Page 39 of Someone in the Water
‘Mine too,’ Harriet says, dropping her bag on a flat section of rock and shimmying out of her shorts.
‘Not so fast, kids,’ Dom says, lifting his hand, a grin now returning to his face. ‘You don’t just get in the water.’
‘What?’ Harriet screws up her face. ‘Why not?’
‘You have to jump in; sorry, but it’s the law. There are three levels. Easy, pulse-raiser and death zone. You’re welcome to take your pick, but just so you know, I did all three levels last time.’ Dom flexes his biceps and winks.
‘What about you, Izzy?’ Jack asks. ‘Did you enter the death zone?’
‘If I remember rightly, Izzy didn’t make it past easy, did you?’ Dom’s tone carries his signature humour, but there’s a hardness in his eyes. She’s not forgiven either.
‘I don’t need silly stunts to prove my worth.’
‘Little defensive there, Izzy,’ Jack says with a smirk. ‘Well, I’m up for the death zone, mate, if you are?’
‘Bring. It. On.’ Dom gives Jack a high five and they both pull off their T-shirts. I’ve seen Dom’s torso countless times over the last couple of months, so I should be immune to his tanned flat stomach, the faint shadow of a six-pack, but the sight makes me pause today. Is this about him taking on the hardest cliff jump? Am I that easily impressed?
‘I’ll do the death zone too,’ I blurt out. This goes against everything my mum has taught me – every risk should be calculated, every challenge thoroughly assessed – but I’ve said it now. And I’m not taking it back.
‘Arch?’ Jack asks. ‘You coming?’
Archie looks mortified, which makes me feel even worse. I don’t want to make it harder for him to say no.
‘Maybe later,’ he chooses. ‘Might warm myself up with the easy jump.’
Jack looks both disappointed and annoyed as he turns back towards Dom. ‘So how do we get up there?’
‘Follow me.’ Dom turns to me and shrugs. ‘You too, I guess.’
My heart is pounding when we reach the top of the cliff, and I don’t know how much of that is down to the steep climb, Dom’s hand reaching for mine as I faltered on the final stretch of rock, or the realisation of what I’m about to do. Apparently, the water is sixteen metres below, but it looks about six thousand metres from this angle. And to make things even more challenging, the cliff has a few protruding crags that I’ll need to clear. I can see why Dom called it the death zone.
‘Are you okay?’ Dom murmurs under his breath. There’s the smallest edge of concern in his voice and the joy of hearing it, of the thought that he might be on the path to forgiving me, makes me feel instantly better.
‘Yeah, maybe a bit scared,’ I admit in a whisper.
‘You’ll be fine,’ he whispers back. ‘You’re the best athlete here.’
Tears shine in my eyes, but with gratitude, not fear.
‘Fucking hell, what a ride.’ Jack peers over the edge.
‘Welcome to the death zone,’ Dom says, his voice back to full volume.
‘If I die, will you tell my mum I’m sorry?’
‘What for?’
‘Mate, you don’t want to know.’ Jack lets out a crack of laughter, then leaps off the rock. His jump isn’t elegant, and his splash would have him banned from the Olympics for life, but he comes up whooping.
‘You go next,’ Dom says. ‘Look out at the horizon, take a big step, and let gravity do the rest.’
I nod, because I can’t talk, and edge into position. As I force myself to look at the cliff opposite, I wonder if Salvo ever brought my dad here when they were teenagers. If Dad balanced on this rock and felt the same mix of excitement and terror.
I jump.
And almost before registering that I’m dropping, I hit the water, and then I’m surging back up, a huge grin on my face. Archie claps, and I can see fraternal pride in his expression until Jack walks into my line of vision and sits down opposite him. I swim to the edge, push up out of the water, and turn to watch Dom jump.
He clears the crags easily, then drops into the water, and I wait for him to pop up.
