Summary

In Part 1, Chapter 1 the third-person narrator describes the beauty of East Gladness, Connecticut. There are forests and rivers, hot summers, and long winters. Most kids have “nowhere to go on Friday nights.” So, they hang out in Walmart parking lots (5). Oftentimes they get stuck in town and end up with kids or jobs they did not expect.

One rainy evening in September 2009, 19-year-old Hai stands on King Philip’s bridge. Looking out over the grey sky and roiling water, he acknowledges the beauty of the view. He decides to jump.

In Chapter 2, Hai has had a difficult life and the past year has been especially hard. Standing on the bridge’s edge, poised to jump, he remembers a high school student who drowned in the river last summer. He also remembers a classmate describing the feeling of drowning. However, she did not...