"Where are you taking me?"
I gazed out the tinted window of the passenger seat in confusion as the scenario of burnt trees flew past my vision. Something wasn't right, at all.
From the corner of my eye, I saw him glance at me with narrowed eyes, the knuckles of his hands turning white as he tightened his hold on the wheel, "no where in particular."
I frowned at his answer but nodded nonetheless. I didn't want to anger him; not after he knocked Jase out so indifferently. Sure, Jase deserved it but that didn't mean I wasn't scared.
I looked down at my fingers and twirled my thumbs around in a circular motion nervously. I heard him sigh tiredly and say, "I'm not going to hurt you okay?"
I cast him a glance before leaning my head against the window glass, "then tell me where we're going."
I heard him mumble hotly under his breath and then replied, "It's a place I usually go to when I want to be alone," when I looked at him curiously, he cast me a faint but genuine smile, "you could say it's my 'safe haven.'"
At that, I couldn't help but smile too, even if I didn't want to and continued to look out the window.
After a few minutes of watching the burnt trees become smaller, the car turned in a different direction and suddenly, instead of facing more trees, I was faced with an empty road, trees situated on the right whilst the view of the mountains facing the left. It was like a road and a continuous cliff at the same time.
"Do you seriously waste your time coming here all just for a few minutes of peace? Like if I were you, I'd just go to one of the cliffs back in town," I said, looking at him in curiousity.
He shrugged, "it's different here-and don't ask why, you'll know soon."
I slumped further into my seat and pouted. Why did I agree to come with him again?
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It took us twenty minutes of comforting silence to reach a small abandoned parking lot. In front of it was a rocky path that led deep into the burnt woods. He parked his car and unlocked the doors before existing quickly, and made his way through the forest, leaving me behind in puzzlement.
What the hell?
I opened door and ran to catch up to him but he wasn't there. After calling his name a couple of times, I decided to follow the rocky footpath, knowing that he must've at least gone that way.
Along the way, I tripped over holes and bumped into branches, so by the time I reached the end of the path, I was exhausted. That was the most painful ten minute walk of my whole life. Never. Again. Ever.
I stepped out into a small clearing and widened my eyes, when I saw a terrifyingly high cliff-if that made any sense-situated to my right. But that wasn't the only thing that caught my attention. Right there, standing at the very edge with his arms spread out was the idiot I was looking for.
I silently made my way towards him and frowned weirdly when I saw him barefooted.
"what are you, Rose from the Titanic?"
A genuine laugh left my mouth when he tilted his head to the side and scowled at me. He sighed and dropped his arms to his sides, "I was actually hoping you'd get lost on your way here."
I was about to retort back sarcastically but stopped when I saw a small smile tug at his lips. I shook my head at him and he sat down on the wet grass. He looked up at me and patted the spot next to him, "come, sit. And take your shoes off."
My brows furrowed at his demands but I took them off nonetheless and sat next to him cross legged. No way was I dangling my feet on the edge of this cliff. It looked dangerous. A little too dangerous for my liking.
"Do you know why I like coming here?" He asked quietly.
"Because it's you safe haven?" I guessed.
His lip tugged upwards into a smile before shaking his head, "no. It gets fun at night."
I waited for him to elaborate and pursed my lips when he left me hanging. True, he was a man of few words, but that was all. A man of few words, not riddles.
"What do you mean?" I finally asked.
Again, he shook his head, "listen. You only understand things when you listen."
He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, tilting his head up towards the orange sky. I watched him in wonder as he exhaled, his shoulders slumping forward, as if the weight of the world had been lifted of his shoulders.
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, and he turned around to look at me whilst frowning, "did you hear that?"
I glanced around us at the small clearing questioningly. The trees were all a burnt brown in colour, but the grass, the grass was bright green, as if someone had just came and watered it. Though now that I think about it, it seemed weird. Very weird.
"No," I replied.
When I looked back at the boy sitting next to me, he was staring intensely at the sky, as the colour orange began to disappear with the sun and the black clouds began to take over. The more I too looked at it, the more I felt as if there was a war going on up there.
I sighed tiredly and leaned my head on his shoulder. Sure, I was confused but at the same time, I wanted to watch the sunset. It was a lovely view; one that I knew I wouldn't be able to see clearly on the cliffs back home.
It seemed like hours went by when actually, they were only minutes. Minutes of comfortable silence. Minutes of calm breathing and halted thoughts. And they ended when the last stray of light was covered in black.
Suddenly, things didn't seem as peaceful as they were. I felt as though someone-or something- was watching us. Not just one thing, but lots of things. And it seemed as though I wasn't the only one that realised this because his shoulder seemed to tense underneath my head.
"Stay still," I heard him mutter. And I did, afraid for the both of our fate.
"Reece."
I reached out in panic and grabbed him by the hand tightly when I heard someone whisper his name. Trying to calm my alarmed heart and I said, "can we go home now?"
He shook his head lightly and replied, "no. Don't worry, they won't do anything."
I removed my head from his shoulder and looked at him with pursed lips, "what do you mean they?"
He sighed tiredly and ran his hand through his hair, "they're ghosts Mira. They all trapped on this cliff."
Ghosts? What the hell is this, some sort of prank? Though the look on his face proved to be otherwise. "But why?"
He looked at me with sad eyes and then down at our entwined hands, "they jumped."
My eyes widened in surprise and hesitantly, I glanced around the clearing. At first I saw nothing, but when I looked closely, faces within the shadows of the burnt trees began to pop up frighteningly. No, this isn't a prank, it can't be.
I immediately looked away and back at Reece, "all of them?"
He nodded his head as if he was struggling to cope with the answer, "yes, all of them."
I heaved dejectedly and closed my eyes, finally understanding what Reece meant when he said 'listen' as I heard a voice singing. Creepy.
"Do you know what this cliff is called?" I opened my eyes at the sound of his voice and shook my head.
"Dead people cliff."
I stared at him blankly with narrowed eyes, "seriously?"
Again, he nodded his head and explained, "after many missing people's trails ended here, they named it that, assuming that they all jumped."
I frowned unconvinced, "so they didn't actually look at the bottom of the cliff?"
Reece leaned forward a little to see for himself then looked back at me, "you can't reach it. It's like a never ending fall where you keep falling and falling until you hit the water. And even if they did search there, the bodies would've disappeared down the trail of river."
He bit his bottom lips and leaned back on his elbows against the grass. "How do you know all this?" I asked.
I watched for what felt like the longest time but was merely a few seconds as he stared up at the moon. The small amount of light reflecting against his eyes, made them seem-as weird as it sounds-darker than they surely were.
"My sister was the first to jump off here," he said quietly. Immediately, I felt bad for asking and I tightened my grip onto his hand when he tried to let go, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ask."
"It's okay, you didn't know. Besides it was-"
His words became a distant sound in the background as I felt a cold breath tingle down my neck, freezing my body in fear.
"-And you can't do anything abou-hey are you alright?" Reece's concerned face came into my vision.
"Looks can be deceiving."
I heaved in a ragged breath at the scratchy voice whispering in my ear and immediately sprang forward, bumping heads with Reece whilst doing so. I winced at the pain and ignored the glare coming from the boy rubbing his forehead in front of me. "Reece, it-it was right behind me! I heard it-"
He placed his forefinger against my lip and stood up, pulling me with him too. "We're going home?" I asked hopefully. I didn't want to stay here any longer. This place was beyond creepy.
Though I felt disappointed and angry when Reece shook his head. "Reece, we have to leave. Do you not see them? I'm not staying here anymore."
I snatched my hand from his hold and began walking away but before I could go any further, he grabbed my wrist tightly and pulled me against him, "it's okay Mira. They did the same thing to me," he whispered softly in my ear.
"W-what?"
He ignored me and turned us around so that we were facing the dark sky, "here, just look at the view and forget that there are a bunch of dead people behind you, yeah?"
I glanced behind me at him and said in disbelief, "how can I pretend that there aren't a bunch of dead people behind me?"
"It's the only way Mira. Now look," he wrapped one of his arms around my waist and pointed at the sky with the other, "see those stars? The ones in a straight line?"
I nodded at him even though my mind was still focusing on the bruised faces of the dead people. How did he expect me to ignore much less forget them?
"See? They form a face of a tiger."
I frowned at the sky, not seeing any of what he was explaining, "I can't see anything."
"You mean, you choose not to see."
I flinched in surprise and leaned back further into Reece when I saw a girl about my age sitting with her bare feet dangling on the edge. She looked up at me and whispered, "looks can be deceiving," before disappearing into thin air.
I frowned and glanced up at Reece only to see him looking at the place where the girl sat with sad eyes, "that was my sister," he whispered quietly before meeting my gaze solemnly.
My mouth opened and closed but no words were able to be formed. What was I meant to say? It's not everyday you see the ghost of your sibling. But then again, what did she mean?
I shook my head and looked back at the moon and heard Reece sigh behind me. "When?" I asked.
It seemed like he understood what I meant because his arms tightened around my waist but still replied, "two years ago."
He rested his chin against my shoulder and I struggled to stay put and not turn my head towards him. "I'm sorry," I couldn't help but say.
Reece was about to reply when all of the sudden, we heard the sound of a little girl singing. I couldn't understand what she was saying but by the looks of it, Reece did, since he lifted his head and looked behind him, mumbling, "it's time."
"Time for what?" I wanted to ask but my question was swallowed down when a little boy, probably about the age of 6, appeared next to me. Sure, I was freaked out but mostly curious. Did this boy know what suicide even was?
"I have a secret to tell you."
I glanced up at Reece and he nodded murmuring, "he's just a boy."
I kneeled down in front of the young boy who looked like he'd been repeatedly beaten with a rock and stared at him in deep sympathy. He didn't deserve what'd happened to him, not at all.
He moved a little closer to me and cupped his hand around the side of his mouth next to my ear, whispering, "don't fall."
I stared after the young boy as he disappeared whilst running away barefooted and frowned, slightly confused but mostly freaked out. I stood up and locked eyes with Reece, "can we please leave? This is really freaking me out. And my brother's probably worried by now."
Again, he shook his head at me and ran his hand roughly through his hair, "they're about to start, don't you want to see?"
"Start what?" Instead of replying, Reece grabbed me by the waist and turned me around to face the spotted sky, "just listen," he said.
And I did. At first, I heard nothing, nothing at all. But slowly, I began to listen and heard the girl singing again. Though this time, it wasn't just her, a few others joined in too. "What are they saying?"
I looked to my right and saw a little girl holding a dirty teddy bear tightly in her small hands. She tilted her head at the sky and it was as if she felt someone was staring at her because in a blink of an eye, she was staring at me with wide innocent eyes, "don't fall."
My hands subconsciously found their way to my waist and grabbed onto Reece's hands as I glanced down at the edge of the cliff. Don't fall.
"Don't worry, there's nothing to be afraid of. They do this every time," Reece said comfortingly in my ear.
"Haven't you ever thought of figuring out what they mean?"
I felt him shake his head, "I gave up a long time ago."
We stood silently listening to the repeated nursery rhymes a couple of times before sighing in frustration, "Reece, we have to leave, I can't stand it anymore." This really was scaring me. The only reason why I was able to stay out here was because of Reece; because this wasn't his first time here.
"Mira relax, there's nothing to be worried about. It'll all end soon," he sealed his promise with an affectionate kiss on the side of my head.
Suddenly, it went quiet. A little too quiet for my liking. "Reece?" I asked cautiously.
"Looks can be deceiving."
I turned to look at him and he smiled, not suspicious at all of his surroundings. Or maybe he was used to it.
I was about to speak up when the nursery rhymes began again, this time though, Reece sang along with them like there were no dead souls surrounding us.
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I glared at the grinning boy I was facing and snapped, "Reece, this isn't funny at all. Let's go home."
I grabbed his hand to leave but halted in my tracks when I saw his sister again. She smiled at me in sympathy, "don't fall."
I backed up next to Reece in slight panic and confusion, "why are they all saying this?"
He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "they're warning you."
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I tilted my head to the side in puzzlement, "warning me? Of what?"
"Of what's in front of you," I stared at him for a couple of seconds before he turned me around to face the dark sky, "see?"
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"It's very pretty isn't it?" I nodded my head in agreement and he smiled against my ear, "too bad looks can be deceiving."
I frowned at that and immediately tensed when Reece tilted his head away from me and took a step back, whispering, "we all fall down."
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