Leap of Faith

Rei inhaled the deep ocean air, the wind whipping her hair around. The salty scent of the ocean filled her nose.

She was going to prove her worst enemy wrong.

She looked around, wondering if there was going to be anything that could maybe save her if she did something wrong. At least, if the whole thing she was about to do was doable.

“I’m going to do it, and no matter what Monika says,” she told herself. Rei found it hard to believe. It wasn’t her type of thing, jumping off a really high cliff and possibly falling into the ocean to her death. But she had to do it, and prove that Monika was a big fat liar who didn’t do things before she determined if they were possible. So there.

Rei took a few deep breaths, willing herself not to look down into the ocean. Just imagining the great height she was jumping from made her feel queasy. But she had to do it.

With her hands clenched and legs trembling, Rei launched herself off of the cliff and dived towards the ocean. The wind howled deafeningly in her ears as she fell at top speed towards the crashing waves.

“Aaaaaaah!” She shrieked hysterically, trying to wave her arms in the air. 

Time seemed to slow down. Rei fell towards a jagged rock sticking out of the cliff in slow motion. She opened her mouth to scream, but the wind whipped her voice away. 

As she fell closer, Rei reached out her arm to grab the rock, hoping to swing off. Her finger brushed lightly on the rock, and she slipped off of it. At least she’d escaped unharmed, right?

As time sped up again, Rei fell faster and faster towards the sandy beach. Trying to change her position, she struggled against the wind, failing. The sand became closer every second. She had to think of something.

Rei twisted into an odd position, angling her feet towards the ground. She hadn’t had much time to think about this, so she might break both legs in the process of landing. Who cared, though? It would be worth it to see the ugly look on Monika’s face. Oh, that would be hilarious!

Pain shot through her right leg as it crashed down first onto the sand. She collapsed onto the sand, exhausted and amazed. She checked herself for any injuries, but there was nothing except excruciating pain in her right toe. Rei assumed she’d probably stubbed her toe when she’d landed.

Wait, who’s gonna get me back home? Rei suddenly realized. I came here all alone and I didn’t bring my phone in case it would fall off during the jump!

“So you did it,” A voice sneered. Rei jumped. She turned around, finding Monika twirling her auburn hair around her finger. Monika was smiling smugly, almost triumphantly, although Rei couldn't figure out why. It was Rei who should have felt triumphant and this moment.

“I knew you would try to prove me wrong,” Monika said conversationally. “It’s what you do, isn’t it, Rei? No wonder you’ve been arriving at school with scratches all over you for the past year. *dramatic sigh*”

“Well, I gotta put an end to your lies!” Rei shot back, “Just because everyone thinks you're pretty and thinks you’re telling the truth doesn’t mean you can just tell them lies! LIES, you hear that? LIES!”

“Yeah, blah blah blah, whatever. No one cares-”

“I CARE!” Rei bellowed.

“Blah blah blah.”

Monika smirked and pivoted around unsuccessfully, landing in a big heap of auburn curls and colorful fabric. Rei smothered a laugh.

“ARE YOU LAUGHING AT ME?” Monika demanded furiously. “NO ONE DOES THAT!!!”

“I do,” Rei pointed out as-a-matter-of-factly, “I just did.”

“Well, you held yourself back, so ha! Get wrecked!” Monika said smugly, sneering.

“Cause you would probably scream your head off at me!” Rei protested, “And I remember that you like screaming your head off! So I’m just preventing you from doing what you like? So there! You get wrecked!”

“Well, I’m going to do that now! You can’t control my mouth!” Monika sniffed haughtily, drawing herself up and taking a deep breath.

“You stupid girl! You and all of your poppycock-”

“Seriously?” Rei asked, laughing, “Poppycock? Who uses that today? Are you seriously serious?”

“Well, who cares about that, huh?! WHO?” Monika screamed.

“I do,” Rei said importantly. "It just sounds so weird!"

Then she stood up, wincing at the pain in her toe, and pushed Monika into the water.

“AAAAAAAH! MY MAKEUP! MY MAKEUP! I SPENT TWO HOURS ON IT THIS MORNING!” Monika shrieked.

“I knew it! You use makeup! Another one of your lies. No one could possibly have such crooked eyebrows! You must be horrible at brow pencil!” Rei fell over laughing.

Monika balled her hands into fists and screamed something, but Rei didn’t hear it. Deor, Rei's older brother, was on the sandy beach screaming her name.

“REI???” Deor bellowed. “REI? WHERE ARE YOU?!”

“Over here!” Rei shouted back, brushing the sand off daintily.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re alive!” Deor said, rushing towards her, “I followed you here.”

“Oki doki.”

Deor and I walked towards his parked car, leaving Monika splashing around in protest.

“I can’t swim! And I can’t drive my car with my designer gown all wet!” She whined, “It’ll get the seat all wet!”

I smiled as the car started forward. It would be great if I could leave Monika stranded on the beach everyday, flailing around in the water. 

“I HATE YOU!” Monika yelled, “I’LL GET MY REVENGE!!! AAAARGH! NOW MY DRESS GOT RIPPED! I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU! YOU’RE THE WORST! CURSE YOU! AAAAAAARGH!”

I couldn’t help but smile. I lay back in a comfortable position, closing my eyes, trying to fall asleep.

“So how did it go?” Deor inquired, waking me up.

“How did you know what I did?” I asked alertly, rubbing my eyes sleepily.

“I watched,” Deor replied. “Honestly, you should have seen mom’s face when I told her I saw you leaving on your own.

My cheeks flushed red.

“You watched?” I panicked in disbelief. 

“Yeah! It’s a miracle you survived with only a… broken toe?”

“Dunno. Can you even break your toe?”

“I… think so.” Deor hesitated, then said, “Monika’s face was totally hilarious.”

“Yeah, that was awesome. I bet I could do that everyday just to watch her reaction. Did you see her expression? Her face was literally all scrunched up! She looked like a monkey.”

“Yeah,” Deor agreed.

I yawned, curling myself up into a ball.

The comforting arms of sleep were waiting for me.