayn." the blond one says.


He points each of the other boys out quickly.


"We were driving when we saw you walking up the hill. We got curious and decided to follow you. And then we saw you-" his voice goes quiet, unable to continue.

"We saw you jump." the curly haired one finishes.

"Which one of you pulled me up?"

"Niall."

"Why did you do it?" I ask.


He looks at me with a puzzled expression on his face. It was obvious that he didn't understand what I meant. It looked like I was going to have to get a book and draw him pictures.


"Why did you save me?"

"I wasn't going to sit there and let you die!" he yells.


I glare at him. Was he really that stupid?


"That's the point, you idiot! Why do you think I jumped off of the damn cliff in the first place?"


Instead of answering, he and the other boys look at me in shock. Almost as if they couldn't believe what they heard. I guess I must seem like some kind of freak to them. I seemed like one to everybody else, so why not add five people I didn't know to the list.


"But, why?"

"Look, I don't feel comfortable sharing my life story with strangers."


Niall laughs, as if what I had said was funny. The rest of us give him a strange look.


"What's so funny?"


"It's funny because that is exactly what you said to me the first time we met. I'm not a stranger, Alyson." he says.


My breath hitches in my throat. How would he know that? I have never seen him before in my life. How does he know my name? Why did he save me? I try unsuccessfully to try and sort out all of the questions running through my mind.


"You two know each other?" the one called Liam asks.

"No." I automatically respond at the same time Niall says 'yes.'


I glare at him, trying to find out what exactly he was playing at. Was he trying to test my patience? Or was he just some kind of loon?


"Well I know you. Your name is Alyson Brooks, but you like it when people call you Ally. I know that if you could marry Starbucks, then you would. I know you, Ally. Why don't you remember? Did it somehow get erased from your brain?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. H-how do you know all of those things about me?" I ask, shocked.


Who did this Niall person think he was? First he ruins my plans, and now he's claiming that he knows me? Who does that?


"I've never met you before in my life. I'm sure that if I had I would remember."

"The reason I know Ally is because four years ago, you were the girl that I fell in love with."