The Tower

'You won't do it.'

'What do you mean I won't do it? Yes I will.'

'I'll bet you anything you won't.'

'How much?'

'I'm just saying, I don't think you'll do it.'

'Well I'm definitely going to now that you've said that.'

She hadn't surveyed her options at all, just tilted her chin defiantly and crossed her arms insistently in the muggy morning heat. Muggy morning heat that smelt of beer. The table was littered with bottles and other remnants of the previous night's activities. She washed the dishes, dropping a glass in the process, smashing splinters of glass across the sticky kitchen floor.

It felt like Sunday. She had wrung the sand out of unwashed bathers and was the last one to climb into the rusted red Camry ('Why do you get to sit in the front? My legs are clearly longer').

She was already nervously assessing her decision. She'd been doing so before they swung into the car park of the beach, before he navigated the car uneasily along the outcrop of rocks to avoid the hefty swim from the beach to the Tower. She'd seen it before, joked that she would leap from it before, face lifted to the sky, full of carefree energy with no fear. But that was before, and as they piled out of the car and began clambering down the rocks, the fear ebbed through her, starting with her feet, which were already being gnarled at by the pointed rock edges. She attempted to propel herself forward faster, not wanting to be left behind by the lengthy steps and ruthlessness of those in front of her. They'd reached the edge; wasted no time in leaping forward into the sea that lapped at the tide line etched onto the rocks.

The cold water had hit her with a smack, and she frantically doggy-paddled against what she couldn't see, writhing against the unknown that could be lurking beneath her. She was breathing in panicky gasps, partly due to the unexpected chill of the water and partly due to the overwhelming panic at being left behind. 'Wait for me!' she wanted to shout out. Don't leave me behind, the littlest sister had said. She tried to swim in long lunges, tried to calm herself before grasping onto the rusted ladder at the base of the Tower.

They called out to her as she clambered up the first half of the ladder, before reaching the tangled mess of barbed wire and cage that was meant to prevent people from doing exactly what they were now.

She attempted to wedge herself through the gap, cursing feeble arm muscles and white bread and chocolate cake and everything that was making it difficult to spring with ease onto the top platform of the Tower. He grabbed her arms and relayed encouragement as she grappled against the wire that clung onto her ankles.

'I've got you!'

She felt as though she was flapping in the wind as her feet failed to grip at anything, a flag bearing a warning to the beach goers that watched them, with gazes that were a mixture of disapproval, amusement and curiosity. Would they jump? She'd watched others stand at the top of the Tower for hours as they tried to rally up the courage to plummet into the ocean below.

'The longer you stay up here the worse it gets.'

The barbed wire shredded at her feet and ankles (the moment she nearly fell would serve a reminder in the form of a purple scar on her heel). He finally wrenched her over the railings and the three of them stood closely together, the iron platform that had been heated by the sun's persistent rays warming the bottoms of their feet.

'I'm scared!' she shook, as they assessed the scene surrounding them. Were they a part of the sky? Is that what it felt like? Could she reach over and swipe at the wisp of cloud that seemed to float past? Not quite. Countless jellyfish dotted the sea beneath them, pummelling back and forth in that strange synchronised motion that only jellyfish do.

He climbed swiftly over the railing, eager to demonstrate to her what she had to do.

'...then you look to the sky, hold out your arms...and JUMP!'

The last word stretched out like a bungee cord as he rocketed into the water, emerging after a few moments with a grin stretched from ear to ear.

Now there were two.

'I'm not going until you do,' he said to her, assessing her shivery frame and knowing full well that if he left her up there by herself they would spend hours coaxing her down, cooking on the rocks as they waited for her to stem the fear that would keep oozing steadily, like the blood out of her cut feet.

She burbled a string of irrationality, making him laugh.

'Come on! Live a little.'

She remembered his surity of the fact that she wouldn't do it, allowing her to find the ability to climb through the railing and grip her toes over the edge.

She screamed as she shot through the air, her fear vanishing as adrenalin flooded through her veins; the powerful rush enveloping her as she sunk like a stone deep under the water, subsiding only slightly as she had to kick her legs to rush to the surface, lungs bursting for air.

'I told you I would do it!' she smiled, proud, exhausted. They tactfully made no mention of the doubt that had danced around her when it was just the three of them standing in the piece of springtime sky. They gave no congratulations either, nor sympathy as she limped to the car, muttering at the blood shed. There was just a silent sense of achievement, and they let her have her pride.