Falling - Paige Cunningham (read book .TXT) 📗

Falling


The storm clouds rolled in like dark, grey shadows, creeping across the once blue sky, covering the glorious sun, plunging the beach into utter darkness. The ghostly wind whistled in her ear, throwing her long blond hair in every direction and ushering in the new violet clouds. Their colour was that of a newly formed bruise. However, despite the bruises that were plaguing the heavenly sky, the glass shattering scream of the wind and the cold that whipped her face and sent multiple shivers down her spine, she stood there feeling more free, peaceful and happy than she had her whole life.
She looked down from the chalky white cliff, at the pebbles that created the beach below. She stared at the spectrum of browns and creams and marvelled at the emptiness of the beach. Not a soul in sight and she was alone, finally. Just her, her thoughts and no one else to distract her from admiring the world around. She drew her eyes away from the sparkling brown gems and allowed her self to take in the magnificence of the sea. She hadn’t realised that the approaching storm had transformed the beautiful, calm, green sea that shimmered in the infinite sunlight, into a navy monstrosity, whose chaotic waves crashed manically into the cliff that she was standing on. The sea spray rose higher and higher with every minute, a foamy hand scaling the cliff trying to reach out for her but never rising high enough to touch her velvet skin.
She took in a deep breath, her nostrils filled with the salty aroma of the beach. She bent down to stroke the fresh blades of dewy green grass, her fingers entwined with the waxy blades and as she disturbed them they released the musky sent of a natural, damp meadow.
Standing up again, she was forced backwards by a gust of wind. It appeared angry, tormented as it screeched in her ear and smacked hard against her fragile chest. But however hard the wind pounded against her, she was unfazed by it as though it were nothing but a light breeze. She held out her pale arms and leaned forward, just the wind supporting her and keeping her from falling. She closed her eyes, breathing in the cool sea air, listening to the wild waves slam against the cliff. Her heart beat slow and her breathing steady, completely contradicting the danger she was in. Luckily for her, the pressure of the wind never faltered and was strong enough to hold her in place.
The anticipation of what was coming made her anxious. She had been waiting there all day, waiting for the rain to come and wash away all of her worries, waiting for the thunder to distract her from her fears, waiting for the lightning to strike and awaken all of her senses. She didn’t even flinch when the first icy cold drop fell onto her cheek and ran down her smooth skin.
Only moments later the clouds unleashed their full fury, sending down showers of perfect raindrops. Her golden blond hair changed colour into a mousy brown as the water drenched it. Her flowing white dress clung to her figure and the rain seeped through the satin, soaking her skin. Each drop sent a shock around her body and yet her posture didn’t change, her arms still out by her sides and her body still leaning forward relying on the wind for support. She tilted her head backwards and let the rain splash her face. The cold water felt so refreshing and her straight, serious face instantly changed into an angelic grin. Her rosy lips turned up at the corners and parted to let out a small chuckle, the pure rain fell into her open mouth and the cool drops ran down the back of her throat.
The thunder clapped so loudly it made the cliff tremble. The pounding waves and crashing thunder collaborated to create a great crescendo of sound, the crescendo fused with the whistling wind, harmonising to make a strangely beautiful noise. She listened intently to this magnificent song, focused on this very moment, memorising each note of the melody, the natural smells of the beach, how each drop felt on her skin and how even though there was no light, the pebbles still shimmered and glistened as if they were radiating their own light.
Then, there it came, the climax of the storm. A great shot of lightning shone through the grey and purple clouds, illuminating the dark, lifeless sky. Its immense beauty was doubled as its mirror image was reflected to the ocean below. Her heartbeat increased in correlation with the lightning, it was as if this sudden bolt had sent a shot of adrenalin through her veins.
She felt empowered. Nothing could touch her.
Vindicated.
Liberated.
Free.
“Hey, “a man’s voice called from behind her, his voice had an edgy, worried tone to it. She immediately realised what she must have looked like to him, she was standing at the edge of a cliff with outstretched arms and her whole body was leaning forward. It was clear he thought that she was going to jump.
“Hey, what are you-“he called, she turned to reassure him that she had intentions of jumping but she lost her footing, before he could finish speaking she was already over the side.
She didn’t scream or shout, her heartbeat was steady as was her breathing and she fell with such precision and grace it was like she was a professional. She executed a perfect swan dive, however she failed to see a ledge on the cliff and she smacked her head against the edge. The blow to her head made her loose consciousness and she plummeted the hundred foot drop to the water. She twirled in the air like a falling snowflake, twisting seamlessly in the icy air. Before reaching the menacing water that awaited her, she opened her eyes. Her vision blurred and her head pounding, she found it extremely hard to focus. She blinked hard, trying to fix her obscured vision. It worked just in time for her to see a dark figure staring down at her from the cliff; he seemed to be shouting something at her but her head was pounding so hard she was unable to hear it.
He dove off the cliff avoiding the ledge that had caused her so much trouble. He was gaining on her, zooming through the air at an impossible speed; the determination in his eyes was the last thing she saw.
Smashing into the water was as painful as falling on concrete. The impact produced a sound louder, sharper and harsher than the mighty boom of the thunder. She attempted to scream but it just got caught in her throat, her open mouth let the salty sea water flood in and choke her. She swallowed but the burning sensation at the back of her throat scalded her like she had swallowed fire. The darkness crept closer filling her with emptiness until she became a hollow shell of nothingness, but still she fought on. She was desperate not to let the darkness take over completely. However, her resistance was futile as the force of the shadow became an unbearable weight, pulling her down deeper and deeper until the glistening light above had disappeared and she was surrounded by darkness.


1.
Everyone hides. We act and pretend, put up walls and barriers, hide behind masks and facades. We lie and fake our way through life so that no one ever knows what’s really inside. We take on personas and live up to our stereotypes and never let anyone close enough to see who we really are. But when everyone’s fake, who’s real? When everyone hides, how can we find ourselves? How can we find each other? Sometimes when you crack the wall, break through the barrier you find something more amazing than you could ever comprehend. Something precious and good. Something that warms your heart. But what if underneath that mask there is something dark? Something dangerous lurking behind it. Evil. What if you find that you’ve uncovered something that was better off left hidden?

Turning into the schools car park I couldn’t believe how early it was. It was the earliest I had been up in six weeks and the dark purple circles under my eyes were a clear sign to my exhaustion. I lifted up my glasses and wiped the sleep from my eyes with the back of my hand, trying to pay attention to the road. I wished that I was still on my holiday. This was only a two day week – which I thought was ridiculous, why didn’t we just start on Monday? - But I knew that by Friday afternoon I would be absolutely exhausted.
A boy darted in front of me and I slammed my foot down on the breaks, forcing my car to an abrupt stop. Judging form the lost, bewildered look on his face I could tell that it was his first day at this school. He looked about my age and I thought it was incredibly stupid of him to transfer schools with just one year left. I was tempted to honk my horn at him, warning him not to run in front of moving cars again but he just stared at me with his emerald green eyes. They were the most peculiar set of eyes, beautiful and enchanting; they sparkled in the autumn sun. It was strange; these eyes were like nothing I had ever seen before and yet they seemed familiar, like I knew them from somewhere. I couldn’t move. I was in a trance; staring into his eyes, my whole body went numb. I couldn’t explain it but I couldn’t pull away from his gaze. I blinked trying to escape from the trance and when I opened my eyes he was gone.
I must have circled the car park three times before I finally found a space; I regretted my decision not to come in early and I felt incredibly stupid, thinking that it would be easy to find a space on the first day of school. My cherry red Volkswagen Beetle purred as I eased it to a stop in the space that seemed to be a million miles away from the school gate. I couldn’t believe my luck, all of the spaces in the car park and I got stuck with the one that was the furthest away from the school.
After writing myself a mental note to come in earlier tomorrow, I proceeded towards the rusted hunk of metal that was the school gate. I saw a variety of different cars in a rainbow of colours. I passed a flashy, silver Porsche. Its glossy bonnet reflected the sunlight and blinded me. I realised that this car must have cost a fortune but it