Flying

A short dark comedy story - You do not need to worry about me, it's fiction! TRIGGER WARNING: Discusses suicidal ideation.

I stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down. It was less than fifty metres, I knew, but it looked like more.

I wondered what it would be like, to step out into the air, to fly, to fall, to end it all. Just one step out.

It was high enough that if you did it right and landed on your head, it would all be over in a sudden, painful flash.

That being said, it was just at that height where if something went wrong and you landed incorrectly, you could survive.

I knew a guy who fell off here once. Survived. Now, he had been drinking, and there was a certain magic to the falling drunk that often saved them. He plummeted to the bottom and hit a bush. A bloke fishing on the rocks had run over to see the carnage, and old mate jumped up and started rooting through the bushes. “You just fell off the cliff!” the fisherman called to him in shock. “What are you doing?”

Old mate looked up and said, “I’m looking for my beer. Have you seen it? I know it’s here somewhere?”

He survived and was none-the-stupider for the fall either.

Yes, I thought, stepping back from the edge a little. There were safer places to kill yourself.

As I stepped back, my foot slipped on the gravel and over I went. Over to the ground, down and over the edge, and out over the rock platform below.

Shit.

Such a strange feeling, falling with no way to influence what was happening. Flapping your arms and legs did nothing. Moving, willing, regretting, equally futile.

With surprisingly little pain, I slammed into the saltbushes at the bottom of the cliff.

I lay there, looking up at the sky. I could hear the world around me, working at a distance, but still, it was there. The waves were smashing into the rocks, like me. The birds were up in the sky, like I had briefly been. The shouting of people on the rocks, like… I did when I was younger and happier.

Suddenly, faces broke the blue of the sky. A man and woman. Maybe a couple? Young, happy, in love? “Holy shit, man! Are you okay? You just fell off the cliff!”

“I-I,” I stammered.

I was still alive. Aww, shit.

“I-I’m just looking for my mate’s beer. Have you seen it?”

Thanks for reading. As I say, this is fiction for me, no need to worry! The story about someone I know accidentally falling off that cliff and surviving is absolutely true though!! He’s fine too, not to worry. :)

The image was created using Bing Image Creator (GPT-4o): https://www.bing.com/images/create