The girls gasp as they huddle around. They all start whisking out their cellphones to record my sister’s impending death. Her toes stick off the rock ledge, not much to brace herself with.
She’s planning on jumping. She’s not just up there for an intimate tour of the cliff. This is her idea of fun.
“She’s nuts,” Harper says with the shake of her head.
Another local diver springs off the edge and soars in the air with mastered precision. He dives headfirst into the rightspot of water, and the man teaching Daisy keeps talking, as though that was some kind of demonstration for her.
Daisy nods, not even a little scared. I can practically see her eyes lighting up in awe and excitement.
“Is she going to jump?” Harper asks. “There are rocks everywhere.”
Cleo anxiously clenches the railing. “This isn’t an ocean. This is like as small as a river. Shouldn’t she be jumping into that?” She points to the full blue ocean that hits the northern part of the cliff, but Daisy is on the side, the section where the ocean flows into this little crevice between our lookout point and the mountain she spiders.
“I’ve seen these types of dives before,” Katy (or rather Tessa) says, smacking on gum. She sidles up next to Cleo. “There’s a small radius where it’s like really,reallydeep and then beyond that it’s shallow and really,reallyrocky.”
Where’s Ryke?!
“Shut up,” Cleo snaps at her. “Seriously, shut up.”
And then, I see Ryke ascending the cliff, grabbing cutouts in the rock and putting his feet in divots, hiking his body up and then over with endurance and strength. He doesn’t need a local to show him the way. He’s free climbing, I realize. Free-solo climbing. Without a rope. I guess, in some way, he was able to do what he had planned before coming on this trip.
Still, I am terrified.
A local says something, and their heads swivel in Ryke’s direction. The man edges closer and holds out his hand to Ryke when he finds their path. He shakes it as though he’s a welcomed guest to their club atop a cliff. Actually, they’re notontop. That would be too high. But the side of the cliff is already too tall for comfort.
Daisy acknowledges Ryke, and then looks back at the water when his mouth starts moving. His face grows red and veins begin to pop from his neck as he rants. If I was closer, I wonder if I would see spit flying from his lips, beyond furious.
The locals let him say what he needs to, and then Ryke turns to them, speaking a little, but his motions are calm, less irate. They nod and then point to the water, replying back. God, I wish I could hear.
When Daisy begins talking, I think maybe Ryke has succeeded in convincing her to return to the parking lot. But her hands start gesticulating, angry and as irritated as he is.
They’re arguing.
He steps closer, his foot halfway on the ledge as they straddle the side of the fucking mountain. His nose touches hers as he gets into her face, shouting. Her chest puffs out and she yells back. Their voices begin to echo through the ravine but not loud enough to make out words or syllables.
And then she puts her back against the ledge and says something to the local man. He nods, and Ryke screams at her, “NO!” We can all hear the fear and anger writhing in his voice.
But it’s too late.
She dives.
Right.
Off.
The fucking.
Cliff.
Headfirst.
I hold my breath, my lips parting as my jaw drops. Not even a full second after she dives, Ryke impulsively jumps right in after her.
This…is not good. Both Lo and I are going to lose siblings in one day.
I wait for them to come to the surface for what seems like hours.Waiting. Waiting.The water rushes in and then back out of the ravine in a systematic cycle. White foam smacking slick black rocks.
Where is she?
