After a failed suicide attempt, a spiraling and despondent Bailey is committed to a Providence mental hospital in the midst of her mourning for her pessimistic and spiteful lost love, whose life was claimed by the attempt. During the seemingly most dismal period of her life, she encounters Jamison, a young man, diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic who has been living in the hospital for four years as the only patient who truly never belonged there in the first place. During their time together, the two teenagers encounter joy, sorrow, and everything in between on their journey back whatever it is that recovery means. 

Bailey’s eyes frantically scanned the parking lot. For what, she was unsure – human life, she supposed. Regardless of what she was searching for, all she saw was weeds, weeds sprouting from cracks in the concrete, desperate for a drink of precious sunlight. She pitied the weeds. Or maybe she didn’t pity them. Maybe pity was simply all she was capable of feeling in that moment.
The shadow of the disheveled building swallowed her as if it were a whale. She leaned against it, feeling the roughness of the wan bricks sink into her gaunt shoulder blades, and she brought the cigarette between her fingers to her lips for one last drag before grinding it into the bricks. Her heart pounded in her chest hard and loud, so that she could almost feel it hammering against the roof of her mouth. Storm clouds were gathering inside her, like they always did in one form or another. This storm would be big.
“Oh, come on, Gabe,” she groaned quietly. “Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up.”
And with the abruptness of a massive clap of thunder, that kind of thunder that scares you and makes you angry because it scared you, the rusty door flew open with a hideous shriek. Bailey leapt off the wall, startled, but when Gabriel leaned out of the building and simpered at her, the way he always did, she relaxed.
“No one’s here,” he said shaking his head. “It’s just like I told you.”
“Is it safe?”
Gabe glanced back up into the stairwell, and he apprehensively shrugged. “No,” he admitted plainly, “but is safety really our concern?”
The storm cleared enough for Baily to smile. “No.”
“Ok then.” Gabe offered his hand. “Let’s go.”
Bailey immediately slipped her hand into Gabe’s, feeling the warmth of his flesh mingle with the clamminess of hers, and he lead her up the stairwell. Each flight sagged dangerously, threatening to crumble beneath their weight. Several times one of their feet would land on the weakest point of a plank, nearly condemning the owner of that foot to a hard and treacherous fall. Somehow, though, after a dozen perilous flights, the two arrived at the roof of the building. The door closed behind them, locking instantly. This didn’t matter to them, however.
The black tar roof was hot and sticky, melting in the early summer heat like taffy. Gabe did not surrender Bailey’s hand as he crossed that black tar roof, seeming to hover above it as if the concept of walking was ludicrous, and Bailey followed, not hovering, but stumbling, wary of the puddles of tar waiting to claim her sneaker. It wasn’t until the pair arrived at the parapet of the roof that Bailey was absorbed by grandeur. From where they stood, Lawrence may as well have been the whole world, a world of brick and mortar. The clock tower stared them in the face from across the river, and the sorrowful sound of its bells began echoing over the murky water. It was 1:45 pm.
“I’ve never seen Lawrence like this,” Gabe noted then, “from this point, I mean.”
The nearly ancient mills hugged the river’s edge so tightly it looked though they could topple into the water with the next errant breeze. If you leaned out, you could follow the river to the double-decker bridge, but after that, you could only imagine what places it touched on its journey to the Atlantic. In that moment, Lawrence, the city that had raised Gabe and Bailey, seemed so far away, and still so close, so sheltered from all things good and righteous.
“It’s almost beautiful,” Gabe marveled.  
Tentatively, Bailey rose onto her toes and peered downward. “The river’s high,” she said, her eyes fixed on the turbid depths of the Merrimac.
It was unusually high after a torrential spring. Crossing the Duck Bridge into North Lawrence, you could always see the bottom of the river, but not now. Now, the river looked like a monster, a bluish-brown villain that would swallow Bailey whole if she weren’t careful.
“Yeah, it is.”
Gabe trickled back into reality, and when he looked at Bailey, he saw the anxiety fixed in her eyes, hazel eyes, hazel like maple syrup. He squeezed her sweaty hand, tightly, and he drew her closer. Bailey leaned against him, feeling the perspiration on his thin upper arm smear against her cheek. She inhaled the fabric softener in his t-shirt – store brand. In that inwardly tumultuous moment, that smell was better than Versace.
“We’re going to be all right, Bails,” he vowed. “It’ll be just like I promised.”
“I didn’t think…” She shook her head hopelessly. “I didn’t think it would be so…scary.”
“It’s only this part that’s scary. It’ll be easy after – you’ll see.”
“You aren’t scared?”
He side-stepped away from her far enough that she could very plainly see his face, and she knew. She knew from the fire in his eyes that Gabe wasn’t scared – he was excited.
“Watch me,” he said.
He planted a single foot on the edge of the parapet, and he hoisted himself onto it, as if he’d done it his whole life, like it was his duty to do so. He rose above her now, above the whole world, and as Bailey stood staring, melded to the roof, Gabe roared. He roared the roar only a certain few know to roar. He roared the roar of victory.
“Oh, it’s so f***ing easy, Bails,” he called, his voice cracking hoarsely. “It’s amazing – come on.”
Don’t. Bailey wanted to say it, to herself, to Gabe. She wanted to, badly – she didn’t know why she didn’t, but she didn’t. She said nothing. She merely lifted a quivering foot off the molten tar, her sneaker sticking only for a moment, and suddenly, as Gabe heaved her off the roof and onto the parapet, she found herself face-to-face with the bluish-brown monster. The river had always seemed so harmless – why was it so different now? Wasn’t it still water? Wasn’t it still the Merrimac? No, no it wasn’t. That had been before, before this moment. This was now. And now was terrifying.
Her breath had gotten away from her again, and Bailey sucked air in quick, shallow wisps as she felt her insides twisting like animal balloons. Storm clouds were gathering inside her once more, except this time, the rain fell in her tears, and the thunder was the thrashing of her heart. One more day. One more day – seventeen years wasn’t enough. All she wanted was one more day. Couldn’t she have it, just one more?
Gabe grabbed Bailey’s hand, but she hardly noticed – she’d lost all feeling in her limbs. He took in a deep, deep breath, as if to force himself to remember the scent of life, and as he exhaled in an exhilarated burst, he inched closer to the edge.
“Are you ready, Bails?”
Say no. Say no. Say no, dammit. She wasn’t ready. She’d never be ready. She wanted more time. She wanted to say no. But she didn’t.
“Yes.”
Gabe closed his eyes, and he smiled. He never smiled. “I love you.”
It was the last thing Bailey heard before she felt a tremendous jerk, and suddenly her legs were sprawling freely beneath her, and the river was rushing towards her, ready to engulf her and Gabe. She was flying. The world was flying, flying away from her, flaying away with all the fear, and panic and pain. She was free, free from it all.
She would not remember the abruptness of the fall, or the startling pain of her body breaking the surface of the water. She would not remember the strength of the current dragging her down into the depths of a watery and certain abyss. But she would remember the loudness of the clap when she met the surface, and the feeling of Gabe’s hand slipping from hers, lost somewhere in the murky depths. And she would remember thinking Gabe. And that’s all she would remember. Gabe.

This is the preface to the novel itself, in which we meet two essential characters, and we witness the events that set the entire story in motion.