The sound echoes over the bridges as a scratchy sort of music. The splintering cry of gulls, the rumble of exhaust. The jumper’s soundtrack.

They’re talking about adding nets, an enforced second chance.

But for now, the way down is clean, crisp (a surprisingly smog free day...), an absolutely beautiful sight. Light tearing into every wave tip.

He finishes his lunch, sighs, thinks of the almost, the day he came so close. He kicks a rock, watches its angelic glide down, down towards the river. And he returns to work.

C. C. Russell

Poetry by C. C. Russell has previously appeared in The New York Quarterly, Hazmat Review, Grasslimb, and Rattle among others. His short fiction has been published in The Meadow, Oyster Boy Review, and Microfiction Monday Magazine.

Russell currently lives in Wyoming with his wife, daughter, and two cats. In the past, he has lived in Ohio and New York. He holds a BA in English from the University of Wyoming and was the editor of their Owen Wister Review. He has held jobs in vocations ranging from hotel maintenance to dive bar DJ to retail management.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Chinese Fire Drill in Microfiction Monday Magazine (seventh edition, 14 July 2014); this story is the last micro on the page, but certainly not the least of them!

⚡ Mike, Waiting, the Smoke Around Your Head Closing In, a poem in Oyster Boy Review (Issue 13, Summer 2001)