Diagnesius

The Swing

  He could see her alone near the ancient cedar tree. She looked to be scrawling more archaic symbols into the giant trunk with a small pocket knife she always carried. The tree stood on the very edge of a ten meter cliff overlooking the valley that housed their small town. The soil had fallen from under the roots giving it the appearance that the tree was stepping down from the great height. The swing hung just out of reach of most people unwilling to risk their lives for a thrill, this kept almost all from trespassing in the area. When Dinora noticed him she reached out impossibly far almost sliding off the cliff before grasping the rope. She balanced there, stretched out one foot on the ledge and the other dangling below the piece of wood tied to its end. He could see the scars on her pale white wrist that she kept covered, even in the humid summer. She tried to scare him by hanging over. She released her foot from the edge of the precipice and the momentum sent her spinning off over the valley below. Skull-like boulders grinned up at her as she spun out above them. Dinora reached out with her free hand feeling the rush in her stomach. She turned her bright blue eyes toward him, trying to elicit some emotion. He stood and watched her awkwardly. Gravity slowed her swinging and her grip began to weaken. She reached up and pulled herself onto the wooded step tied to the end of the rope. Though there was no wind Dinora's movement awoke a chime that he had hung long ago. He smiled at the memory and the tiny tinkling of the chime. "I need a hand." She said with an outstretched arm.

  He stood motionless listening and watching her dangle over the deadly height below. "Nate, seriously." She screamed. Her plea echoing off the side of the mountain. He moved toward her stopping to look what she had been carving into the trunk. Beside several older signs he assumed were some type of witchcraft was a freshly scrawled heart the size of his hand. He bent at the waist to inspect it closer but was interrupted by Dinora, once again begging to be rescued. He reached out and pulled her over close enough that she was able to find purchase.

  They sat in silence watching the shadows move over the valley, enveloping the lines of houses in its dark grasp. Their legs dangled over the edge of the cliff, the valley floor was now obscured by darkness making it more ominous than it had been in the day. The quiet was broken by something snapping deep in the woods below them. With that Dinora was on her feet. "Lets go, my dad will have dinner going." Nate did not answer but stood and they walked together down the well worn path toward their homes.