To be or not to be

Ed was almost bouncing along the path, singing random rock songs to herself in the odd, gravel-like voice all the songs she’d heard had had in them. She could hardly get through a verse without laughing at the sound of herself, but she was having fun and she decided that was all that mattered.

She'd never been able to understand the lyrics, either, so she was simply mimicking the lead singer's voice and yelling out whatever she could remember from the few songs she'd heard.

A silver snake slithered by her feet, causing her to first jump and then crouch down and watch it disappear into the grass. Funny, she didn't know snakes came in silver. Red and orange, and lots of greens, perhaps, but she'd never seen a silver one before. She shrugged, standing up and continuing on.

Someone else? What was someone else doing out here? Ed walked up to her curiously, staring up at the knife in her palm and tilting her head to the side. "Why do you have a knife?" She questioned, forgetting to change her voice back to normal and jumping slightly at the sound of the deep, almost unintelligible voice. She laughed quietly, covering her mouth with both hands. "It sounds like stale bread, doesn't it?" She questioned, completely forgetting the knife in the girl's hands.

She suddenly remembered, black eyes going wide and "Are you gonna do suicide?" she asked, bouncing up and down on her heels at the possibility. "I don't think that's how you do it. You're supposed to jump off the cliff." She pointed in what she thought was the general direction of the cliffs, looking up at the girl curiously.

Ed smiled, happy that she'd been able to put the girl on the right track. "I've seen six suicides," She announced, tagging along behind her. "Only two of them did it right, I think. The other ones left behind a big mess. Someone had to light them up on fire to fix their mistake."

She didn't trust the girl to do it by herself, no. Maybe when she got to the cliff she would take out her knife again and try to commit suicide like that. She shook her head sadly, looking up at the older girl again. "Why are you going to commit suicide? Everyone I asked about it said it hurt. I don't really believe them, though, because none of them have ever tried it before."

Edward shrugged, wondering what was wrong with this girl. Well, she was committing suicide, after all. She'd heard that most of the time you were upset when you committed suicide, but she'd never actually seen anyone get like this... "I was considering doing it myself, if it was fun. Gathering information to make an informed decision." She felt slightly proud for knowing the phrase, one her maman had used countless times on her tante before deciding to send her away.

She knew she was bad, felt like curling up in a ball and bracing herself for the kicks. But she didn't feel any sort of obligation to this girl, and she had no doubt she could out run her. "I was going to the cliff anyway. It's nice and quiet there, except for people screaming sometimes. And I figure you can do what you need, and then it'll be quiet again and I can play." She slowed down, sticking her hands in the tiny pockets of her pants and walking behind the girl far enough away that she wouldn't be able to turn around and hurt her if she wanted.