Contest Entries

The Fall

Prompt

Write a story around these three words (make sure to use them); midnight, umbrella, promise. 

Length: 500 words - unlimited

I was standing on the edge but, I could barely see the water below me. I could only hear it turning and crashing into the side of the cliff, just one of the many that ran around the edge of the lake below me. I stood there for a moment, just staring at darkness below. The air around me was chilled by the midnight sea breeze, and even though fleece leggings and a heavy sweater, I shivered. I could hear the pounding of the rain behind me, my umbrella lay beside me forgotten as I let the cool drops soak through my clothing.

Slowly, I stuck a leg out in front of me over the cliff's edge. Tears streamed down my face and my arms hugged my middle tightly as I remembered why I was here. He broke his promise. He left. He promised he would never leave!

"Hailee! Hailee, stop!" I turned back fro just one last glance. We locked gazes for just a second. I quickly turned back around and took the final step forward. With my eyes closed, I took that small step forward, removing the ground beneath my bare feet and throwing myself into the darkness below. Knowing he was there, it made me act faster. He left. He doesn't care. He just doesn't want to be blamed, but this isn't about him anymore. No, this is about me and my pain.

Hitting the water was painful but, I can remember this feeling in the back of my mind like this was some sort of gift. Like this was something I'd always wanted and was only now getting.

I could feel the waves pushing, pulling me under in every direction all at once. The violent, green waves soaked through the few dry spots on my clothes and chilled me to the bone, leaving my system in shock.

As soon as I was in the waves, it was like a switch flipped. The panic and pain, the rush of something that vaguely felt like regret in those few moments as I tried so desperately to surface were overwhelming. My limbs had moved as fast as they could, trying in any way to get me to the top. To get me to survive. My hair swirled around me, blocking the sight of the blurry world above. My lungs hurt, my body was so cold and, I quickly grew tired as the seconds turned into minutes that passed by so slowly.

'I don't want to die. I've made a mistake! Please, I don't want to die.' I cried. I knew it was useless. There was no God, no angel of mercy to save me from the hands of death. They never came before, so why would they come now? I had made my bed and now I had to lie in it.

Eventually, my body gave away, too tired and cold to carry on its futile fight, letting the lake take me under. The last bit of air rushed out of my mouth creating little bubbles that floated to the top of the water. The more I sank the more my vision got darker and darker until I blacked out.

That is how I, Hailee McGaven, died.