Collection of Short Stories

Cliff Side

I curl my knees in my chest as and I watch as Layla comes over to sit just beside me. This is our spot and through everything I've been in the same spot and she sits just beside me to comfort me. She carefully sits at the edge of the cliff barely any space between us, she scoots over an inch to give me more room since she knows I'm not good with people in my personal space. Her ash blonde hair streams behind her with the wind blowing directly onto her face, it makes her brown eyes water a bit but she never complains.

"I can't believe it's already been a year," She says.

"Me either, it still feels like yesterday to me," is my soft reply.

"People stop apologizing to me. I hate them all, especially the bullies, so full of shit."

"Everyone of them, right?"

"Yeah, the school had an assembly today, you'd know if you were there, mourning and you know if you're being bullied that they'll help you. What a bunch of bullshit, it makes me so mad, they say this shit but the never mean it. Schools don't care about us they care about how we present ourselves and the stupid fucking numbers on a page." She snaps a twig in her hands before throwing it off the cliff.

"I don't see what that stick did to you," I mumble.

"I hate everything. Especially the pity in their eyes, even my own god damn parents, like they even know how I feel. God they suck."

"At least you still have your parents," I whisper.

"I know I should be grateful to have them and everything especially after you lost yours a few years ago and I know that my house it a lot friendlier than yours ever was but I don't know."

"It'll pass, everything does," I tell her.

We fall silent and I turn to look at her, her face as always remains stony but I see the bags under her eyes, the small downward tilt to her lips and the sadness and grief reflected in her eyes. Layla has been my best friend since I was little, she sat beside me at my parents funeral, helped me with my anti-depression medication and even now sits beside me.

"I saw your uncle at the market today, I bet that bastard never thinks twice about the shit he did to you," Layla says as the sound of the waves crash against the cliff side.

"He was drunk, he probably doesn't even remember it now."

"I can't believe the amount of bruises you had and you still refused to talk to me about it."

"I'm sorry," I whisper turning away.

"Not much I can do now though."

I gently brush my dark brown hair over my shoulder, after my parents died I moved in with my uncle and when he drank he got violent. There were many nights where I escaped the house and simply sat here at the cliff, sometimes I didn't go home before going to school. Not that school was much better, I got bullied a lot so before I knew it I just stopped going there as well.

I look down at my arms, both of them covered in tattoos, my uncle only agreed to it after I asked if he'd like me to go to the police about the beatings. He took me several times to get tattoos and piercings, eventually he stopped caring since I was using the money my parents left me. Some of my tattoos are marred with jagged razor lines. I look down, my black jeans are the same as always and my shirt hangs loosely off my small frame, I guess I lost a lot of weight.

"I still don't understand what you were feeling at that time, not what you were thinking, I guess I hate that the most."

"I'm sorry, I just, I just thought that everything would be better without me. I thought that no one needed me and I really just wanted the pain to stop," I whisper shame washing over me.

"If only I'd a second faster, you'd still be here talking with me."

"I am here."

Tears stream down her face, her mask crumbling, "Why, why did you have to jump?"

I look down at the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, jagged and sharp. Right below is a complete drop then a steep decline into the water, the jagged boulders rest in the cliff side on the decline. I still remember the feeling as I fell towards them.

"God Damn it Nikki."

Layla gets up and rushes off. I close my eyes as the wind rushes past again, I feel it pass though my body. It's a bit cold today, not that it really matters to a ghost.