It was a warm summer night, in a small town that could have been nearly anywhere. One of the few  remarkable things about it was a  river, in which now the lights of street lamps and stars reflected equally.
All in all, the picture was quite pretty, but honestly nothing to write or tell a story about. If it would not have been for a boat full of plants floating there under a bridge. Well, not for the boat itself, even though it looked quite interesting- but for the boy and the girl sitting on it, staring at each other silently in the dim mixture of city and moonlight. 

"So, what we are gonna do now?“, the boy broke the silence finally.

„I actually thought jumping from here should have killed us.“ The girl responded, while looking up to the bridge above their heads. "And as well planned to be alone, so don't expect a great plan."
„Well, it has killed me. Just not today, but 75 years ago.“ 
For a moment, the girl stared at the boy, waiting for him to say something else, that would explain this strange statement. As he remained silent, she started to laugh hysterically. 
„So you mean to tell me you are a ghost, or what?“
„If you want to put it like that….at least I am not a living, breathing human like you are.“
The girl wanted to laugh again, but then she realized that it was true. He didn’t breath.
„But how….and why…“ she stuttered „Are you always here?“
„Only once every year, for one day. Then I have to jump, again and again.“ 
„I ….I don’t quite know what to say. It’s been long since I believed in things like that.“ It was not just what the boy told that confused the girl. It was the security with which he told it. And the of course, the fact he did not breath, she thought. Maybe she was just dreaming, she always had had a lot of fantasy.
„How old are you?“ The boy  suddenly asked. 
„17. My 18th birthday is in two days. Obviously, I was not planning to reach this day.“ An insecure smile appeared on the girls face. As if she wasn’t sure whenever it was acceptable to smile away the heaviness of the words that she just had spoken. 
„That’s exactly how old I was. Or am.“ The boy didn’t smile when he responded. „I never got turn 18. They stole it from me. They took it, when they came for me today 75 years ago. And I thought I could run away…..but they were faster….jumping from here was my last hope to escape….but there was no boat underneath for me, just dark water……..“  He made a pause, while in front of his inner eye the events from so long ago had become alive again „I really don’t understand how you wanted to give all of this away by free will.“
„You say that as if my live was fully mine. But it isn’t. It is theirs.“ The girl sounded nearly upset. That was strange, she thought, when she heard her own words. If what the boy was telling was true, shouldn’t she feel sorry for him? And why did she accept his words as truth so easily to begin with? Was it the absurdity of this strange situation that made her believe something even more absurd as if it was the most normal thing on earth? 
„Theirs?“ The boys question brought her back to what seemed to be reality.
„My parent’s. Friends. Society. The life I live, I am living it because of them. To fulfill their expectations. It’s their voices in my head that make choices, not me. The voices that whisper or scream, but never shut up. And the pressure that….“ The girl looked like she had wanted to say something else, but then had swallowed the words before they could come out. „But I do not see how this is any of your business. Whatever I do with my future, it won’t return yours.“
A silence followed, and she regretted her words, which were still lying on her tongue heavily. 
„That’s true.“ The boy finally said. His voice wasn’t angry or bitter, not like she had expected. Not even sad, nearly….calm. „But what about your future? Don’t you have dreams?“
„Sure I do. But I am scared that one day, I will have to admit that they won’t ever come true. You see, I’d rather die now at 17, where everything still could be, than at 70, where everything is just a could have been. I’d rather bury myself then my dreams. If that makes sense, somehow.“
„It does. May I ask why you dream of?“ The boys face displayed true curiosity.
The girls answer was short. But for a second, there was light in her eyes. „Hilarious things. Of changing the world, somehow, for better.“
„And why is that hilarious?“
The light had vanished immediately. „Well, how should I be able to change the world if I can’t even change myself?“ 
„So are you going to try it again? I mean….burying yourself?“ 
„I don’t know. It feels strange now. When I jumped…..I was so ken on everything. You see, this was not some kind of spontaneous decision. It is an idea I had for long, sometimes weaker, sometimes stronger…..But it would also so strange going home into our empty house now, waiting for my family to come back from their trip and talking to them as if nothing had happened and…….“ Again, she seemed as if there was something else she wanted to say, but the girl remained silent and bit her lip instead.
„You never talked to anyone about this, did you?“
„No. No one would have understood. Also…I didn’t want anyone to be worried. I did not want them having to carry the burden of knowledge. I thought silence was easier….for all of us. I thought it’s better to be alone with it, even though it’s killing me. That is also why I chose tonight, where my parents and sister are sleeping at my aunt's place 200 kilometers away.....so that they wouldn't have to find me. And why I wanted to make it look like an accident.“
„Oh, that’s why you have a bike lying on the bridge.“
„Excatly. I lived with so many lies, so why not die with one?“ The girl’s voice cracked a little. „But well, apparently I fail dying just as much as I fail living.“ Before the boy had decided whenever to smile about her words, that sounded funny in such a sad way, she continued, as a new thought had appeared on her mind. „It’s strange, isn’t it? And a little unfair. You wanted to live when you jumped. I wanted to die. But the outcome was the exact opposite.“  The girl looked up into the dark sky full of stars. „Do you think there is a reason why?“ 
„Why I am dead and you are not?“ The boy took while to watch the sky as well, before he responded. „I think there is. But trying to figure it out would be as trying to figure out the reason why the stars are shining, or why the sun rises again every day. It’s impossible.“
„But you can know why the stars shine“, she protested after some time. „You can know the chemical reactions that take place and cause the release of energy which we witness as light.“
„Oh yes, that reason we can know.“ He nodded, and if she would have looked at him, she would have seen a tiny smile. „But I meant something else. I mean the reason behind it. The reason why those reactions happen in first place. You live because the was a boat under the bridge, I am dead because there was none. And there surely is a reason for that boat to be here. But what I mean is that reason behind it all. Why do those reactions happen we witness as light? Why are we even here to witness?“
„I don’t know. I struggle to believe there is a reason at all.“
„Do you believe in God?“
„Do you think I would have jumped if I did?“
„When I jumped, I did.“
„And now?“
„I guess.  As I don’t think that you survived by simple chance."
The girl shook her head, but with a smile. „Would it change a thing if it was?“
„Maybe. Or if you at least believed that, too. That there is a reason why you live.“
„I don’t know if I can do that. Believe I mean. It is not that I didn’t try to believe that before.“
„But you also didn’t believe in ghosts before, did you?“ The girl could not help but laugh. Just for a moment, but it was real. A laughter that one could not helpmeet join in.
„Regardless, thanks for spending the night with me.“ She the said to the boy. „For what reason ever. It…..it made me feel less lonely. And…it is even worse to be alone at night than during the day“ The girl smiled her insecure smile again. This time, it was returned by the boy. „Thank you, too. I….I haven’t talked to anyone for so long. I would have been strange. Being with those who got to live while I was dead. All the days I got in this world, I just spend them at this bridge, jumping of it again and again, as if that could change a thing. I never even checked on my friends and family.“  He paused, as if he had to take a second to realize the value of his own words. „It’s strange now, 75 years and not a thought about the people I Ioved. But talking to you….it made me feel somehow alive again. Human. And like I actually want to see this day coming“  The boy looked down, then up, as if he did not know where to go with his eyes, when he noticed that their surroundings had begun to change. "Look, the sky already gets brighter“
Both watched as the small town, that could have been everywhere, slowly was lightened up by the rising sun, while the stars above their heads disappeared, and black turned blue. Soon the first citizens would get up, cars, bicycles, busy managers heading for work and children walking to school would fill the streets. Right now, they were just sitting in the silence before, that could end at any time.

"What is your name?", suddenly the girl asked. 
"David. Yours?"
" Elisabeth,....after my grandma," the girl responded and then added "Friends call me Elli."
"Well Elli", David smiled, "What are we gonna do now? I still got a day to sped here“
Elisabeth smiled, too, and her eyes were bright again. "I still don't have a plan....but getting of this boat might be a good start."

-A/N 1843 words, congrats if you made it here. It's a bit different from my other storys.....probably because I wrote it just for myself  (when I had no one to spend the night with).....
Maybe some of you like it regardless it's trashy....
Stay human,
Sero 💙✌-

Based on a prompt by nerdsunite864 😉😊