“Oh my god!” she screamed bursting through the forest.
Siobhán collapsed her body to the ground sliding feet first toward the ravine ledge. Instantly she turned her body onto her stomach and clawed at the gravel desperately trying to slow her slide – but her own momentum pushed her forward. She pushed back with her feet too and then them touching nothing. Desperately she grabbed at the dirt and debris but nothing seemed tangible and solid. The rocky edge tracked up her body and she could feel herself pouring out over the canyon rim.
For a split second she thought she may have grabbed something that had stopped her slide. But she could see her empty hands grabbing at the air in front of her…empty and frantic. The pause, that moment of hope, she quickly realized was that brief split second before her body transitioned hard into the vertical fall. The cold reality that there was nothing to grasp hit hard and the edge of the ravine rapidly push farther away from her – she was falling fast.
Still she grappled at the air, trying to turn her body in some desperate attempt to see what was coming so she could will a different fate. Everything blurred and whirled around her and her sense of orientation disappeared. Panic over took her, all her senses exploded and then just as quickly stopped registering – just the deafening noise and blinding light.
Something touched her soul, gave her hope in this hopeless situation, and she began to cry.
The whole descent seemed to slow and all its elements began to fall away. Siobhán vision tunneled right before her eyes until there was darkness. The sound of her falling was initially thunderous quickly began to fade…and then there was silence. Her heavy breathing also softened and she could feel the rhythm of her heart beat again…and this gave her comfort. In that instance she stopped fighting her descent fully and leaned into it. Finally she felt the peculiar sensation of being wrapped in a blanket of water, her heart stopped beating and Siobhan’s embraced her death with quiet tearful resolution.
************************** Lawrence Lewis“Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.” – Hannah Arendt
About Lawrence Lewis
I do a number of things professionally...but most of all and the true purpose of what I do through "my work" is to provide for my family, be a good husband and great father, and try to make a difference as a world citizen...I guess it's not much more complicated than that 🙂