Over the Edge

As she raced away from the ground and back towards the cliff a gentle smile touched her features.

She flew among the clouds for a while enjoying her new freedom but she knew that inevitably she would need to return to the ground, to the cliff and the gentle voice that cooed to her about falling. Gently and slowly she angled herself back towards that cliff, dreading the moment when the sensation of flight would end. The moment when her feet touched the ground again came all too soon for her.
It was there that she saw who the voice belonged to. It was indeed the voice of an old friend and there he stood at the edge of the cliff looking down like he was searching for her ruined body at the bottom.

“Hello, friend” she said from behind him. He seemed slightly startled to hear her voice coming from behind him as he whipped around quickly to face her.

“Hello. I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon.”

“No, I don’t imagine you were. After all, you were the one who convinced me to jump.” A small smirk appeared on his mouth. He knew he could no longer deny that it had been he whispering in her ear about jumping. He also knew that she knew he had expected her to fail.

“I see you found your wings.”

“Of course I did. Too bad you don’t have a pair of your own.” And without a word more she rushed at him across the cliff. She threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him, one over his left shoulder and the other hooked under his right armpit. She used her feet and her wings to overpower him, forcing them both back over the edge of the cliff.

Flight

She fell. The wind was roaring in her ears and with her eyes wide open she could see the colors of the rocks flashing by her as gravity took her completely in its grasp. She wasn’t sure how long she fell for, it felt like forever but as she fell something changed. Her racing heart slowed, she felt a sense of calm come over her. Her mind emptied of the thoughts that had been demanding her attention. Time went by but her fall seemed to slow until she stopped. She looked down and saw herself suspended in the air still feet from the bottom where she had been anticipating her doom. She looked up and saw wings. Green transparent wings had sprouted from her back. She was flying. She hovered there a moment enjoying the sensation of flight. Then slowly she stretched her arms towards the heavens and away into skies that were hung heavy with rain clouds.

Naphtali's Fall

She stood on the edge of a cliff, looking down. It was then that a gentle voice cooed to her. She recognized it as the voice of an old friend,

“Are you in or are you out?” he said. “It won’t matter either way, but the fall will be breathtaking and the view is to die for.”

Her mouth curled into a small coy smile as the wind gently whipped her hair around her face. She moved the strands from her lips before whispering in response,
“Sounds like my kind of adventure.”

“That is all life is you know. A long fall to the inevitable end. The world rushes by us in a whirl wind of colors, sights and feelings. It is out of these quick sensations that occasionally we pull out tiny scenes of breathtaking beauty. They stop our hearts and for a moment we feel the fall stop and time has frozen.”

She stepped closer to the edge, her toes hanging off. She closed her eyes and spread her arms out like the wings of a bird. She whispered again,

“Good bye old friend. See you at the bottom.”