A Close Call

• Sin Kam, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2016

Cleo felt so stupid.
One little step was all it took. Soon she was tumbling through the freezing cold winter air, slapped by the merciless winds that roared at her ears. Cleo felt her heart hitting against her sternum as she flailed in the empty space, hoping that something or someone could catch her or save her from her mistake and tell her it was just a dream. But this was real. The air was real. She was definitely real. And she was scared for the first time in her life.
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her as she stabilized herself. She then gauged the distance between herself and the sharp rocks in the sea.
1 minute 30 seconds until touchdown… She gulped at the thought of dying so early, seeing herself splitting up into tiny pieces on the rocks, her blood staining the seawater… She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts that invaded her mind. She needed to blank out. To focus. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes focused, imagining the sea rising up to creating a somewhat soft cushion for her to land on.
Cleo snapped open her eyes and hoped for that to work but nothing happened. The water didn’t move an inch and she was still hurtling towards the rocks at a dangerously fast speed. She knew that it was all over, so she gazed at the dark, inky ocean and sighed.
It reminded her of when she was very young and impressionable, around 5 years old, sitting on the balcony of her home at night. She wanted to see the vast ocean for herself, to really experience what it felt like to be carefree. Instead, 10 years later, she was at the seaside, but she was going to die soon.
A lot of ironic thoughts crossed Cleo’s mind and a laugh bubbled out of her before she knew it. She started to laugh hysterically before she felt the rocks hit her. Then, nothing.
No sound, no warmth. Just emptiness. And a white room.
She stood up and saw an ebony door. The handle turned and she saw a shadow whispering incoherent phrases. She felt drawn to it, like she wanted to see what was at the other side. But then a droning tone rose over the shadow’s whispers and it disappeared along with the door. And then reality hit her hard.
The landscape seeped in like bleeding watercolours and sound rushed into her ears as fast as the wind. She laid there on the ground, dazed and confused about what just happened to her. The white room, the door, the shadow. All of it. She thought about what happened and who exactly saved her from absolute doom. Cleo sat up and gazed at the stars and the full moon. She thought it was beautiful. Especially when she survived a lethal drop.
She stood up and sighed, feeling happy that she was still alive for another day.