The pitter patter of my heart grows louder as I stare into her eyes. My mask slowly starting to peel from my face as I dangle over the edge of the bridge just barely holding onto her, my love. The rain pours down heavily, the drops of water streaming over us. My eyes flick down towards our hands where my grip is strong, but slipping.

Her fearful eyes look into mine as she holds on for dear life. My stomach is riddled with knots as I once more try to pull us both up, I have to save her. Time ticks by slowly as the mask peels further, revealing some of my face. I stop, frozen in place. If she finds out who I am, she’ll be so disappointed.

Pictures of her flash through my mind, all the images mentally saved of her from across the hall, laughing and smiling with her friends, her eyes lighting up. Her voice, she’s spoken to me a few times, just trivial things. An aura of beauty and strength seemed to constantly float around her, drawing me in. But I’m simply an outcast. One who is barely getting by, who struggles to fit in and who’s worth is diminished every day. No, she can’t find out.

My broken image hidden behind a powerful and capable force would be bared to the one person who I didn’t want to know see it. For I know that deep down, she’ll never love someone like me.

Yet right now as I stare into her sparkling eyes, her strong aura is now broken into a petrified one. I know I must do whatever it takes to save her. With that thought in mind I hook my feet through the bars of the bridge and summon up all my strength. Slowly but surely I’m pulling us up until I’m securely on the bridge. My hands grip her tighter as hers begin the slip from mine, making the task seem impossible.

“You can do it,” she says her voice shaking a little but full of sincerity, that I believe her. My mask falls further revealing half of my face but I ignore it as I hoist her up once more. Now grabbing her waist, she latches onto the bridge and together, she’s pulled to safety.

Breathing heavily, her hands rest on the ground as she bends over. I watch as a sense of relief fall over her and she rises to my level. I feel the need to shy away from her as my mask falls off my face, her eyes following it. She trails her eyes back to meet mine and my heart lurches in my chest, my mind swarming with anxiety induced thoughts. Yet as the rain pelts down on us, her gaze softens.

“You saved me,” she says. My head nods on its own while my mind is still trapped in itself fighting for control. Suddenly, I find light and warmth when she embraces me and I realized she didn’t care who I was. As I stood there in the arms of the woman I loved most, I saw my mask be carried away in the wind and in that moment, I couldn’t find it in me to care.