Wind swept over my skin, chilling me. I fell farther and faster. Closing my eyes, I smiled. I heard nothing, felt nothing, thought nothing. But, the sensation was overwhelming. Slowly, I opened my eyes and my smile faded. I heard the wind passing sharply and harshly past my ears. I felt fear envelope me. And I thought, I’m going to die.
“Haley?” I look up as Miss Taylor calls my name.
“Umm…can you repeat the question?” I ask and I feel my face go red as my classmates laugh around me, making rude faces and comments.
Miss Taylor sighs, “Jessica? Can you please answer the question?”
Jessica Marsh gives me a smug look as she answers Miss Taylor’s question, still unknown to me, “The war of 1812.”
“Thank you, Jessica,” Miss Taylor says and continues. “Now, I want everyone to turn to page six hundred and thirty-four in your text books.”
I open up my book and slip my paper into the binding, pretending to read. I don’t pick up my pencil again, but I just stare at the picture that had kept me from answering the question.
It was a simple sketch of a water fall. The Falls. My family and I go there every spring. I wait with anticipation as the time rolls by each year. That’s what’s keeping my mind so occupied. Once school ends I will be off to The Falls. It’s like Christmas for me.
This year I especially needed to go. We go for a whole two weeks and I would take two days to get away from school. School is hard for me both academically and socially.
I’ve never been to well in school, getting a c plus average. This year I moved to Widow Brooke High School at the beginning of the second semester. The teachers here are hard. They don’t give me any second chances. I miss my old school. I especially miss my friends.
Once I came here I became the “New Girl” permanently. I still am. I don’t have any friends and everyone neglects me as a stranger every day. They treat me like I’m a disease or something. But, I have to deal with it. I just hope not for too long. That’s why I want to escape to The Falls.\
The bell finally rings and I shut my book quickly, too excited to remember to take the sketch out. Everyone is out the door before I am. As I am about to leave Miss Taylor calls me over to her desk. I nervously and anxiously walk over.
“Haley, are you alright today? Your mind seemed to be straying from my lesson.” Miss Taylor looks at me with a strict look.
I look towards the door, “I’m fine. I just…haven’t been feeling too well lately.”
“That’s no excuse for not listening in class, is it?”
“No, Miss Taylor.”
Miss Taylor looks at me again, unsmiling, “You may go.”
I just about run from the room. I can’t help smiling as images of The Falls rush through my head. I burst out the school’s doors and I see my parents waiting for me. They smile warmly.
“How was school?” my dad asks as I climb into the back seat and through my backpack onto the floor.
“It was fine.” My parents didn’t know I was struggling. They got calls from the school on multiple occasions about my school work, but they thought I was happy at school. I never told them the truth.
“Nikki called today. She said they’re going to be a little late this year to The Falls,” my mother says without looking at me. She must know I’d be disappointed.
“Okay.” I didn’t want to show her I was.
Nikki Black is my best friend. I miss her the most. Her family always comes up with us to The Falls each year and I was so excited to see her. I just knew everything would be better once we got there.
We don’t even go home. My parents had already packed everything and we drive right from the school. I shake every second of the ride. I can’t keep my mind from The Falls. The drive there seems like it take days, but in reality it only takes a few hours.
Finally, the car pulls into the camp sight, right on top of The Falls. I jump out of the car before my parents can even turn it off. I run to the edge of the cliff and look over. Two hundred feet down. I breathe in the sweet air of the rushing water and for once I smile a genuine smile.
“Haley, don’t get too close to the edge,” my mom calls to me as her and my dad start to unpack the tents. She says that to me every year and this year I’m glad to hear it.
“Come help us set up the tents,” Dad calls to me and I walk over, happy to help, excited even.
Once we get the tents set up and every inside, I pull out my blanket and walk back to the edge of The Falls. I lay out my blanket right next to the water and sit down, taking in the setting sun’s rays.
I suddenly wake up, confused. I realize I had fallen asleep on my blanket and someone had thrown another one over me and put my head on a pillow. I do this almost every year.
I look up at the stars, the millions and millions of stars. I sigh and close my eyes again, just listening to the sound of the water falling off of the cliff. I fall asleep to it.
In the morning, I wake to the bright sunrise. Sitting up, I look out onto the horizon. Over my shoulder I hear my parents waking up.
“Good morning,” my mom says in her bright morning tone.
Slowly my dad comes out after her with bags under his eyes. My mom had always been a morning person. My dad? Not so much. I took after my dad, but when I was here, I could stay awake all day and all night.
“Good morning!” I call. Standing up, I walk over to the cooler and take out a jug of milk.
After we eat a nice breakfast of cold cereal my mom’s phone rings. She picks it up.
“Hello?” She says brightly.
I can hear another voice speaking on the other line and I recognize Nikki, but I can’t tell what she’s saying. My mom’s face darkens and she frowns. I look at her nervously.
“Oh, that’s alright. We’ll be fine. Thank you for calling, Nikki. I’ll tell her.” My mom ends the call and looks over to me, “Nikki says that they can’t make it.”
I just stare in shock and disappointment. I feel as if a rock just hit me in the gut. Tears start to fill my eyes and I can’t help but choke my sobs. My dad puts his arm around me.
“We know how much you wanted to see her, Haley, but these things happen.” I look up at my dad angrily.
“No! These things just happen to me.” I shove his arm off and run into my tent, zipping up the door.
My parents never come in to see if I’m alright and I’m glad they don’t or I may have given something away. I hate to admit it, but I was thinking.
When I went into my tent I thought hard on what to do. I thought about my life and what it had become, how it was falling apart. I have nothing anymore. It seemed in a second that my life just became pointless, like it was worth it. For hours I thought about this until it grew dark and I heard my parents go to bed.
I breathe in and out slowly, trying to calm my fears. Small tears stream down my cheek as I think about what I am about to do. Slowly, I unzip my tent and walk out into the cool, night air. I walk over to my blanket which is stilling lying by the water. I sit down on it.
Once I calm myself, I stand back up and fold my blanket and neatly set in onto the ground. Then, I remove my socks and jacket and lay them next to the blanket. I then step up to the cliff’s edge. I breathe slowly and quietly. Closing my eyes I take one more breath, before I fall.
It seemed like hours as I was falling. It was quiet and calming. Soothing, almost.
Wind sweeps over my skin, chilling me. I fall farther and faster. Closing my eyes, I smile. I hear nothing, feel nothing, think nothing. But, the sensation is overwhelming. Slowly, I open my eyes and my smile fades. I hear the wind passing sharply and harshly past my ears. I feel fear envelope me. And I think, I’m going to die.
But I didn’t and I will always regret that.
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