Fell

She traced a finger across his chin, smiling absent mindedly while walking around him lazily, the wind tossing her hair across her face. A rich October red. Her hair.1

A gust, more than a breeze and less than a gale, swept around him. It was if the approaching storm was reaching out to pick him from his place at the precipice overlooking a…an ocean of nothingness. The waters lapped at the treacherous rocks below.2

“It isn’t real,” though he spoke with sadness, he knew he was right.3

She stopped, pausing a moment before letting her hand fall from his beardless chin.4

“Why would you think that?”5

The fruit in the tree had been ripe enough to eat. Climbing up had been quick, the fall, even faster. Sitting in the shade of Saol he’d taken the time to think about it.6

It’d been more than forty feet up. And he’d fallen head first. He should be dead. With the first bite it became clear. But then again, he had always known, in some small way.7

“It doesn’t matter,” if he was going to do this then he had to do it now, before he looked at her for too long.8

“What are you doing?” she must have seen the way he was looking at the storm, his eyes eventually falling to the waters below,” come away from there!”9

A tear slipped down his cheek. Her hair was red.10

“I won’t ask why, I know why. But you shouldn’t have kept me here…wherever here is…I don’t even know how long I’ve been…HERE!” his anger rose as he shouted the last word to leave his mouth.11

She was suddenly in front of him, her arms around him, eyes staring up at him. Her eyes were green…like the hills in the…12

“NO!” he pushed her away, yelling wordlessly in frustration.13

She was suddenly there again, a wild look of desperation screaming in the back of her eyes behind the calm he knew. Green.14

“You were going to die…” her voice was so soft compared to the steel screaming wordlessly in the back of her eyes.15

This was it. He had known it would come to this and so it was.16

“I don’t care…I’m done.”17

“It won’t be the same…” there was grief, guilt…perhaps, but sadness at least.18

At least she understood now how serious he was. 19

The storm hung just out over the deep blue expanse like something hungry and waiting, rain dripping down like saliva into the rolling waters below. He frowned.20

“How long?”21

“Deoradhán please, I…”22

“HOW LONG!” his voice shook was a pain that had been growing in his heart since the moment he realized that none of this was real. Even then, his mind had wanted to slip back into this…this dream.23

“…fifty…”24

Ice clawed at the base of his neck and his stomach.25

“Days?”26

It was her turn to look into his eyes, and see something other than dreamy acceptance.27

“…years,” her voice carried a weight to it, a sadness that only made him want to…no…never again.28

He turned to see the rolling front clouds sweep overhead like a mighty wave, green and blue fading to black as rain poured violently down upon them. Her hair was red and her eyes were green. He clenched his teeth as raindrops pelted him, her arms wrapping around him as she hugged him from behind. Turning, slowly, with regret greater than the storm above and the sea below, he looked into her eyes once more, just once more.29

“If you go back this way, if you go back now, it will be at the end of what was when we came here. Please…” she was pleading with him, whatever this place was, whatever…she…was…30

So wonderful, this place. A dream.31

“I don’t care.”32

She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. He let it happen, for a moment, and fell backwards with her in his arms. Opening his eyes, he found her floating above him as he fell, the wind rushing by him with a foreboding roar. Her simple white dress moved oddly around her, as if she was underwater. It was…it was over. She was floating above him, eyes closed, hugging herself and crying.33

So be it.34

Green eyes. Red hair. Nothing.35

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Cordelia Vanora Quinn, Lia to the few in the city that knew her, loved the rain. It didn’t matter that it was likely to ruin business suits or prematurely cool a cup of coffee or, heaven forbid, cancel the game. Living in the same neighborhood with two rival high schools was bad enough. Most of the other tenants in the building had children in one school or the other. Like cats and dogs. Having to put off their game until later would only make it worse.37

Pausing to zip up her dark blue raincoat, she left the hood down. With a smile she walked out into the warm August rain. Puddles formed along the broken sidewalk as she walked to the bus stop. A thin, balding man in a suit ran past, the sports section of the Sunday paper held over his head in vain. She laughed, swinging her arms about, jumping in whatever puddles she could find. Her rain boots were new, bright red, like the licorice she loved. Her laughter rang out in contrast to the gloom of the people moving with distaste through the rain around her, cars wiping away the rain with stoic acceptance.38

The bus to downtown was slower than usual, but the rain was worth it. If she hadn’t been so happy she would have cared how out of place she seemed compared to the other people on the bus, their faces soaked with the kind of depression you find on Mondays. She liked her boots, and the licorice they made her think of. The park was a lovely place during the rain. With a downpour like this there weren’t likely to be many people around either. Even the bus driver was gloomy. She smiled. He was always gloomy.39

“Now at, Charles and Willas,” said a recorded, computer like voice in a male tone.40

She stood with a giggle and moved quickly out the door, eager to get away from all the gloomy faces. And the park was beautiful. The rain fell in undulating waves, bent and broken by the weaving of the wind through the towering skyscrapers. Lund International stood as the centerpiece of the city, casting a powerful shadow across the park when the sun was out. Brushing a wandering strand of hair from her eyes she began walking through the park as aimlessly as possible. She didn’t like the shadow of the Lund. It made the park feel, different, impure maybe. It didn’t matter. Not today.41

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Something, different…should have hit the water already. His thoughts were lost as he opened his eyes. The waters that once lay below were gone, the raging storm with it. Shining weakly in a pale blue sky, the sun stared at him, seeming to question him. 43

Beneath, thousands of feet beneath, lay dark roiling clouds. The sound of the air rushing past his ears was enough to convince him that the dream was over. This was something different. He hadn’t known what this was actually going to be like. Drowning at worst. Certainly not this.44

He was above the storm. Now in it. This was not the same raging tempest he had jumped out into. Lights lay below him. Thousands…millions of lights. A city. The ground was coming up quick. He wasn’t afraid to die. Gritting his teeth, his breath came quickly as he watched the tall buildings come rushing towards him…he didn’t want to…45

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The rumbling of distant thunder sounded to Lia like a great big kitten purring as someone scratched it under the chin. She laughed, as she did often when it rained, while she imagined millions of tiny little men surrounding a giant kitten, trying to lift a massive, finger to scratch the kitten under its chin. Coming out from under a gathering of ash trees, she looked up, wondering if the rain was going to stop anytime soon. Hopefully not.47

The rain lessened just enough for her to notice…something, something falling through the sky. Her curiosity tickling her behind the eyes, she stared with wonder at the, thing that was falling down through the now drizzle of a rain storm. Eyesight had never been a problem, the only glasses she’d even bought being sunglasses for a day at the beach. It was still hard to make out what exactly the thing was. Something bigger than she’d initially thought, given the distance and…48

The something fell with alarming speed, nicking the corner of the Lund and spinning slowly out over the park.49

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Pain burned his shoulder as he slammed into the edge of the roof, tumbling away to continue falling, trees and a large pond and some…some kind of park below. Dead. It felt as if his arm had been ripped from the shoulder. The impact on the building should have killed him. It was like the tree. Maybe she wasn’t ready to let him go. But the pain. He’d never felt pain there. There was no pain in that place. The pain.51

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It was a person. She wanted to scream as she watched what looked like a man dressed in rags crash down through the trees ahead, the sounds of branches snapping violently an ominous sound. Lia gasped and held her hands in fists over her mouth as time scratched and clawed to a crawl. She ran as fast as she could, breath raging in and out. Bright red rain boots splashed through puddles on the path as she reached the tree line and pushed through it. Her stomach turned over, trying to cancel out the chill running painfully down her spine with nausea. Broken branches and bent limbs found her running through and beneath them with nervous, staggering steps, bright red boots falling on wet grass and leaves.53

A great gouge in the earth, fresh dirt splayed out around it, marked where he’d smashed down through the trees and onto the ground. Tears slipped hesitantly down her cheeks. He had rolled across the path and down to the edge of the pond, clear blue water licking at his hair, sand and dirt thrown about, blood marring his figure.54

Lia had never seen a dead person before, despite the three and a half years she’d spent in the city. Her eyes hung locked on the still form at the edge of the water. She couldn’t do this.55

“No. No. I can’t.”56

A small voice in the back of her mind fought her, pleading with her to do something, to go over and see if he…if he was alright. No one could live after falling from that high. He was…he was dead. A dark green, long sleeved shirt clung wetly to his shoulders, caked with dirt and blood. No. No no no. Jeans, torn and stained with more blood. His feet. He wasn’t wearing any kind of shoes.57

“No…I…what should I do? What should I do?” she felt, somewhere in the back of her head, silly for asking herself such a stupid question again and again.58

When he cried out she stopped thinking, stopped breathing. Shoulders heaving mightily, he tried to push himself up to his hands and knees only to fall back onto the sandy shore. He pulled away from the pond, curling as much into a ball as he could before the effort put something in the wrong place. His sob spun her head even faster. He should be, should be dead. It didn’t make any sense.59

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His arms and legs felt broken, his ribs cracked and his body covered in painful cuts, rips and tears. He coughed, blood staining his lips. He’d bitten his tongue, maybe worse. Pushing himself up was worthless, and really painful. He felt no shame as he wept in half sobs, pain wracking his body while he tried to find some kind of relief, some peace to hold on to.61

“Don’t move, please…oh no…no, oh my goodness, no…don’t move…”62

A face, blurry, was above. A girl.63

“H…help me…” he said, the taste of blood mixing thickly between his tongue and the roof of his mouth. He coughed again, blood spraying onto the sand.64

Edge of the pond catching the blood on the sand and taking it away, the cool water traced his hands as they dug into the bank.65

“Who, who are you?” she asked, tears playing upon her cheeks.66

He lifted a hand to her, vision moving between blurred and clear. She took his hand and moved around to sit beside him. The last thing he remembered before the darkness crawled over his eyes in through his ears was her voice, strained with fear.67

She screamed something he couldn’t make out, before leaning in closer, whispering under her breath...68

“Don’t worry, I’m here…I’m right here…it’s okay…I’m here.”