**Ethan’s POV
The river was running particularly fast that night as I stood there gazing out at it under the moonlight.
I knew I didn’t have long. I needed to get back soon. But I had snuck out to catch some fresh air.
At least, that’s what I had told everyone.
I had fully intended to do just that, but now I found myself here– standing on the cliff’s edge, staring down at the water. I watched it run over the top of the jagged rocks, white caps violently cascading over the brink before they disappeared on the other side.
Sometimes a branch would fly up into the air, smash into a boulder, and then fall beneath the surface, fading away, never to be seen again.
I couldn’t let myself think of her that –
way.
I couldn’t let my mind go there… to the images of what it would be like for her body to hit those rocks and break apart like those sticks.
