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The sky was dotted with hundreds of tiny lights, some flickering, some disappearing completely. It was free of any clouds. Yes, the night sky settled quietly over a mountain of a few thousand feet, called Widows Peak, and the small town nestled at its base.
If one were fortunate enough to be out hiking the mountains many trails, one would only see breath taking beauty and a serene wilderness. The wild animals seemed content with relaxing in their holes and caves and dams, completely ignoring the town and its occupants.
Behind this veil of peacefulness, tension lies, so thick and so suffocating one could cut it with a knife. When the gentle breeze should have felt like a soft massage, it felt instead like the long, clawed fingers of old man winter twisting and curling about your heart, making it nothing more then a block of ice. Pain and never-ending sorrow, although invisible, snaked along the ground and through the air, searching for new, untainted hearts to darken. All these tortured feelings came from one person, a young, lonely, woman; a sad, broken hearted, soul shattered young woman.
It seemed impossible, that one such as her could radiate such pain, and sadness. Yet… It was completely possible in this world of impossibilities, where contradictions reign supreme. Where it’s impossible for one to talk to people only they can see. Where it’s impossible for one, and only one person to hear the disembodied voices of the dead, or the imaginary. Yet for this woman, it was completely and totally in the realm of possibility. It was a part of her, a curse, and something that scared her more then life its self.
When she spoke to them, often times they wouldn’t answer her, making her look like a fool in front of many in the town. She hated that more then anything, but what had sent her to far over the edge, with no hope of returning, was their constant whisperings in her mind. Whisperings of death, telling her that she needed to die for the good of the world, that that was the only way to end the pain. They told her, her death would go unnoticed, that no body would care, and for a time she believed them. Then it just simply drove her insane, if she wasn’t before.
She tried everything to make them stop, to shut-up. She screamed at them, threw fits even, but that only increased their volume until they were practically yelling, splitting her head in two. She had even stooped so low as to cut her wrists, watched her blood leave her body, in hopes that that would finally silence them. Even that didn’t work. It seemed they had something planned for her.
Now, by no will of her own, but the bidding of the voices, she stood, swaying dangerously on a cliff over looking sharp rocks and a raging river, swollen to twice its normal size. Long locks of brown hair blew every which way, at times acting like a curtain hiding her tear stained face from prying eyes.
Each and every time she took a perilous step forwards, the voices would quiet themselves, waiting for her to jump, but common sense and a willingness to live would take over, and she would take two steps back. This outraged them.
“Stop it!” They screamed, “Can’t you hear the river calling out to you? Beckoning to you to join it?” They asked
She listened closely, tried to hear what they heard, but there was nothing else but the wind, blocking out every other sound but them.
“No, I don’t…” She shook her head, as if they could see.
“Please, “ she begged, “Go away!”
“Jump off!” They ordered. Their sudden anger made her head hurt. She grabbed it a pointless effort to relieve the pain.
“Please stop!” She cried.
“Jumping off the cliff is the only way to satisfy us… Now do it!”
“I know! But I can’t do it,” she sobbed. Her body of its own volition, moved towards the edge.
“Arianna don’t!”
The voices seemed far away, but she could still hear them. They weren’t just in her head. This reassured her that she hadn’t gone completely insane, not yet at least. Her heart leapt at the off chance that they might save her.
“Don’t listen to them! They only want to hurt you!” The voices sounded worried. Arianna wanted to laugh, “Isn’t that what you’re doing? Hurting me?” She asked instead.
“Yes, but we want it to end just as much as you do. If you listen to them, they’ll only prolong it.”
“You’re lying! They’re my best friend and sister; they wouldn’t want to hurt me.”
“Stop fighting and jump. This is your last chance to end this, or don’t you remember the last time you attempted to end it? By IGNORING us?” A shiver, that had nothing to do with the wind, ran up her spine at the memory.
“Yes…”
“Good. Now JUMP!”
“Arianna, get away from the edge, PLEASE!”
Her sister, Jacklynn, and her friend since preschool, Derrick, ran up to the outcropping, both out of breath, and both momentarily afraid to get any closer to her.
“Arianna, honey, please don’t do this!” Jacklynn begged, “Arianna, please just step away from the edge” She held out her hand so she could take it.
“Just take my hand and come with us.” She said gently.
While her sisters’ head was still turned, she and Derrick took a step forwards. She didn’t move.
“Come on Arianna, your sisters right, just come with us. We can forget this ever happened” He literally sang the words he was speaking so gently. Abruptly, she turned her head, making them both jump. Her bright blue tear filled eyes looked upon her sister, then locked with Derricks brown ones.
“I can’t forget. I want to, but they won’t let me. They won’t stop talking, this is the only way to shut them up,” She smiled slightly.
“I love you Jacklynn, make sure Derrick doesn’t get himself arrested. I’m sorry.”
“Arianna!” Jacklynn screamed, shaking her head as she turned back towards the cliffs edge.
Before stepping off, as if it was the only signed that told them Arianna was still hanging on, still fighting the voices that only she could hear, she whispered, “Help me.”
Neither of them needed telling twice. As soon as both her feet left the ground they both ran and dove forwards, landing on their stomachs. Derrick had a hold of her left hand, and Jacklynn had a hold of the right. She was now dangling in the air.
“Let go of me, please!” she begged, “They’re screaming, it hurts!” she looked up at them.
“You idiot, we’re not letting go of you, and don’t you dare let go of us!” Jacklynn scolded. She was all to familiar with her sisters mental health, but she’d be damned if she'd let her give in so easily.
“No, no, no!” The voices screamed, over and over again.
“On three, “Derrick said, “One, two, three!” The two hauled Arianna up, despite her begging them not to.
“What have you done?” She demanded, pushing herself to her knees.
“What have we done?” Derrick said, pulling himself into a sitting position.
“What have you done? You’ve successfully made us paranoid that you’re going to kill yourself every minute of every day!”
Jacklynn threw her arms around her sister and hugged her tightly.
“You stupid dolt! Did you even think about how much pain you’d have cause if you had actually succeeded?” Arianna was silent and didn’t answer.
“You’re just lucky we found you” Derrick put his arms around her too.
“What did you mean by, make sure he doesn’t get himself arrested?” He smiled, and Jacklynn laughed
It was in that moment, in the arms of her sister and best friend that she realized something; the voices had stopped. They weren’t yelling, they weren’t even whispering. She’d finally gotten the silence she’d always wanted. Although, she knew this temporary peace, wouldn’t last very long.
 Mistress_Gigi · Fri Jun 23, 2006 @ 11:49am · 0 Comments |
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