The cliffs

I’ve got a plan. I have defined it carefully, day by day, night by night. I have studied every detail and marked out my steps so as not to make a single mistake. At first, it was just an idea, but it has slowly taken over my head and now my whole life revolves around it.

It all started about seven years ago, on November 1st. I parked my car near the cliff, to get closer to the sea and photograph the waves. A storm was approaching and the white eddies bouncing over the rocks, wrapped in a wild murmur of water and salt, totally captured my attention. The light was magnificent, and the colors looked bright and saturated.

Then she arrived. Walking alone, her mane fluttering in the wind, covering her eyes repeatedly. She approached the edge, I would say dangerously, but I didn't dare move. I was afraid of scaring her and making her fall. I expected her to take a few steps back, but instead she sat down. She stood there for a while and suddenly, without even turning around, she said:

“Come here.”

I was sure she couldn't have seen me, yet she was calling me. Without even thinking about it, I let my feet carry me to her and I swear I sat down next to her. Despite my dizziness, which prevents me from even crossing a bridge. In those moments, I didn't even exist.

She didn't even turn to look at me. She didn't say anything either, but just stood there, staring at the horizon, completely silent. I didn't dare to speak either and I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. Her skin was shiny and delicate, almost transparent, and her scent reminded me of something I could not define. It was an intoxicating and mysterious perfume.

“I come from somewhere far away, if you went there, you would like it.”

The words echoed in my mind, although I was sure her lips had not moved. It was more like a telepathic pulse, and as the sea pounded the rocks some feet below, I felt absolutely drunk on her. The girl did not speak, but her company was natural, as if she had always been by my side.

Suddenly, a pair of seagulls flew past us, screeching and scratching my face with their wings. Startled, I tried to break away and shifted a few inches. But she grabbed me, preventing me from sliding down. Then a voice behind me snapped me out of my thoughts.

“What are you doing so close to the edge, can't you see you might fall?”

When I turned to answer, a man was standing behind me. I had to look up to see his face, resting my hands on the ground and turning slightly as I faced the sea. The sunlight filtering through the clouds was enough to blind me and I could not see well the features of that tall, bearded man, who was holding out his hand to me.

I stretched out my hand, and the moment he reached for it, he grasped my wrist firmly and pulled me up, lifting me up and away from the edge.

“The girl...”

I stammered, looking down at the ground, where the grass swayed in the wind, saturated with salt and the waves roaring below. There was no one there.

“What girl? There's no one here, apart from you and me.”

I didn't know what to answer, I was bewildered. It was impossible that she had vanished, just like that. And yet there was certainly no girl there.

I looked again at the man, who was taller than I had thought at first. That was also strange, because it would be logical that, when I stood up, his height would not be so different from mine.

“What did the girl look like?”

I thought he was asking me to play along, as if I were a crazy person. Maybe he thought I was trying to throw myself off and, to avoid that, he was trying to communicate with me and get me away from the sea.

As I was about to answer him, the girl's voice burst into my head, with a power that forced me to cover my ears.

“Don't tell him anything!”

I wouldn't have been able to do it anymore either. The sound was too intense and overwhelming that I think I started to scream, because the next thing I remember is the man shaking me and screaming in turn.

“What was she like, what was she like?”

I tried to break free, but his hands were like claws, digging into my skin and preventing me from escaping. Besides, it seemed that his height was increasing, because now he was almost twice as tall as me, who kept screaming, until the voice in my head ordered me to shut up.

“That's enough! If you want, I can free you, but there is only one way.”

“Yes!”

I shouted, and then a swirl of wind rose up from the sea. Suddenly, an immense silence enveloped the surroundings. There were no more seagulls and my ears began to ring as my body was shaken.

When I woke up I was here, looking at the sea, which was moving quietly at my feet, a few meters below.

I know it's November 1st, because I come back here every year to try to meet her. I have never seen her again, but you remind me of her. I see you moving towards the edge, probably to contemplate the sea. You stop at a safe distance and I smile.

Slowly, I advance along the path, the same one you followed a few minutes before.

Without speaking, I overtake you and sit down, swinging my feet, which dangle over the rocks. I feel your gaze on my back and make my voice ring in your ears.

“Come here.”

Surely you will be enchanted by my smell of salt, it's many years hidden there, among the seaweed.

As you approach, I feel myself unfold. Now I feel the breath of the man who, unseen, grows beside me. He could take you to the other side, but I'd rather you jump with me. Because if you don't, I'll keep looking for a way out, every November 1st, and you'll wander along the cliff, trying to steal my chances.