At the End of the World

Without a Heart

Tomlinson Point.

Or as she called it, "the end of the world".

It's a cliff that rises about the water that spreads endlessly into the unknown.  It's an oasis to those who happen to pass by, whether walker, biker, tourist, or local.  While there's a bench there for those who wish to sit and admire the view, the main draw is the cliff it sits on. 

The Path to Change.

A legend popular with the daring and the teenagers, it states that one who wishes to change their life or who wants to start a new live takes a dive in the water.  The person who dives in the water is not the same person who breaks the surface.  One deep breath, and person is completely different, ready to start their new life and never to be heard from again.

Of course, a jump like that is always risky, and usually death is the reason they are never heard from again.

That's what she did - she made the jump.  She couldn't take it anymore.  She wanted her life to change.  She wanted it to be different.

She wanted to get as far away from him as possible.  He'd hurt her - he'd betrayed her.  He never meant to do that - and yet he did it harshly.  So she jumped - she closed her eyes and took a leap of faith, praying for freedom, praying for release.

He still remembered the sound of his wailing tearing through the night sky, and the pain that slammed into him from all sides.

She survived the fall.  Miraculously, she survived -and she thrived.  But it was still as if she died.  Her family would tell him nothing.  They regarded him with silence.  Her best friend spat at him in disgust, cursing him to a lifetime of regret as he would never see her again.

It was a curse he lived day in and day out.  He might have gone through the motions and appeared to be happy, but looks are always deceiving.

Day in and day out, he ached for her.  He wished that he could turn back the clock and take back what he said.  He yearned for another moment to close his eyes and listen to the beautiful melodies that she produced with a bow and four simple strings.

His sweet Lenne...

The Lenne who loved to stand at the end of the world and smile.

He always came back to Tomlinson Point to await her return.  Everyone else had moved on with their lives, forgetting about the girl who stood at the end of the world with her hopes and her dreams and a pure, unabiding love for him in her heart.  But he could never forget so easily.  So every day, he came to this point to wait - and to remember.

To mourn, to love, to cherish, and to punish himself for throwing it all the way.

And every day, he hoped for the same time - that she would somehow return to him against all odds, restoring the one thing that she never realized that she took with her when she jumped off this cliff seven years before.

His heart.

"I wish you'd come back to me, Lenne," he always whispered, looking out in the waters that spread for miles and miles.  "I wish to God you'd stayed."

A man without a heart at the end of the world...