The Cliffs

Ruby Gehringer

Immediately after leaving the cave Ruby regretted doing so. The storm was much, much worse than she had originally anticipated and the icy wind ripped through her as she ran, trying to find her way back to town. She felt like screaming every time the lightning lit up the world and the peals of thunder shook the very ground she tread upon. I'm so stupid! I should have just stayed and waited for the storm to let up! Now I couldn't even find my way back even if I wanted to! Why don't I ever think before I do things?

She kept going, running as fast as she could through the rain. Thoughts seeped into her mind as she did so--thoughts of the rumors that circulated through Bela Nombre about the outskirts....rumors of unexplained disappearances, attacks on locals, strange sounds heard at night...all in the very part of town Ruby now found herself in.

If something were to happen to me, no one would know. No one but Blair knows I'm out here right now, and she probably thinks I'm home by this time. No one would know what had happened to me...

[i]Oh, stop it! They're just stories, all of them! Coincidences! I'll be fine! I'll get out of here and the storm will let up and I'll go home and take a hot bath and go to bed, and that'll be the end of it! I'll be fine. "I'll be fine," she added aloud.

Even as she spoke these words, a jagged streak of lightning tore through the sky. Ruby shrieked, but the sound was drowned out in the deafening boom of thunder that followed. The rain grew even heavier, making it so Ruby's already decreased visibility was nonexistent. All she could see was a world of white as the rain came down in sheets.

She couldn't see that the very surfaces on which she ran were the fabled cliffs of Bela Nombre.

She couldn't see just how close she was to the edge.

Ruby screamed for all she was worth as the ground gave way beneath her. She tried for a fraction of a second to steady herself, but to no avail. She lost her grip on her bookbag and it lay there, on the ground next to her soaked fedora, the only evidence that someone had once been atop the cliff. Ruby screamed again as she tumbled through the air, plunging into the icy waters below.

Ruby struggled to the surface, gasping for air. She looked around wildly, trying to find the shore, as the icy water made her very bones ache, combined with the pain from the impact of her fall. A massive wave crashed into her, driving her beneath the water once again. After a moment her head bobbed up as she coughed and spluttered. The waves did not let up, continuing to bear down upon her as the storm raged in the sky. After each wave she found herself pulled down into the depths. Her strength began to fade, and she gave up, letting herself be consumed by the ocean.

Ruby is now unconscious. Yes.

Oliver Vandrose

That otherworldly scream that had ripped through him had set his chest aching. If he'd still held ownership over a working, beating heart, it would have sunk right through his stomach by now. That scream, the very one that now had him racing towards the shore with all his speed and willpower, had sounded pleading. Dangerous. Someone needed help. He pushed himself faster. Faster. It didn't feel like enough.

The sound had come from the shoreline; just exactly where Oliver wasn't sure. He'd been leaving Eaz and was a quarter of a mile out when he'd heard it. It had sent a chill downhis spine, and a split-second later he was halfway through Eaz, branches splintering off of their trunks when he brushed them out of his way. The sheeting rain was causing a slight problem for him, though; the raindrops were all in spectacular clarity, their sparkling tear-drop orbs causing little obstructions that he had to see around rather than through.

He burst out of the tree cover and skidded to a halt; directly ahead of him were the treacherous cliffs, and at the edge of the cliffs. . .

He was kneeling by the abandoned backpack and fedora in three seconds. The hat looked familiar. As did the backpack. But he didn't have time to try and remember who they belonged to. It seemed that their owner had fallen over the precarious edge of the jagged cliffs. Oliver scrambled to the ledge and peered over into the roiling sea.

A vague dark shape was being endlessly beaten to and fro by the vicous waves. Once one wave had relented, it'd bob back to the surface, and then another would come along and push it down again. Without a thought Oliver hurled himself over the cliff like a trained gymnast and his body twisted around in midair, so that he was diving in headfirst, his hands and feet making two easy points that sliced into the water with ease. He surfaced and searched for the body, but it wasn't there. He plunged deeper and fought the murky, raging water to see, but it was difficult. He pushed forward, never pausing to catch a breath even though the part of his brain that controlled old human habits screamed at him to.

After a few endless minutes a shape loomed out at him from the dark water; a billowing skirt and hair. The girl was unconscious, the current pulling her body under and along, not allowing her body to resurface. He hurtled through the water and grabbed the girl's wrist before pulling as sharp a turn as the water would allow and racing back towards the surface. He may not have needed oxygen, but the girl did more than ever. A few more minutes and her brain would shut down.

Once Oliver broke the surface and pulled the girl up beside him, he recognized her.

Ruby's eyes were closed and her mouth gaped open, water sloshing in and undoubtedly pushing down her throat. Oliver cursed and wrapped one arm around Ruby's waist. With one arm he paddled to the nearest shore, which was just over fifteen feet away. Ruby had been so close when the ocean won out.

He reached the shore within a few minutes and pulled himself and Ruby out of the water as quickly as he could. He laid her on her side and patted her back, hoping some of the water in her lungs would dispell itself. When some of the water coursed out onto the rocks her breathing started again, but it was slow and labored. She didn't wake up. Oliver began counting her heartbeats, his ear hovering over her chest. The sound was faint and somewhat sluggish, but it didn't sound dangerous. He knelt and picked her up, hugging her to his chest securely. He only hoped she wouldn't wake up on the journey to the hospital. He began running again, towards New Bela.

Oliver has left the cliffs with Ruby.