Alarmingly Charming

Alarmingly Charming



His hand reaches out to me, as I look down to see my knee bleeding. “Everything will be okay, it is just a little scrape and I promise you will be safe,” he says reassuringly, with a wink. I don’t want to look down, but I know it is safer to go up, rather than to go back down. I proceed to climb up the broken piece of rock, as shards fall from underneath my feet. I sigh, take a deep breath and plead “I can’t do this, I’m not daring like you.” As a drop of sweat meets the tear that falls from my eye and rolls down my face, he looks at me.

“Trust me, I would never let anything happen to you! This is fun! I promise you’ll be happy when it is all over.”

“I know!” I shout, annoyed that he keeps reminding me that I agreed to this.

I begin to see the top of the cliff and by this time my legs are practically going into convulsions. I’m not sure if they are shaking with fear or if they are just tired of climbing. Probably both. I pull myself up the rest of the way with my arms onto a flat platform that was a lot bigger than I assumed. I lay there staring at Jack, with his dark hair flowing around him as the breeze flew by. He turns around and giggles. “What is so funny?” I shriek, exasperated.

“Were you trying to take a souvenir with you?” as he points to the pieces of gravel embedded in my knee wounds.  I glare at him, letting him know I’m not the least bit amused.

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to make fun, I just want to cheer you up a little bit” with a smirk on his face.

“Well, if you want to cheer me up, you can at least sit by me!”

He sits very close to me, and holds me in his arms.

“Its not you I don’t trust, its myself. I don’t know if I can jump off this cliff into the ocean. I know you think this is fun, but I’m scared! I thought I would be able to do it but I’m not sure now. What if I jump wrong or something?”

“Everything will be okay! You ready to jump now?” he says while beginning to stand up. I take a deep breath, and walk over to the edge, not too close, but close enough to see over the cliff.

“How far will we be falling again?” I ask.

“700 or so feet”

I could have fainted right then and there when he told me how high above the water we are. I look around me to see what is going on below me. If there’s a chance I could die from jumping down, I want to at least cherish this moment for a few minutes. To my far left, I see a white and blue yacht and little dark specks that I assume are people. On the shore, there are children running around and playing. I can almost hear their laughter, even though I know I can’t. I hear the waves roar with all of their might, as they crash into the sides of the cliff. It sounds frightful, but looks so beautiful. The waves glistened as if millions of blue diamonds lingered on top of them.  To say the least, I am amazed. I then realize it is not jumping off that is the reward for climbing this horrid cliff, it is the view from the top. I have seen very little things in my life that I can consider to be this beautiful, but this is definitely at the top of my list.  My thoughts are interrupted by Jack asking me, again, if I am ready to jump. Although I am not, I tell him I am. I guess this is as ready as I’ll ever be. I really love the view and I don’t want its beauty to end, but I guess everything must come to an end. Jack fastens my life jacket and grabs my hand tightly. We walk to the edge of the cliff in tiny steps. “Make sure you keep your body straight, like a pencil and on the count of three we’ll jump. I’ll be holding your hand the whole way. Don’t let go of my hand,” he commands. I nod and smile. He flashes me a smile and starts to count. At one, I take in a deep breath and close my eyes. Two, I bend my knees, preparing for a powerful jump, and at three, I look at Jack and he looks at me. We both jump, hand in hand, off of the cliff, as if our legs were made out of springs. I do as Jack said, and keep my body as straight as a pencil. He does a flip in the air, still holding my hand, and I feel for just one moment, that we are dancing in the sky, under the sun. I feel the water on my shoe first, and then it begins to pull me in, bringing me to safety. The sun is scorching and the water sears my face. Under the liquid diamonds, I become submerged. I feel a tug on my arm, and I shoot to the surface of the water, as if a trampoline were hidden beneath my feet. I gulp the biggest breath of air that I can and I Jack pulls me toward him. He wraps his arms around me, kisses my forehead and says, “I told you that you would be safe! Did you have fun?”

“Yeah, actually I did, and I still may not be safe. A shark could be circling us right now and we might not even know it!” I exclaim.

I wasn’t necessarily serious, but I wasn’t totally kidding either. We swim toward a little orange ladder that rests at the side of the cliff. It looks like two mini waterfalls of orange soda are subsiding into the ocean. A wave assists us and nudges us to the ladder. Right next to the ladder is a little yellow sign that had been screwed into the rock. It read:





Welcome back cliff diver!

Hope you enjoyed the “rush”

Glad to see that you’re alive!

Hope to see you back again soon!



I giggle to myself after reading the sign and told Jack “It is a good thing you read the sign after you’ve already jumped!” He chuckles at my joke and climbs the ladder after I do. I start squeezing the water out of my hair when I notice Jack walking toward the cliff again.

“Where are you going?” I ask with panic in my voice.

“Oh, we’re going to do it again! Hurry over here, because it is going to take a little longer to get up there than the first time and we want to be home by dark don’t we?”

I freeze and stare at him.  I stand there, motionless, for a good five minutes in awe before I can open my mouth to speak. “You want me to do what?? A-a-again?” He looks frustrated and begins walking toward me. He puts his arm up and I know what he is going to do. He is going to pull me back toward the cliff and force me to go up, like he did the first time. “Jack, if you even think for one second that I am going to go back up that cliff again, especially right now, you must be out of your-” He covers my mouth with one hand, put his other arm around my head and rests his hand on my shoulder in a “buddy” type of way, and we begin to walk to the car. “I’m just kidding with you Hayley! You got a ‘rush’ from jumping off the cliff, and I just got mine from seeing you panic. Man, your face was priceless!” as he begins to howl with laughter.  I, however, don’t see the humor in his actions, but he has such a beautiful smile and a contagious laugh, that I can’t help but to laugh as well.

“So how about next weekend,” he whispers, this time looking very serious. His serious eyes melt away, revealing a smirk and I know he is trying to prank me once again. He laughs and says, “How about we go and grab a bite to eat?” I nod agreeably. For the rest of the walk to the car, we both remain silent. I am unsure of what Jack was thinking of that caused him to be silent, but I know for sure what I am thinking of! Was he really kidding about next weekend? I think to myself. I shrug it off and said to myself, “I guess I will find out next weekend.”