A part of Jackson was almost tempted to hurl himself off the falls, but he knew he couldn't. Not until he gathered his little sister up, took her home, and faced the consequences. No, suicide was the easy way out. If he deserved anything, it was the judgement of his chief and mother.
Down the cliffs with a rope of hemp, he stood on a thin ridge above the canyon waters, shuffling to the closest rocks that poked out of the current. He entered the mist, hopping upon the massive, algae-slick boulders that killed his sister. Searching for his duty, his regret, and finding neither.
There was no blood, guts, bones, brains, nothing. How could there be nothing? Lucy fell, silently, like she was already dead, to her bloody end. She died here. There was no way there was nothing left. He began to lose himself, calling her name, wailing it desperately into the fog like a grieving spirit. How could there not even be a stain? A splatter?
Perhaps she was at the very foot of the falls, lodged underwater somewhere. But where was the blood? Even if she had survived the fall, she'd have caught upon the rocks, either below her, or ahead of her, rather than continue on downriver. The odds of her making it past the rapids were impossible.
He ventured closer to the falls, neglecting not a single rock. He'd lay down, reach an arm into the river, and fight the current as he grasped around for remains. Every time, he found nothing. Even when he made it to the final rocks, getting as close to the falls as he could get without getting himself swept away, still nothing. The waters at the foot were deep and dark, almost black. If she was lodged in the rocks below, he'd never be able to get to her. Not unless a drought came.
Not unless she really did survive the fall, and make it past the rapids.
He turned, peering downriver through the fog. He saw nothing. Knew nothing, really. Nothing but that what he was thinking was crazy.
"Lu..." he mumbled to himself, not really noticing. All he could focus on was the hope that the impossible had occured.
YOU ARE READING
Caesaria
Adventure*OLD OUTDATED DRAFT! Stay tuned for next draft! *Tribes like the Georgians walk the land, reborn by the fires of the apocalypse. For six centuries, they have thrived on strength and spirit. Lucy, the chief's only daughter, has spent her life train...
