After a five-minute walk Dawn stood on the edge of a sheer cliff face. She looked down and tried hard to focus. But, the bottom of the cliff was invisible. She flicked a large stone over the edge with her foot and counted the time to the impact below. Over two hundred feet down, she calculated.
She turned and stood with her heels on the very edge. Several loose chips crumbled away. She looked back at the crash site illuminated in the distance. Confident that no one was watching, she stepped back, out into space.
She prayed there would be no outcrops of rock to throw her out from the ledge below and to the bottom of the cliff another thousand feet down. She rolled sideways to cushion her impact on the ledge, hands between her head and the cliff face. She bounced several times, her hips and knuckles taking the brunt of the blows.
She lay winded and shaken, her right leg hanging over the edge. Slowly, she raised herself up against the cliff face. She edged slowly along the ledge, her left hand against the cliff for guidance. She stumbled against a rock and tripped forward. Her right foot slipped over the edge and she desperately threw herself to the left and clung on tightly.
A faint whirr approached from the distance. A spot of light shone into the ravine. Gradually, the drone of a helicopter’s engines grew louder, the searchlight more intense. Dawn took a deep breath then moved on swiftly. Her face against the rock, her hands moved quickly from one hold to the next. She scurried along, stumbled, slipped, and grabbed at every undulation of the rock. She ignored the painful blows to her toes and the sharp outcrops that tore at the skin of her hands and scratched her face.
The searchlight swept along the cliff face from behind her and the downdraft blew shale and loose rocks at her. The helicopter swung down and skirted along quickly, close to the cliff face. The draft blew Dawn forward. She stumbled and crashed face down on the ledge.
The ‘copter hovered only feet behind her, its blade tips rotating just yards above the edge of the ledge. Massive air currents swirled around Dawn, and pushed her forward and out. She slid along on the loose rock and shale, and gathered momentum on a layer of shingle. As rocks fell over the edge, Dawn struggled to find anything to grasp for a hold. She felt like she was on a magic carpet ride to the precipice.
She cried out, “Mother, I’ve held true in my mission and always tried to make you proud and to be worthy of your favor when we finally meet. If this is the end, I’m sorry.”