Just Jump

Lucy stood at the edge of the large rock that made up the ledge of the large cliff. The cliff was at the farthest point of town, far away from her house, from her parents, and from everything her world revolved around. Andrew stood a few inches away from her, holding her hand and looking down into the surely ice cold water.

            “I don’t want to do this,” Lucy shivered.

            “But this is what you wanted,” Andrew smiled and gripped her hand tighter.

            They had met in middle school, and had loved each other ever since. Ever since she saw his shaggy blonde hair and deep green eyes, and he loved her from the moment he noticed the tiny faint freckles that painted her pale face.  They stood together when they took pictures for the 8^th grade dance, and for years later at the prom. They stood together when Lucy’s dad died of cancer in eleventh grade, and she didn’t want to stand in front at the wake by herself. And now, they stood together at the old rock cliff that jutted out from yards of deep, green grass just past the dirt road they drove on to get there.

            It had been years of their old country town, the old ways of tradition holding them to certain standards, telling them what was right, what was wrong. There was pressure from Andrew’s parents to excel in soccer and get a scholarship, and pressure from Lucy’s mom to do anything that would’ve made Dad proud. But it didn’t really matter when they were together. Together, they made it through it all.

            That day, they stood in old, dirty jeans; Andrew in just an undershirt, and Lucy in a tank top. It was December, just before Christmas, and just after Lucy’s birthday. And now that they were feet away from the waking water, she regretted her birthday wish to Andrew, “Let’s do something crazy.”

            “Crazy!” Andrew had laughed. “You’ve never done a crazy thing in your life.”

            “Isn’t that always why people do crazy things? To get over themselves, and to just be different for a moment? It must be freeing to do something out of the ordinary, to not hold back. To just jump.”

            Lucy could never have anticipated that this would be her gift she was woken up that morning. “I told your mom we were going out,” he whispered as she tucked her pants into old snow boots.

“Where?” she asked groggily.

“Just out. Put your jacket on, it’s raining a little.”

            Off his old Ford went, and they sped down the road in the sprinkling rain, the sun barely peaked out behind the light grey clouds, the blue skies no where in sight. She was getting nervous now, but Andrew looked excited, smiling and holding her hand tightly as he steered with the other.

            “I’m tired,” Lucy whined, and fidgeted in her seat.

            “We’re here!” and the car suddenly braked. Lucy peered over the dashboard and looked out to see a ledge leading to grey water that disappeared into the same colored skyline.

            “Here? What…is this?”

            “March’s Cliff. My Dad and uncle used to go cliff diving here,” he smiled, staring into her icy blue eyes. And moments later, they stood at the edge, staring down into the surprisingly calm waters for a sad, gloomy looking day.

            “Take off your coat, you don’t want to ruin it,” and he helped her unzip her down jacket. Andrew took off his coat and flung it behind them.

            “I…I can’t. I’m scared. How will we swim back? How will we get back to the car?”

            “Don’t worry,” he cooed and pointed down to a small ledge close down to the top of the water. “There’s a landing there, and a carved out path that comes right back up. There’s nothing to be worried about but the cold.”

            “It’s going to hurt. What if I hurt myself?”

            “What if nothing happens at all? What if you just take a deep breath and know I’m here with you? You wanted to be crazy…”

            “This is crazy!” she gasped, as the wind rushed by and took her hair up in a spirled mess.

            “No, it’s letting go for once in your life. Letting go of what people want from you, what people expect. Letting go to be yourself.”

            “I’m scared of that,” she whispered. “What if I don’t like it?”

            “There’s only one way to find out. You just have to try, just give it all you can,” And their feet started to inch forward. Gripping their hands together tighter, her stomach felt like it exploded, and she turned to Andrew slowly.

“What do we do now?” she whispered. He leaned in and locked his eyes with hers and whispered back, “Just jump.”