Fear,_over_the_Edge

Over the Edge Mara was not your average twenty-eight year old. She worked really hard throughout high school and college and was now the publisher of a hit magazine called Fashion N Makeup. She started the magazine just a little over one year after graduating from college in New York City. She went to the Newport Academy where she studied to become an editor. She had big dreams, great financial contacts and backers, and timely breaks that enabled her to start her magazine. Fashion N Makeup was an immediate success. Her best friend Khole was the editor of the magazine. They met when they were in their second year at Newport. By their third year, they were best friends. They rented a cute town home near Newport and did everything together. Mara and Khole took weekend trips to Manhattan to shop and hang out. After graduating from college, Mara asked Khole to help with her new magazine. Now, they shared a small house in New York City together. The headquarters for Fashion N Makeup was in a large office building in Manhattan. Their house, unfortunately, was in New York City. This was a major issue for Mara because to get to the office she needed to take the Manhattan Bridge. She had a major fear of bridges, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t drive across a bridge. When Mara was in eleventh grade in high school one of her close friends, Ella, died in a car accident. She was traveling over a bridge and a speeding drunk driver hit her head on. The man was driving a Ford Truck while she was in her small Volkswagen bug. The man hit her, and she flipped the car over the side of the bridge. The water was deep, and the currents were fast. Mara’s friend’s body was never found. Ever since that accident, Mara had a fear of bridges. She would travel miles and miles out of her way to avoid driving across a bridge. She was okay if someone else was driving, but if she was behind the wheel, she would freeze in sheer terror. She had seen many doctors and eventually was diagnosed with Gephyrophobia, which meant fear of bridges. They gave her medications to calm her nerves and tried hypnosis on her. She spent many hours with Psychiatrists. Nothing worked. “I cannot and will not drive across a bridge. My friend died. It will happen to me,” she told her doctors. Because of this major fear of hers, whenever Mara went to the office she had to depend on Khole to drive her. On several occasions, they had discussed moving on the other side of the river from where they were now, but there was just no where to live over there. It was mostly office buildings and stores. Her friends tried everything. Khole’s older brother Bobby had a friend like Mara who was afraid of bridges. He helped him get over his fear. Khole asked Bobby to try to help Mara. On a clear summer night when there was little traffic, Bobby took Mara out onto the bridge. He drove half way across and told her to drive the rest of the way over. She was calm at first but once she hit that driver’s seat she flipped out. She yelled, “I can’t to this. I will never be able to do this.” They switched places and Bobby drove her the rest of the way home. He told Khole that he tried but it didn’t work. “I tried this with my friend Rob, and he eventually overcame it. We just worked at it. It’s a different story with Mara, her fear is too powerful,” he said. Khole went out to dinner in Manhattan with some of her co-worker. She invited Mara. “Mara, come out to dinner with us, it will be fun!” She replied, “No not tonight. I’m just tired and going to take it easy at the house.” “Okay, if you say so,” Khole replied. That evening while Khole was out, Mara rented a movie and hung out by herself. She fell asleep on the couch at about 11:00pm. She awoke at 12:15am to Miley Cyrus’s hit single Party in the U.S.A. Just a few seconds later she found her phone that was ringing. ” Khole'” she answered. “Hey. I hate to bother you so late. We got in a wreck with a pickup truck and the cop said our car isn’t safe to drive home. We are at the corner of 15th street and Melamine lane. Please come quick. It’s cold and I’m scared.” Just as she finished saying that Khole’s phone died. Mara ran to the bathroom and splashed water on her face. She had been so sound asleep and the phone call didn’t really register with her yet. All she knew was that she would do anything for her friend. She went into the kitchen and grabbed the keys to her new 2009 Range Rover. As she walked out the door, a slight breeze hit her. She got into her car and started down the freeway toward Manhattan. It took her about ten minutes to get to the Manhattan Bridge. Until this point, she hadn’t really been thinking about anything except rescuing her friend. She couldn’t believe it. Somehow, she had been in such a fog, that she was actually driving across the Manhattan Bridge. Her tremendous fear of bridges sent her into an absolute panic. Before she even knew what she was doing she ran, full speed, into the car in front of her. The airbag exploded into her face and chest. Suddenly she hurt all over and could only cry. As she stumbled out of the car, the person in front of her got out of her car also. The woman was very understanding when she told her that her fear of bridges actually caused the wreck on the bridge. She tried calling Khole but her phone was off. Instead, she got in touch with one of the girls that was with her. After the police came and wrote a report, they took Mara with them in the police car to get the stranded girls. By the time Mara and Khole got home it was almost 3:00 am. Mara told Khole, “I can’t believe that I ended up on that bridge by myself. Even though I got in a wreck, I think I am cured. I feel like I have overcome my fear, even though it took a wreck on the bridge to do so. “The bottom line is, I am glad you are okay. You are such a friend to have come to my aid. To think that you will be able to drive over bridges makes me feel great!” replied Khole. The next morning they saw on the news that there was a bad wreck on the Manhattan Bridge that past night. The accident happened about twenty minutes after Mara had left. A drunk driver was speeding and hit another guy head on and his car flipped over the side of the bridge. One man was found dead. As the two girls were watching the news in silence, Mara looked at Khole and said, “I think someone special was watching over me last night.”