The Bridge

John stood on the Bridge gazing down at the gushing Amazon river below him. He raised his head to see bolts of lightning crackling in the distance through heavy dark clouds. It rained heavily and everyone rushed around carrying Umbrellas. The damp evening resembled John’s somber mood.

John looked back for a moment. No one seemed to pay any attention to him. He just smiled melancholily and turned to face the river again. He was insignificant.

He stepped closer to the Parapet wall. He raised his right hand and stared at it in anger. His grip would have been firm if only he had not been drunk that day. Tears rolled down his wet cheeks. He buried his sad face in his hands. What had he done to suffer such misery?

A multitude of thoughts rushed through John’s mind. A thought asked him to end his suffering. His hands tightened their grip on the bridge’s steel railing. Should I leap? Who would care? Who would mourn for me? What about Sheela? Does she still love me? Can she ever forgive me? Can I forgive myself?

John’s mind swirled with endless thoughts. Every thought was a question. Every thought increased his misery. If only his mother was still alive. He would lay down his head in her lap and close his eyes. How much relieving that would have been? And, yet it was impossible.

John remembered the fateful day. How much he despised himself? His little daughter Sunny asked him to buy her a balloon. Little did he know that it would be the cause of his child’s death.

John bought his daughter a beautiful red balloon. The child held the balloon in one hand and was walking on the bridge with her Papa when a sudden gust of wind blew the balloon out of her hand. Before John realized it, Sunny broke free from her dad’s hand and rushed after the balloon. Sunny jumped to grab the balloon which had now flown onto the road. John rushed after her. But, it was too late. The child was hit by a speeding car.

The little child was flung up in the air for several feet in front of her shocked father. Everything happened in just a matter of few seconds. John’s life had ended in those few seconds. He rushed Sunny to the Children’s Hospital and took her to the Emergency Ward. Alas, it was too late. She was declared brought dead.

John was inconsolable. Gathering all his strength he called his wife Sheela. Sheela was in a meeting when her husband broke this earth-shattering news to her. She rushed to the Children’s hospital. Teary-eyed and with trembling hands she entered the Emergency Ward to see her baby lying on the bed motionless.

John sat sobbing holding his baby’s hands. “My baby, my love, get up!” he heard his wife scream in horror and grief. John got up to comfort his wife. But, she was overcome with too much grief and pain. She pushed him and yelled at him. She held John responsible for Sunny’s death. John stood with a bowed head unable to meet eyes with his wife. Somewhere, deep within himself, he knew that she was right. He was responsible.

After the funeral, Sheela moved out of the house and left John alone to sink in his grief. She was sure that her drunkard and good-for-nothing husband had been responsible for their child’s death.

It was exactly a week since that fateful day. John stood on the Bridge on the verge of ending his miserable life. Could she forgive me? He took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the steel railing. He slowly climbed on the railing and looked at the gushing Amazon below. It was all going to get over very soon. The pathetic ruse which he called a life was soon about to end.

He closed his eyes and said a small Prayer and begged the Lord to forgive his Sins. Before any weak thought could pull him back John jumped into the river. He did not know how to swim. He fell with a loud splash and sunk into the deep river. His lungs filled with water and choked him. After a brief struggle, his eyes closed.

“Papa, wake up” a soft voice called out to him. John opened his eyes slowly to see his beautiful daughter standing in front of him. “My Child, My Beautiful Angel, Am I Dead?” he asked his daughter. Sunny stood puzzled. “What is a sinner like me doing in Heaven?” he questioned her again. The child just laughed.

“Dad you drank too much Whisky last night, now please get up, I am getting late for my school” the little girl begged her father.

Slowly, reality sunk into him. He got up and kissed his daughter’s forehead. Tears of joy filled him with gratitude and he thanked the Lord for his mercy. He took all his liquor bottles and threw them in the garbage. He vowed to never drink again.

The End