Department of English

Spring 2007 High School Edition

On the Edge

Teri Tuckett
Fiction (9th-10th)
Third Place
Canyon View High School
Teacher: Cody Christensen

I keep telling myself, “Jess, you can’t panic.” I know that I need to stay calm. If I don’t then I won’t be able to think at all. But what else can I do? I’m clinging desperately to a little inch and a half ledge in the middle of a cliff about 400 feet high, (or more – how would I know?) with razor sharp lava rock at the bottom. Only one of my feet has a foot hold. The wind is whipping sand into my eyes, with enough force to blow me off the tiny ledge. I know that I could die at any minute. Of course, I’m freaking out. Clinging to the cliff, I know I’m at nature’s mercy. That’s the worst feeling that a person can have. I always wondered how Dorothy must have felt when the tornado picked her house up and dropped her in the Land of Oz. Now I wish I didn’t know. Every time I shift my weight, a section of the rock crumbles and I have to move my hands to a different part. The bag around my shoulder is between me and the ledge, and it makes leaning against the face of the cliff very awkward. I can’t move the bag though, because I am terrified that any movement will cause the pathetic little rock that I have fastened myself on to crumble away, or that I might lose my grip and fall to my death. I try to keep the image of falling and landing on the lava rock below out of my mind, but I’m unsuccessful and it replays itself over and over again. I look despairingly up at the distance between me and safety. It would be impossible for me to climb back up. The face of the unstable cliff is incredibly steep and the few handholds I can see will crumble away as soon as I grasp them. Why did the cliff have to be sandstone? Why was I even near this sandstone cliff? How did I get myself into such a perilous situation?

How did I get into this? What a difficult predicament I’ve gotten myself into. I was so angry, so frustrated and upset at everything. I thought going for a walk in the rain would be a good idea. It would cool me down and keep me from doing anything else stupid. I almost laughed out loud. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was probably the stupidest mistake I have ever made, and it could very well be my last. For the thousandth time this week I wish that I could go back it time. Just a few hours earlier, and I could have made everything right. All I had to do was apologize and promise to give our recent move to St. George a chance. Just a good attitude was all I needed and none of this would have even happened. I blew it. Now I will probably never know what it could have been like to live in St. George. It could have been really great, a wonderful opportunity, like my parents had tried to convince me a million times before. I probably would have made just as many friends here as I had in Philadelphia. Also, if I could make the cheer team at Hawthorne, I could have definitely made it here too. As far as missing all my old friends, I would have been able to keep in touch with them, and probably see them during the summer. But now. . . now I’m sobbing hysterically. I scream out for help over and over again, but my voice is so hoarse that it’s just above a whisper, completely lost by the roar of the wind. Nobody will think to look for me here anyway, but I was so desperate and hysterical I didn’t care. I don’t know how long I’ve been here, sobbing an endless prayer. It seems like five years but it could have been five minutes. I think it is closer to an hour, hour and a half. It was only about four o’clock when I started walking up toward the mountain, and the sun was still high in the sky. Now the sun is setting quickly.

Suddenly it hits me. I have to do something. But it’s hopeless; there’s no possible way . . . “No! You’re not giving up!” I tell myself sternly. There has got to be a way. I am not just going to die out here without at least trying to survive. I can’t hang here for much longer. My arms are shaking, and my exhausted muscles can’t endure any more strain. Now calmer, I say another prayer that actually makes some sense. I have no clue how I did it or what happened. I vaguely remember grabbing a few hand holds, but the next thing I know I am at the top of the cliff. The first thing I do is quickly back far away from the edge. I’m almost tempted to look down, but I won’t be going near the edge of any cliffs for a long time. Besides, it is getting very dark and I still have to find my way back down the bluff. Since I have only been in my new house for a few days, it will probably be difficult to find. This is the most terrifying experience I have every gone through, but it really makes me think.

Everyone has their own “cliffs” in life. Some people fall over the edge, and often aren’t able to get back up. Some come dangerously close to the edge, and usually they have no idea of the consequences that they will suffer. People who know who they are and what they are trying to accomplish know to stay far from the edge and don’t ever have to go through the experience of falling off. Even though the time I spent on that cliff was the worst thing that I have ever gone through, I am glad I had the experience. I think that if I had the choice of going through it again, I would. That is, if I knew for sure that I would live through it and learn and improve as much as I did. This has really changed my perspective on everything. And now, I know that I can do anything I need to or want to do. Going to a new school doesn’t even seem like a challenge for me anymore, especially when I think of others and what they have gone through. There are so many people who have lives much more difficult than my own. I hope that anyone who reads this can learn these lessons without literally having to fall off a cliff!