One more step…

Dalia bit her lower lip in an attempt to stop it from quivering too much. Tears were rolling down her face as she stared into the vast emptiness before her. Locks of her brown hair were gently brushing her face. The teenager gulped and passed her tongue over her teeth, her mind reeling with all the countless possibilities and consequences of her act. Would she do it? Could she, really? She couldn’t see anything apart the big black void and, somehow, it seemed to try and attract her into its very center.

‘’I can’t!’’ she screamed.

Dalia turned round, her hands covering her face as she cried. She could hear the sound of metal screeching and it terrified her. This emptiness… Was she that desperate? Then, she heard the voice of the only person there with her.

‘’Go on. Jump!’’

She wished he hadn’t talked. Oh, why did people feel the need to talk in such dire moments?

‘’But I’m scared!’’

‘’Everyone is scared at this point,’’ he said, his tone of voice more serious.

Dalia clenched her fists and turned round again, only to face the darkness. Her breathing was shallow and quick and her eyes just wouldn’t leave the void. Where had it gone wrong?

‘’Go on!’’

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  She had to regain her composure before the final act. As calmly as she could, Dalia looked up and jumped at the right time.

‘’Gotcha!’’

Dalia beamed up as her hands firmly caught his. Her body was swinging rapidly above the net as her best friend was keeping his legs tightly wrapped around the trapeze. She had made it!

‘’I told you I would catch you,’’ Antoine said. ‘’I’ll always catch you.’’

Tagged: ad librum aeternam, adventure, catherine g.v, fiction, flash fiction, Short story, story, thriller, write, writing