Short Stories

Leap

*The picture above I drew before I wrote the story a while ago, I drew it and then built off of that. Sorry for the terrible quality, I don't have much of a proper scanner or a good camera.*

My mother used to tell me the stories about this island, but one that I will never forget is about the cliff.

I have lived on this island for my entire life and explored every inch of its land, and near the coast is a cliff, maybe about 50 feet above the water. I would often lay on my stomach and look down at the water below. When I was little, my mother told me a story about a girl about as old as I am now. I would ask her to tell me more stories and to answer my questions, but she never did.
"Tell me a story, mama!" I would beg to her,
"Alright, which one do you want to hear?"
"The one about the cliff!"
Then she would sigh and tuck me into bed, telling me that if I would lay down, she would tell it to me.
"Once, a long long time ago there was a girl, a little older than you, and she would go out on the cliff every day and look out at the ocean, trying to see what was out there. Every day, she would get a little closer to the edge until one day, her feet were right on the edge. She could feel the wind on her face and the sea breeze and she saw the emerald water below, glowing and glittering,"
I was listening intently, my eyes aglow with wonder.
"She worked up her courage and stepped back from the cliff"
I kept staring, and even though I knew how it ended, it never lost its spark.
"She ran as fast as she could towards the edge"
I was ready for it.
"And she leaped"
I gasped, as I always did, as she said the most fascinating words,
"And she flew"
I asked the same question as I always did, "How did she do that?"
And she would have the same answer, "No one knows, keiki, but some say she turned into an eagle and flew away."
I sighed, because I did not like being called a child, but I was fascinated nonetheless. Then, she would tuck me in and whisper the same words into my ear as I drifted off to sleep.
"Don't ever be afraid to leap."