Flashback Original -

Alex had inched forward. Not to the edge, but closer. Leo was the only person who could do that—pull him out of his own cautious orbit. They’d been friends since freshman year, a mismatched pair: Alex the accountant-in-training who color-coded his notes, Leo the art major who painted murals on abandoned buildings.

He turned and walked off the bridge, not away from the edge, but toward a different one. The rain began to lighten. Somewhere, a train whistle blew—not the old tracks, but a new line, running somewhere he’d never been. flashback original

“You’d catch me,” Alex whispered.

Alex closed his eyes. The rain became sunlight. The rusted railings became warm, dry wood. And he was there. Alex had inched forward

“You always say that,” Leo had laughed, kicking a pebble off this very bridge. “You’re not going to jump, you’re not going to quit your job, you’re not going to tell her how you feel. Alex, your whole life is a waiting room.” They’d been friends since freshman year, a mismatched