The Flight Of Ariana Blight

• Esta Mcdougall, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2019

THE FLIGHT OF ARIANA BLIGHT:
The cliff rock was sharp and wet with sea spray. Old fisherman, Matthew, struggled up the crystalized salt and black stone. Blight Cliffs were rarely visited. For the ghost of Ariana Blight was said to haunt the grounds. Matthew had been up the cliffs many times. It was the best vantage point to fish and he didn’t believe the stories.
It took the old man a while to reach the top of the rockface. Matthew put down his bucket and cast out. He sat for a while, enduring heavy blasts of sea spray from the raging ocean. He squinted through his stinging eyes and thought he saw a grey figure next to him, but with a blink, it was gone.
Matthew caught a few fish but they wouldn’t be enough to pay the bills. The old fisherman waited for a while and then began to trek down the cliffs. He felt a sudden sadness like all the joy had been sucked from within him. Matthew thought about how poor he was, having to climb dangerous cliffs to make a living. He thought about his dead wife and was struck with a loss so devastating he felt he had no purpose in life.
Suddenly he noticed how sharp the rocks were and how high up he was. Matthew glanced around and nearly yelled. A grey transparent figure was gazing sadly at the waves beneath them. It was a young woman, silver tears down her cheeks, her hair in a long braid. She wore a locket with the initials A.B. engraved on it. Matthew stifled a cry. The woman was Ariana Blight. The girl who had plunged to her death here 140 years ago. Ariana turned to Matthew and opened her mouth, a hoarse rasping voice came out.
‘please, don’t let me go alone’
Matthew did not know what she meant. He was still in shock. Ariana looked deep into his eyes and repeated.
‘I cannot go alone, will you come with me?’
Matthew felt empty like Ariana had sapped all the feeling out of him. Her sad eyes turned desperate. She grabbed Matthew’s wrist and a burning cold took over him.
‘You must come with me’
Her grip tightened and the cold intensified, causing Matthew to go completely numb. His mind cleared and a single thought echoed throughout his head.
‘I shall go with her, I have nothing left, she shall not be lonely,’
As if she had read his mind Ariana gave a small nod and rasped
‘thank you, thank you’.
She then guided Matthew to the edge of the cliff and lept. There was a blur of sharp rock and violent sea and the voice in Matthew’s head rejoiced.
‘she will not be alone’