"I counted to four while standing on the edge. My swimsuit wasn't like everyone else's in how every one else's was already wet from their jumps. But my trousers were still dry and I knew they were laughing at me.
I counted to five while clenching my teeth. It was a high jump, but there was water below. I knew this. I drove past this every day.
I counted to six when I heard them yelling to me from several feet back.
"Come on, Christian!" I think that was Kyle.
"Deep breath and go, Chris!" Definitely Sean.
"Don't be such a pussy!" I didn't recognize that voice, so I'm guessing it was one of the random guys that tagged along with us.
I counted to seven, wondering how I got here.
We were talking at lunch about how crazy it would be to jump off one of the cliff's near Lindell Beach when someone said it would send an incredible adrenaline rush. Then someone else piped up how you don't grow hair on your chest until you've pushed your boundaries to the extreme.
That's when Sera scolded us for talking about something so dangerous. About how we were making it seem heroic where so many people died from cliff diving; especially considering the recent deaths from a few people who jumped off the cliff's near Lindell.
I counted to eight as I began to notice how shaky I had gotten.
One of the boys-- I think it was Kyle, he said it could be a gateway to manhood or some shit- crap, sorry. But we all got pumped up about it and psyched ourselves up. About two hours later we were cramming into Kyle's van with a few guys from our class as we drove to Lindell Beach.
I counted to nine as I looked over the edge. The waves crashed against the cliff, and I couldn't see past the thick black water. I heard a bit of commotion behind me, but before I could turn I felt someone spin me around.
"Hey!" I exclaimed while trying to not tumble off the cliff. I noticed the green eyes I was looking at belonged to Sera.
"Are you seriously so stupid as to do this?" Her lips quivered a bit, and she kept fumbling to keep her brown hair from being blown into her face.
"How did you get here? You don't drive."
She laughed a bit, "Neither can you, but you managed to catch a ride too."
I looked over her shoulder and noticed how restless the guys were getting. Kyle scowled as he pointed to the cliff.
When I didn't respond she pointed behind her, "Danielle drove me up."
Just as she said Danielle, I noticed her short tan frame leaning against a vibrant, red convertible. I'm surprised I didn't hear her smacking her gum before. Then I noticed something. They were both in their swimsuits. Danielle was in a two-piece yellow one with large round sunglasses-- red of course to match her lipstick.
But when I looked back to Sera, she was wearing a simple black one-piece.
"We realize it's stupid. But, I dunno, we thought since we know CPR and stuff we could just make sure if one of you got hurt we could help." She shrugged, "Besides we're here now, and it's a bit of a drive to go back. And Danielle wanted to be around boys." She smiled at her last comment and we caught ourselves laughing at it.
I ran my hand through my hair as I turned back towards the cliff, "Well, I'm about to jump, so if I need help I won't shout up. But if you hear me shouting, don't jump after me, okay?" I grinned as she nodded.
"Just jump as far away from the cliff as you can, alright?"
I answered by putting some distance between me and the edge. I looked at her before sprinting to the edge.
I lost track of which number I had counted to, so I just let myself leap off.
And then I felt the rush as I fell through the air. My breath became the air and my face was absorbing the sunlight. My limbs were light and my hair was as soft as feathers. I had to remember to position my body properly to land so I didn't hurt myself.
And in an instant, water consumed me. I felt exhilarated as I let myself stay floating under the water. I felt like I was in another world. I felt incredible and soft and peaceful.
I slowly swan up to the surface, inhaling deeply as my lungs felt oxygen. I heard someone yelling, but I was in such a haze that I couldn't make out what they were saying. I looked up at the sky and noticed how the pale yellow light kissed the water so beautifully that it created a liquid gold. A few seagulls squealed above me and I watched in awe as their wings spread wide to take the air current against the cliff. They seemed to fly so easily. I wondered what it would be like to fly like that.
But then I realized I was just exposed to that feeling. It felt like I was flying. I want to keep flying.
Suddenly a giant splash exploded beside me, sending me into shock as to what happened.
A head full of long brown hair popped up gasping and yelling, "Christian!"
I felt my stomach drop when I recognized her.
I choked a bit on water, "Sera?"
Her eyes widened and I saw anger flow through her as she splashed me, "Christian! For God's sake, I thought you were hurt! You didn't shout up, and you said you would if you weren't hurt, and so you were making it seem like you were hurt, and I was so scared because I didn't know what to do when I would get down here because right now I can't see a way to get back up--" I started laughing. Really, really hard. "Why are you laughing? Christian. Christian!" She splashed me again.
I spoke between breaths and water, "I was in awe with everything. The jump was incredible, I was just in another world. I barely heard you yelling, and it was like every image and feeling was amplified. I'm so sorry Sera." I was laughing again. But she sank a bit in the water and moved away from me. I grew a bit solemn, "Sera?"
She went to splash me again but I grabbed her wrists, which is really awkward when you're treading water. I had to push her hands down and continue treading water. She looked at me through her eyelashes and muttered something.
"What?" I swam a bit closer.
"I said you're a jerk for making me think you were hurt!" She splashed me before I could stop her.
"Okay, you really need to stop doing that." I wiped my face. Sera glared at me and smacked her hand into the water to me, and she kept spraying the water for a good minute. Finally, she stopped, huffing a bit.
"Are you done?" I asked.
"Yes." She mumbled, looking unhappy.
"C'mon, let's head up. With how long we're taking, they might be a bit freaked too." Her face lit up a bit with hearing that we're leaving.
We swam over to the cliff and I told her if we held on and moved to the right, there'd be a pathway that some people made so it's easy to get back up.
When we got to the top again, the guys were sitting casually while Danielle was sun bathing. You could see her talking to Sean, who seemed so into the conversation that he didn't even check out her body. I gave him props. When Danielle spotted Sera, she leaped up and shimmied over to her, all the guys swooned pretty hard that I could hardly refrain my laughter.
She dramatically swept Sera up in large hug, "We were all so worried, Ser." She air kissed both her cheeks and went back down to Sean.
Kyle nodded to me, "Not so bad, eh?" He smiled, "And you got Sera to jump, so you killed two birds with one stone!" My smile felt a bit forced, but I asked anyways.
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone who's here has to jump." I felt cold suddenly.
"If they don't want to jump they don't have to." I replied. But the problem wasn't who jumped, but who hadn't. And the only person who hadn't was Danielle.
She waved her hand dismissing the idea, "Oh please, I'm not jumping. I'm tanning. See?" The patted her towel.
Kyle smirked, "Oh, if you don't want to jump that's fine, babe." I saw her clench her teeth.
"Don't call me babe." She stood up, beginning to roll up her towel, "Well, Ser, since you've had your fun and saved Mr. Dreamy, let's haul ass and get out of here." But as she kissed Sean's cheek and stood up-- leaving a bright read kiss mark, may I add-- Kyle stepped in front of her.
"Go? But you haven't made your mark yet, babe." He smiled with his bright white teeth.
I stepped up now, realizing how serious this was getting. I chuckled a bit to break the tension, "Okay, guys, if she doesn't wanna jump, she doesn't have to." I turned to Danielle, "We'll see you at school, have a nice weekend," I stepped to Sera and leaned to her ear, "And I hope to see you this weekend, maybe?" She grinned and gave me her phone to put my number in. As I was finishing it and Danielle was walking to her car, Kyle ran forward to her and picked her up.
I rushed the number, gave Sera my phone back and stopped Kyle. I noticed Sean was standing up now too.
"Kyle, put her the fuck down. What are you thinking? This isn't the time, or area to be fooling around." Sean sounded pretty scary when he was serious,
Kyle snorted, "What, you want your little girl toy back? Come get her." And with that, he sprinted to the cliff edge. Everyone was shouting now, and I felt Sera grip my arm.
Sean, with his height, easily ran to the edge and pulled Danielle out of his arms. He placed her on the ground and shoved Kyle in the chest, "What the fuck is your problem?"
Danielle slowly crawled away, shaking vehemently. I rushed to her side and helped her to sit next to Sera. Danielle had taken off her sunglasses, and you could see the fear in her blue eyes. Sera ran to the car and grabbed the towel, wrapping Danielle in it.
I heard a bloodcurdling scream from Danielle as she pointed to the cliff with her sunglasses.
I spun on my heels and saw that Kyle was standing over the edge, his back heaving from his lungs. But I didn't see Sean.
I whispered while stepping towards him, "Kyle?" His back was still rising quickly, "Kyle, where's Sean?" All the guys were in shock. But Kyle didn't turn around. I felt a gust of wind fly by me, and I saw Sera's brown hair flowing like the waves below as she jumped off the edge.
"Sera!" I was jumping before I knew what was happening, and I smashed into the water faster than a second. I broke through the water, gasping for air, and saw Sera swimming through the waves, diving, coming back up, scanning for where he could be. I dove under the water, trying to see him, but the water was so dark I couldn't see anything.
I came to the surface, and panic struck me as I couldn't see Sera anymore either. I looked up at the cliff and saw Kyle staring down intensely. I squinted my eyes because something felt off. But I went over to the path, to find Sera sitting, clutching her hands.
"Sera, it's okay, we'll find him." She shook her head.
"I can't see him if he's hurt. I know CPR, Chris, not how to save someone's life. I can go call the ambulance."
I reached for her hands and squatted in front of her, "When you go call the ambulance, please come straight down. Take the path if you need to, but when I find him I need your help to keep him conscious." I tried to smile, and she stood up nodding.
"Okay. I'll come straight down." With that, she sprinted up the path.
I hurried back to the water and saw that Kyle was still staring down. I spent about five minutes scouring the water, and diving as deep as I could go.
Then something came to my mind. When Sera came back down-- by the path-- I asked her about what the water looked like when she jumped in after me, the first time.
"The water was really choppy. But not like how they were crashing against the cliff. It was like a bulls eye." She tilted her head, "Why?" But then her eyes widened. "The water. It wasn't disturbed from Sean when I went down." She covered her mouth as tears formed in her eyes, "He never made it to the water, Chris. He never made it." She was hysterical now, sobbing into her arms. I comforted her for a moment before I had to pull away.
"I have to find him, Ser. Stay here. Breathe through your nose out through your mouth." She nodded.
When I went into the water I looked up at the cliff. There were a few spots where Sean could have fallen, but something told me it would be easy to see where he was. Because Kyle was staring at him.
It was all a blur after that.
I'm sorry. I don't remember anything other than climbing up the cliff, and having to push his body into the water. Then I had to pull it by the pathway. I had to help Sera try to help Sean. And she cried a lot. I began crying too. I had been best friends with Sean for twelve years. We used to play video games on NES when we were younger. Especially Donkey Kong. We loved DK.
I held Sera because she couldn't stop crying. So eventually we stopped trying to help Sean because he wasn't responding. He wasn't breathing. So we held each other as we waited for the ambulance.
I'm sorry officer, I can't remember anything else."
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