Jumping off the bridge

yet after midnight, I went to bed. I had discrete to tough it out. I decided to live. I sent my word of honor a textual matter message as I listened to tidy sum celebrating outside my window. It state: Happy spic-and-span Year. Lets get along it a good one. I love you. less(prenominal) than a present moment later, he responded: whop you too. I got in bed and absorbed my blankets around me a give care I was in a cocoon. I let those speech sit in my heart for a long while. I breathed in deep, sucking in gulps of air and utter more. Then I tried to make my mind go blank until the morning. I pretended that everything would be OK when the cheer came out. \nThe next morning, I woke up and shaved and took a rain shower and drank my coffee. I went to civilize and took my position butt the info desk. The blood opened two hours late because it was untested Years Day. Customers came register in, sapidity for books, looking for stories. Looking for the bathroom. I sat there , feeling fresh-faced and feeling like a survivor. I was ready to answer anyone who needed it. Kevin Sampsell lives with his wife and son in Portland, Oregon. He is the antecedent of the memoir, A uncouth Pornography (Harper Perennial), the editor program of the anthology, Portland Noir (Akashic), and the publisher of the long-running micro press, Future tense Books.