Thea had got to know Iliana well in the last couple of years. She’d helped her through some of the problems when she’d been deserted by everyone, an orphan without a friend. She knew that this would be a major blow to her.
"Yes I do want to go, but I don’t want to leave you."
"You do, I know you do!" Surges of hate of the betrayal that her friend had bestowed on her crept through her veins. Maybe she was over-reacting, but she didn’t care. All she could see was that yet another person was deserting her, leaving her alone to face the world she hated.
With her moment of rage and with her tears blocking out the world like a shield of sadness and anger, she turned to run away from her friend. She’d been so near to the edge of the cliff and, with her tears blinding her, her fate was inevitable. She knew what was going to happen to her with calming certainty, almost before she slipped off the cliff. It was meant to happen and she knew it. Her mind flashed scenes of her life before her. She’d never believed that it happened but it did, though not in the way she’d expected. It wasn’t good things from her life, it was bad ones. As she swiftly crusaded down, ready to embrace death, hoping and waiting for her life to end, pain exploded in her soul as she crashed into the rocks.
For a moment she’d thought she was dead. But in opening her eyes, she’d discovered that she’d landed on the rocky ledge further down that she was now sitting on. Not daring to move for the pain that overcame her every time she moved, she felt determined to jump to her death.
She remembered the flashes that she’d seen. Scene after scene of people leaving her. Images of her real parents and her adoptive ones leaving her. There’d been some really painful ones of her friend Keller leaving. She’d been close to Keller’s parents and her, but they left after Keller ran away. She hadn’t even told Iliana that she was going, she just left. The worst parts she didn’t want to remember but they came back to haunt her anyway. The lonely times she’d spent in the shed-like place she squatted in, where she’d cried herself to sleep on the carpet-less floor. Just scraping enough money to survive by working in a grungy café was not how she’d wanted to live. Tears came to her eyes again and she sobbed pitifully until she couldn’t think straight.
She looked up at the rescue team and the blurred shape she thought was probably Thea. She could just hear Thea if no-one else spoke too loudly, but the team that Thea had called on her mobile kept trying to interfere. She’d already shouted up that if they dared to come anywhere near her, she’d jump. Thea kept shouting the same thing over and over again, telling her that she had everything to live for.
She was wrong. She had nothing to live for. Her life was a mess and always had been. The indescribable pain of self-pity settled in her stomach. Nothing would make her happy, she could never trust anyone again. As she buried her head in her hands in despair she heard a familiar voice in the wind, but it couldn’t be whom she thought it was. But looking up to the small figures above her, one of them stood out, looking down at her awkwardly and Iliana instantly recognised her. It was Keller.
"Keller?" Shock overwhelmed her. She never thought that she’d ever see her again, but here she was. She didn’t know how to feel but her curiosity persuaded her to listen to what she had to say.
"I came back. I needed to talk to you. I didn’t see you in the village so I figured you’d be up here. You’ve always loved it here." She took a deep breath and looked at what her friend had come to. She just hoped that Iliana wouldn’t do what she’d threatened. "They’ve told me what you’ve said. Please don’t jump!"
"You left me! Just like everyone else! You didn’t even tell me why. Just a note to your parents!" she screamed at Keller. She didn’t care that her ribs hurt every time she talked. Keller had re-opened older, deeper wounds. She now felt worse. Her pain was greater now, but she longed to know why she had left.
"I’m so sorry!" Keller tried to apologise, but she knew what she’d done was unforgivable in Iliana’s eyes. "I had to go, to think. I discovered something really important. I wanted to tell you but I didn’t know how to, I wasn’t sure how you’d react and… Well I’m just sorry, okay? But I’m going to tell you now."
"What is it?"
"I heard my parent s talking one night. They’d had another child. I was a twin." She spoke in short sentences. It was difficult for her to talk about it. "It totally mixed me up, I didn’t know what to do. My parents couldn’t afford both of us so they put one of us up for adoption. They tried to be there for my sister but she wouldn’t accept charity from them. She doesn’t know that she’d related to them yet."
"I know it must have been hard for you," Iliana called up, "but I don’t understand why you couldn’t tell me."
Keller took a deep breath and softly she said, "Ilian, it’s you."
Shock flowed through her. She felt numb, she felt like it would never sink in.
"It…It can’t be."
"It’s true, we’re sisters."
"You really mean it?" She was so happy just to hear that. She thought about what her life could be now. A ray of hope started to shine through her loneliness.
"Of course I mean it. Let these people help you," she gestured to the team who stood patiently beside her. "Look, I’m moving back here, we needn’t ever be apart again."
She thought about it carefully. Yes. She’d made a decision. She didn’t know if it was the right one, but it was what she wanted now.
"Help me up, you lot, I’m coming back!" Joy invaded her system. She’d never been so happy. She had a family and her best friend back. It would take her time to forgive her parents for leaving her but nothing like that really mattered now. The only things that did were life and her future.
As Thea, completely bewildered by the whole incident, gazed on in amazement; as Keller was bursting with hope and excitement for the future; as the rescue team breathed a sigh of relief, Iliana made the biggest mistake of her life. Buzzing with joy and reeling with adrenaline from reaching a level of happiness that her life had never reached before, Iliana jumped to her feet quickly and sharply. Her consciousness started to fade and blackness crept across her as agony seared through her. The pain was incredible, every part of her wretched with blinding agony. Her earlier fall had caused far more damage than she had thought. She shouldn’t have moved so quickly. She’d barely moved since she’d fallen onto the ledge, and this sharp, sudden movement had sent her body writhing with excruciating distress. As she doubled over with sheer agony, her concentration lapsed, her sense of balance disappeared and she hurtled down towards the evil waves below, waiting to snatch her from the world in which she finally belonged.