I'm home." Thought Ariana with relief. The sense of comfort and belonging was so strong it nearly hurt. Home is where the heart is, and her heart was firmly rooted in the great rocky cliffs and crashing waves more then 50 feet beneath her. Her eyes glittered with unsuppressed joy, their swirling hazel colors reflecting the deep greenish brown of the water. She closed her eyes for a moment, giving in to the feeling of the soft grass beneath her bare feet and the lake scented wind caressing her face and waltzing with her long golden hair. She breathed in deeply, reveling in what seemed like a personal and intimate welcome. She took it all as an invitation, and a tender embrace.
The sound of the waves thundering against the fallen rocks and boulders of the cliff and the actual cliff itself persuaded her back to the reality of 'here' and 'now'. Her eyes opened slowly, taking in the pair of white seagulls that flew out over the tepid water, hovering in the wind as if they were painted dreams. She found herself wishing she could fly with them, forever soaring over the great green waves tipped with white foam. Glide into the endless gray skies, no trees to obstruct her view of molten sabres of lightening and torrents of tear-like rain pouring into the great expanse of water beneath her.
A distant rumble was a promise of storms to come indeed, and the once warm breeze picked up into a wind that carried a bitter chilling kiss. It tugged at her skirts in a way that said 'Come, play with me!" The juvenile antics of the weather brought a smile to her lips, and her face became a beautiful and radiant sight glowing with pleasure not seen in years.
"Until the moment of my death", she thought wistfully, "I shall never leave this place." As if to answer her, the wind pulled harder, more forceful and demanding when she did not give in to it's previous gentle beaconing. She moved to the edge of the cliff, her arms spread wide in invitation to the wind. Gracefully, she slipped from the edge and she fell with her arms open as if she would fly above the water, her silken hair rippling like sunshine behind her. She closed her eyes, her heart taking absolute delight in this sense of total freedom. The stony beach opened up to her, and accepted her with a such a forceful and passionate embrace that it broke her bones, and snapped her neck instantly.
She lay there peacefully, her golden hair strewn around around her like a halo, her white dress draped almost artfully across the stones. Waves came and greeted her, pulling streams of bright red blood trailing steadily for her broken body into it's endless depths as the waves receded. Her body would never be found in this isolated place, and as the blood slowly drained from her into the water, she would never leave this place. A smile of pure happiness and joy would grace her lips until her body was no more.
