Page 81 of Pomegranates and Olive

"You're terrible, both of you." Rosie glares at us before climbing down the ladder and splashing into the water. "I'm going as well."

"Rosie! Don't you dare!"

I stamp my foot emphatically, but she’s already swimming toward the shore leaving me no option but to follow her. I dive off the bow and quickly catch up to her. We swim together over to the island, arriving in time to see a young man performing a perfect dive off the cliff.

Rosie squeals in excitement and races up the trail to catch up to Luca and Deniz. "Me! I'm next."

Before I can grab a hold of her, she's running toward the cliff. Shouts of encouragement ring out around us and a roar from the crowd rises up from the water below. I watch in horror as my little sister throws herself over the edge. "ROSIE!"

Inching towards the edge of the cliff I look down to see her break through the surface. "Holy shit!"

"You can't stop your sister from doing anything she sets her mind to, you know that!" Luca grins, an air of pride in his voice. "Are you coming?"

I back away from the edge. "No, no. I'll climb back down, thank you very much."

“Suit yourself.” He shrugs and turns toward the cliff. "See you down there."

I watch as he dive-bombs over the edge.

"Asshole!"

Walking back toward the track I glare at Deniz. "You got something to say?"

"Do you really care what I think?"

"Not particularly."

"I think you should jump."

"Are you mad?"

He chuckles at the look of horror on my face. "I have watched you for weeks now staring at that cliff and I've waited for you to build up the courage to jump. I know you want to do it."

"I can't."

"The start of any great adventure is taking that first step; up until now you've been coasting. If you go back to Sydney without having thrown yourself off a cliff, then have you really had your adventure?"

I look at the water below, feeling dizzy. "It's high."

He holds out his hand. "Do you want me to jump with you?"

I stare at him for a moment before shaking my head, mostly to myself. My heart is racing. This is going to be a defining moment in my life, in fact it’s one of the many things on my bucket list that will probably never be checked off if I don’t do it right now. I'd even moaned to Ginny and Rosie about it back in Sydney.

So here I am I'm actually contemplating throwing myself off a cliff.

I wait for the inevitable nausea to take over, to tell me I'm making a monumental mistake, but it doesn't come. I’m not scared to jump. At all.

"No." I whisper to him. "This is something I have to do by myself."

As I step toward the edge beside Deniz, his grey eyes lock with mine for what might just be the final time if things go bad and I watch as his face spreads into a huge smile. "Don't look down."

I scowl back at him. "That's great advice."

Crossing my arms over my chest I close my eyes... and step out.

The air rushes past me. I can hear myself screaming as I plummet to what will certainly be a quick death. Hitting the the water with an almighty splash, I torpedo down, down, down until I finally come to a stop. Then I kick off the bottom while something whooshes past me. I open my eyes to see Deniz grinning as he sinks amongst a sea of bubbles.

I break through the surface with the biggest grin on my face, treading water as I get my bearings.

---