She could feel nothing but the wind and the rain. The bitter, icy wind, violently whipping the long, winding tresses of curly raven hair into her expressionless face. The seemingly endless torrents of cool rain pelting her back and her tingling fingers, which were about to momentarily lose all sense of feeling, as was the rest of her violently shivering body.

Just one more unbearable minute, she knew, and she would feel nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.

But would it be a temporary numbness, spreading throughout her entire body, or would she be forever plunged into the deep, murky depths of eternal bliss and nothingness? It was her decision, and hers alone. No one could stop her. She was at the terrifying mercy of her own frantic, desperate notions.

She didn't know. She stood on the edge of hurtling herself into the swirling, furious rapids which would do her wild bidding for her, if she allowed them to. They would sweep her away into their seemingly bottomless depths, giving her one last furious rush of petrifying exhilaration before oblivion came to claim her. Sweet oblivion, sweet death, where she would no longer feel such constant, agonizing pain.

Her eyes were closed, partially because she was becoming exceedingly afraid of what she might see looming so far below her, so close to heart. Upon a sudden, inexplicable notion, she opened them once again and stared off into the dark, starless night, obscured by torrents of pouring rain; the tears she could not cry.

Then she swept her gaze to the intense, uncontrolled falls below her, and like a gunshot being fired, the shocking, sudden, overpowering fear hit her as if she had had that same bullet fired right to the heart. Fear pumped through her veins like liquid fire, burning her from the inside out. The wind whipped at her face and the rain stung terribly, but she could not turn back yet. She needed to let this full impact hit her like nothing else. She needed to be so scared that she could no longer feel.

She didn't want to feel, not anymore. She couldn't handle it.

Shivers racked her body. She gripped the railing behind her so tightly she feared it might break off in her ever-grasping fingers. She glanced at her toes, already over the edge, and, for one final time, thought about herself promptly following suit…

"I'm one step from nothing," She whispered. "Just one step."

She closed her eyes once again, finding it hard to keep them open for the fear that annihilated anything else. Instead, she concentrated on the sensations she would no longer feel, ever again. The wind. The rain. Everything she was about to willingly give up.

She sighed. A shuddering, last sigh. "One step."

"No," A strong voice came from behind her and, startled as she was, Jayden could not peel her eyes off the breathtaking, terrible beauty of the waterfall and the horrendous act she was about to commit. "You're two steps further than you should be."