Over the Edge

I looked past the cliff beyond the fog and saw nothing. It was daylight outside, but pure darkness within the fog. There was too much mist to even make out the shape of a tree. The current had picked up only within an hour of being at my parent’s uphill cabin in the middle of nowhere. 

"Are you just gonna stand out there or are you gonna help me take out these groceries?" Jenna huffed.

I turned my head to look back at her and realized she was wearing Spongebob shorts and pink flip-flops with a grey zipped-up hoodie. She, out of all people, would know not to wear summer-induced clothing, during the winter.

Jenna was a freshman in college, studying her way to be a meteorologist. She was my older sister who despised me for everything I did. She never took a liking to me, even as kids and the closest thing we have to a relationship is the occasional fights that we get into over the dumbest things.

I was forced to go on this trip. I think it was our parent's way of trying to help us get along, but it takes two to make something like this work. If Jenna really wanted a bond with me, she would’ve started one long ago. 

I walked inside and began unloading the groceries we picked up along the way. It was filled with two family-sized Barbeque Lays Chips and several different types of candies. The healthiest item in the bag that I unloaded was a batch of bananas. 

“Are you not concerned about the SEVEN types of candies that you bought?” I asked while examining the Box of Nerds and the Sour Patches. 

“I am trying to live my last moments as a kid, unlike you who went vegan at age 8.” 

“I’m not vegan.” I frowned. 

“Well, it is practically the same difference if you do not eat sweets. You can barely watch someone down a cup of milk without you making a barfing face.” She teased as she grabbed the boxes out of my hands, placing them on the counter next to the mini-fridge. 

As much as I hate to admit it; she was right.  I could barely keep down dairy products and I had no taste for sweets. Sometimes I would become too self-aware and wonder if that is the reason why people don’t usually hang around me. I had friends, but not enough to call myself popular. It was the reason I felt so out of place at home. I differed in so many ways from Jenna that you could easily tell who actually belonged to the family and who didn’t. People at my high school did not exactly like the things I enjoyed either.

“Plus, Ethan loves sweets and so does his baby brother.” She stomped. 

Ever since Jenna met Ethan in college, it seemed like she could not go anywhere without him. It became a normal thing for Jenna to bring along Ethan and occasionally his younger brother Jacob when she would come to visit us. With Ethan around, I did not know how my parents believed that Jenna would spend a millisecond of “quality time” with her baby sister. 

The sound of a car motor pulls into the driveway of the hill. Jenna’s face immediately lights up as she runs over to the door. 

“They’re here!” She exclaims, bursting through the front door as if she had won the lottery. 

I pushed away all of her groceries and walked over to the door. 

I lean on the door frame, crossing my arms, as I watched Jenna jump for glee at the bottom of the porch, eagerly waiting to get her hands around Ethan. 

Once he had finally stepped out of the driver's seat, she ran to him like a puppy to its owner. Jacob stepped out of the passenger seat and beamed at me from the car. 

Something was different. I had seen Jacob around three or four times before this, yet something about him was new. The way he was smiling almost made my heart flutter. 

Jacob made his way up the porch, not breaking eye contact with me. The closer he got, the more I began to notice the differences between the last time I saw him. His muscles were more noticeable through his shirt and he had grown taller. I never knew someone could change so quickly in 4 months. 

Jacob and I were the same age but attended different high schools. He lived in the next town over, which got more sun than we usually did, but even he knew how to dress for the fog. 

He stops at the top of the porch as our eyes lock. 

“My brother didn’t tell me you were coming, Leah.” Was he disappointed? 

“Is that supposed to be a bad thing?” I raised an eyebrow, hoping he wouldn’t agree. 

“No, not at all. It’s good to have someone my age here.” He shot another smile at me. 

I found it weird that he was talking to me. He was very quiet the first couple of times I met him but I was not complaining. 

“Jacob, a little help here?” Ethan hollered from the car, struggling to carry in some of their belongings. 

Jacob immediately turned around and ran towards the car. 

“I’m coming!”  

Jacob would go in and out helping his brother carry in their items, refusing to let Jenna and I help. Jenna was caught helping Ethan out twice, and he was almost screaming at her to stay back. She laughed it off, but it seemed a bit aggressive on Ethan’s end. 

Once everything was settled, everyone had scattered in the cabin. Ethan and Jenna went into the guest bedroom down the hall, next to the supposed living room, while I grabbed one of the Stephen King Novels I brought along. I plopped onto the couch next to Jacob, who was fiddling with a game boy that did not need cell service to work.

“The Shining is a real mind twister, isn’t it?” Jacob was leaning over his legs, holding onto the hardcover of my book. 

I was so caught up in the book, that I hadn’t noticed that Jacob’s game boy was now off and his right hand was stroking the cover. 

“Yeah, you read Stephen King?” I was curious. 

He let go of the book and stretched his arms back to cradle the back of his head. “I haven’t read much. I only read The Shining and IT Series from him. I lost a chunk of time reading IT, so I took a break from his novels and just watched the movies instead.” 

I couldn’t blame him. His books were long but so interesting that sometimes they kept you up at night. 

“Which out of the two were your favorite?” 

“The Shining. It was confusing, but such a good mind twist. It deserves an oscar if you asked me.” His head turns to look at me.

“IT was great. I’m just not a big fan of clowns. It was a miracle that I even got through the book. What about yours?” He questioned. 

Sometimes books did that to readers. Writers would focus on the direct fears of people, but still knew how to suck them into reading their books. It was not a cure for their fears, but it allowed them to experience a one-time event where they could face them without having so much fear.

“I don’t have a favorite.” 

“Really?” He sits up, fixing his posture. His eyes were wide as if this was the first time he has heard someone say they did not have a favorite book. 

“Yeah, I mean I’ve just never run into one that I loathed. I’ve read too many books to choose from anyways.”  I looked back down at the book, flipping the page over. 

“Okay, different question. What is your favorite scary movie?” He smirks. 

“Would it be ironic if I said it was Scream?” I stood up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen to grab a snack. 

Jacob turned over to face me. “It would be. But I am guessing that a girl like you who reads thick horror books from Stephen King, would choose a more hardcore movie.” 

His honesty had burned through my chest. Was he saying that Scream was not a good one?

“You don’t think Scream is a good one?” 

“I do. But I believe more in the fact that there is another lucky flic out there that holds your attention than Scream.”

His smirk was growing bigger as if he could see the truth. I put my hands up dramatically. 

“Okay, you caught me. But first Nerds or Sour Patches?” I had grabbed both of the boxes Jenna had stored on the counter by the fridge and held them up.

“Sour Patches are fine.” 

I tossed the box of Nerds back onto the counter, before making my way back over to the couch. 

I splat back on the couch and tore open the box of candies before handing it over to him to munch on. Did I like him that much to get food only he could eat from the kitchen and not any for myself? I could not. After all, he was the brother of my sister’s boyfriend. 

“If you must know, The Insidious tetralogy was my favorite,” I confessed. 

He paused in his tracks and looked over as if he’d seen a ghost. “Would you believe me if I said those were my favorite too?” He asked, before stuffing a blue patch into his mouth. 

I shook my head as he let out a small chuckle. He motioned the box over to me. 

I hesitated at first until I thought back to what Jenna had said. It was tough to admit, but I was afraid of losing friends over the no sugar habits I obtained. Maybe I did need to start being more child-like, while I still had the chance. 

I slid my finger into the box, pulling out a green one and placing it in my mouth. The taste was super sour at first until I realized that they were unbelievably bombed. I ate one after another, and the taste had gotten stronger with each color. 

“Damn, Leah. When was the last time you ate candy?” He chuckled at how fast I was chowing down the sour patches. “Too long.” I laughed along with him. 

“I’m sorry Leah.” Jacob unexpectedly calls out. His head was now lowered and the box of sour patches was no longer in his hand, but sitting in between us on the couch. 

“For what?” 

“For not talking to you, the first couple of times we met. I just did not know how to-” Was all I heard before Ethan came barging out of the room. 

“Jenna, how many times do I have to tell you that those are stupid folktales!” He raged. 

It was not long until Jenna popped out of the room. Her face was red and her eyes were tearing up. What had happened and why were they both so riled up? What folktales was Ethan talking about?

“Are you seriously eating those sour patches?” Jenna got caught off guard as I slowly pushed in one more sour patch into my mouth. I was suddenly brought into the situation since no one had seen me eat a speck of sugar since I was 8. 

“She was going at it, Jenna. But anyway, what is going on?” Jake stood up from the couch, to look at his brother. 

“All I said was that I wanted to try jumping off that cliff by the cabin, but then Jenna keeps going on about these folktales and how apparently the cliff is haunted.” Ethan gestured his quote fingers and sighed. 

“Ethan I am telling the truth. If you don’t believe me then you can ask some of the townspeople who live down the mountain, though it would be a waste of time because they are just gonna say the same thing.”  Jenna huffed, her face becoming redder by the second. 

“Jenna, what folktale are you even talking about?” I stood up, confused.

It was crazy how Jenna knew all about these stories, yet I knew nothing.  More of a reason to prove I did not belong. 

“There is a story about a little girl who went missing and they found her body two weeks later, at the bottom of the ocean. Since then, there have been multiple reports of people having accidental falls over the cliff. People think that her spirit still haunts the cliff and pressures people into jumping off.” Jenna sighs.

“Whatever I am not gonna sit here listening to your stupid stories, Jenna.” Ethan storms out of the cabin.

We all got up and quickly followed behind Ethan in order to stop him from going over the cliff.

“Ethan stop!” Jenna hollers close behind. Ethan continues to walk closer and closer towards the cliff, ignoring Jenna’s remarks. 

As he got close enough to the cliff, he turned back and suddenly grabbed Jenna by her arm and pulled her towards the edge of the cliff. 

We could see Jenna struggling in the hard grips of Ethan. Ethan had more fury in his eyes as he forced her to look over the cliff. It was like he was becoming a different person; a mad one. The way his teeth clenched made my blood boil. Ethan was someone dangerous and Jenna being in her current position, was lethal. I was almost certain that he was gonna push her off and I was not going to let that happen. 

I ran straight towards Ethan. I could hear Jacob yelling my name with all his might, but there was no time to turn back.

“Let go of her!” I screamed, launching myself at Ethan. 

He shoved Jenna onto the ground, as I led myself into a trap. He grabbed my arms as my eyes shot wide open. My feet were inches away from the edge, they were practically slipping over each other. If it were not for Ethan’s grip, I’d fall. 

“If you won’t trust me, then maybe your sister will then,” Ethan growled. 

“Ethan please stop...”

Jenna was exhausted and still trying to catch her breath from being shoved. She was moments away from crying. 

“Ethan, what the hell are you even doing!” Jacob had caught up to us. 

“Nothing! I am just trying to prove a point that there is no ghost-”

“Okay fine, you win. There is no ghost...now let her go.” 

“Are you afraid that I am gonna hurt her?” Ethan breathed. 

“Ethan just let her go!” Jenna yelped. 

“Just shut up-” Was all I heard. I was no longer in the arms of Ethan. I was heading into the unknown. 

I was falling from a cliff and only silence escaped my lips. I was too shocked to scream or maybe I just didn’t want to because my body was accepting its fate. 

Suddenly, a stinging impact hit my head and my clothes became stuck to my body like glue, as they were soaked by the large body of water around me.

It was the ocean. I had realized that falling off of the cliff was not going to be the hardest part of surviving; it was finding a way to get back to shore before it was too late.

My arms were flailing and begging to reach the surface. It seemed I was too far into the ocean, but I could still see the white clouds from above. After what seemed like forever I gasped for air.

I looked all around until I had found a spec of land near the bottom of the cliff. 

I swam my way over. The closer I got to land, the more I realized that there was a pathway to head back up the mountain. 

It was not long until I felt the sand hug my toes, and the water had dragged away. My body temperature was low and it felt like I would freeze to death within minutes if I did not manage to gather the strength to walk back up the mountain. But it almost seemed as if I did not have to, as in the far distance I saw hope in someone I never thought I would have; my sister. 

I didn’t know how she had seen me from such a far distance. She was running towards me at the speed of light. She wrapped her arms around me, which had almost put me off balance. 

Right behind her, came Jacob and he did the exact same thing, once Jenna had given him enough space. My soul was in contempt at this moment. Even if no one spoke, all I needed was to be embraced by people who cared. 

“I thought I lost you…” Julia says in a shaky tone. Something I never thought I would hear from her.

This was the beginning of something special yet so tragic. It was a time to feel grateful that my sister and I realized we needed each other but it was also a time to fear a man. I had seen too many horror movies to know what type of person Ethan was. The type of person who might apologize but still commit the same action until they go rogue.