The Cliff

Keelan is a kind young man whose house is by an amazing cliff. It seems daunting and treacherous, but it was around lofty and secure fences. Every sunlit day he views the sparkling sea beyond. It is a very nice place but its peace is disturbed when left and right blows of rain and gale transpires. You might think all spectators of the bay won't bother go to a really bothering kind of day – Keelan wants to think that way too. It's not that it just happens when a storm is building, incoming, or pouring near the cliff but it happens mostly during those times. Whether it's sunny of rainy, Keelan can witness poor souls dancing with their demons around the cliffs supposedly saving fence. Whenever a person is standing by the boundary, he puts his flip-flops on with a mug of freshly brewed coffee by his hand – asking each of them for a cup in his house. Keelan augmented hundreds of little fire by the cliff – the reason why he can't leave the place. 

One day, as he was preparing dinner inside his house, he overlooked from the window a young lady climbing the screen. He rushed to her without his slippers and just an empty mug - bare feet bleeding from bristled rocks, tiptoeing the harsh ground in haste. 

He said "Hey" with a calm but wheezing voice and the young lady stopped climbing as her skinny arms reached the top of the fence. Her short dull black hair and white dress danced together with the cool wind – revealing scars and bruises. She turned her head to him and say "Hello" with these smiling eyes. Keelan was muddled and asked 'what are you doing there?' – His brows meeting at the middle. 

"I believe this tall fence is hindering me from inspecting what's down the cliff." He couldn't believe the girl is just sightseeing, "Do you want a cup of coffee and talk about it?" – As nobody's sightseeing like the way she does it. A raised eyebrow is her answer. "You don't like coffee? How about tea?" The young lady hopped down and went to him. "Why?" She probed his feet. "I guess you're already done with your coffee. And why you don't have slippers?" Keelan looked at his bleeding bare feet. "Actually not yet, I'm just gonna make some. And yes, I don't have slippers." 

He brought her to his small bungalow. She laughed as she saw his slippers inside. "You may sit there." 

"Rain." But she smiled like the sun. 

"Nice name." She talked about how great is his house and asked too many questions like 'do you live alone?' 'How can you do that?' 'Where is your family?' 'Are you okay?' Am I okay? He served the coffee to the small glass table in the living room. "How about you, are you okay?" He returned the question to her and it made her silent for a little while. Although she replied she was fine and good with a corresponding fake smile on her face. 

"I'm Keelan, by the way." He offered a handshake but she refused. "I have clammy hands." She said with this shaking smile. Keelan asked her if she will do it. "Do it? What do you mean?" Then he started saying positive things to her, words of encouragement, advices, and she smirked. "Look. Keelan, I've been here twice. I guess you don't even remember me." He was stunned and he couldn't move even his lips. The young lady told him that she's been here three years ago, twice but he can't still remember. Maybe because he talked to too many people already, too many faces, too many names. "You know what. You can't save everybody here. Specifically with those half-hearted counsels." 

Coffee cup clattered in the saucer as she put it down. Pacing to walk out the door with a stomping feet "Stop thinking you're a hero." Wind chimes at the door jangles with a sound of a hitting wood. He asked himself how did the conversation ended so quickly – while he is scratching his ear. He smelled burning steel behind him and dashed to the saucepan and turned off the heat. He ate the bitter-sweet dish alone in his wide and spacious table which has four seats. Meditating what Rain said about him being half-hearted, he said to himself I don't understand. 

Maybe he really don't – as for a guy who claims to countless folks that he cognizes what they've been through but doesn't even experienced the alike. I just wanted to help. He put down the spoon and stood up from the squeaky dining chair. The outside turned dusk and the clouds veiled the stars. The sky looks sad again as the droplets of water turned to a deluge. The ether gone crisp and the scent of earth seemed shoveled up. He put on his galoshes and opened up an umbrella to find the bygone girl from the rioting open-air. 

He brought her to his small bungalow. She laughed as she saw his slippers inside. "You may sit there." 

"Rain." But she smiled like the sun. 

"Nice name." She talked about how great is his house and asked too many questions like 'do you live alone?' 'How can you do that?' 'Where is your family?' 'Are you okay?' Am I okay? He served the coffee to the small glass table in the living room. "How about you, are you okay?" He returned the question to her and it made her silent for a little while. Although she replied she was fine and good with a corresponding fake smile on her face. 

"I'm Keelan, by the way." He offered a handshake but she refused. "I have clammy hands." She said with this shaking smile. Keelan asked her if she will do it. "Do it? What do you mean?" Then he started saying positive things to her, words of encouragement, advices, and she smirked. "Look. Keelan, I've been here twice. I guess you don't even remember me." He was stunned and he couldn't move even his lips. The young lady told him that she's been here three years ago, twice but he can't still remember. Maybe because he talked to too many people already, too many faces, too many names. "You know what. You can't save everybody here. Specifically with those half-hearted counsels." 

Coffee cup clattered in the saucer as she put it down. Pacing to walk out the door with a stomping feet "Stop thinking you're a hero." Wind chimes at the door jangles with a sound of a hitting wood. He asked himself how did the conversation ended so quickly – while he is scratching his ear. He smelled burning steel behind him and dashed to the saucepan and turned off the heat. He ate the bitter-sweet dish alone in his wide and spacious table which has four seats. Meditating what Rain said about him being half-hearted, he said to himself I don't understand. 

Maybe he really don't – as for a guy who claims to countless folks that he cognizes what they've been through but doesn't even experienced the alike. I just wanted to help. He put down the spoon and stood up from the squeaky dining chair. The outside turned dusk and the clouds veiled the stars. The sky looks sad again as the droplets of water turned to a deluge. The ether gone crisp and the scent of earth seemed shoveled up. He put on his galoshes and opened up an umbrella to find the bygone girl from the rioting open-air.

He rushed to the fence and there he see no one. He tried to view the bottom of the cliff but he didn't see any. By then he thought the girl was taken by the rampaging waves to the heart of the sea. The feel of guilt made his knees be on the ground. The muddy soil stained his clothes and the heavy drops of rain made him feel guiltier. "I always encounter rainfalls but I can't remember the details of each rainy day. It's not that important, isn't it? Does that mean meeting Rain isn't important either? If not, then why did I forget?" A cold touch from his shoulder surprised him and as he turn around, "I hate you, but I need shelter." She said to him with a blank stare and he was even more surprised. "What? You thought I jumped over? I'm so done trying." She added and offered him a hand. 

"Then, why are you here in the first place?" He asked in confusion but she didn't reply. Instead, she picked him up from the loam and pull him to his house. He gave her change of clothes and told her to shower – and after her is his turn. On the couch, he offered her a soup. It made their body feel warm. "I am sorry for I still can't remember anything about you." 

"Honestly, I understand." She replied while putting down the bowl on the glass table in front of them. "You do? Then excuse me for asking, but why are you so angry about it just a while ago?" Not a single answer but a stare. "It's getting late, I need to rest now. Maybe you do too." She turned around and lay on the couch. 

He stood up and say, "I'll wait for an answer, until you have the feeling of telling me." The stars burned out and the sun gone bright. The storm left the frightening cliff and the petrichor remained. 9 am, the alarm clock rang. Yawns and back scratches are Keelan's type of good morning greeting to himself. Making coffee, he suddenly remembered he's with someone just yesterday. He searched around the house yet seems nobody's home but him. "Where did she go?" He asked himself while putting his flip-flops on. The cool wind touched his skin as he opened the door – mid-length hair were brushed away illuminating his handsome face. "Maybe she's not real, after all. Here I am again with imaginary people."

"I'm here." She said with a solemn voice coming from his beside. "Y-you startled me!" He exclaimed holding his chest. "That's what you get from drinking coffee like water." Good thing she's real. "Are you hungry? I'll make breakfast." She left him without an answer, again. She walks straight to the house. Keelan stared at her and all of a sudden he recalled some vague memory. Whoa what was that? For a second I thought I remembered something but it's so unclear. She turned her head and looked at him from the shoulder, "I thought you'll cook breakfast?"

"Huh? Y-yeah" While having breakfast Rain opened up the previous topic they were talking about. The answers I need to hear, finally! "I'm not mad because you forgot about me." She put down the spoon and explained. "I'm mad because you gave me advices which I don't really need, but you do." HUH? "What do you mean, I do?" He was even more puzzled by hearing her baffling answer. "Let me ask you some questions." Huh? Questions? I can't even understand what she said, still. Lemme absorb those first! "When's the last time you saved a person from the cliff?"

"That's pretty easy… It's…" Wait, why on earth I can't remember so sudden? "It's… On the tip of my tongue. I know when, I just can't… R-right now…" She stared at him deeply in the eyes and asked again, "If you can't remember when, maybe you remember if it's a girl or a boy." Confusing memories overwhelmed his head. Ah it hurts! He hold his head as it aches. "Ever wondered why you don't remember a thing?" She added. 

"W-wait! Take it easy on me." Her questions are piling up, and he can't answer a single thing. "I'm here to help you, Keelan." I don't understand… I don't understand a single thing! "Now, calm down."

"How can I calm down? I can't remember simple things, I can't even comprehend what you're saying!" He stood up from the chair and left. Right there, Rain was left alone in the house and the peaceful waves were heard from the silence. 

Stressed heart strings made Keelan's heart ache. It seems like the memories now are not filling his head but his heart. Tears drip from his chin abruptly while the sun is at its brightest. He went to the cliff and tried to calm himself through the sight of the waters. "Why am I hurt? I want to understand." He said to the air. He tried to build up again his composure and walks back to his house. "I need to know the answers." Just as he was going to open the door, Rain appeared in front of him – both of them are surprised. "I'm sorry for my manners lately. Can we talk?" 

Under the shade of the trees, they put a blanket and sat. "Three years ago my family dumped me for I am ill and useless. That's the first time I went here." She started with a big sigh. "I tried to end my life in this iconic suicide cliff but you stopped me. From your counsels, I thought for a moment that maybe I am still needed in this world. I went to my second cousin's grandma, who's living alone, and she took a good care of me."     

"But after two months, she died of old age. Bills and debt stacked up so fast and I'm still medicating. Then there comes the time where I can't buy food and medications anymore. I felt death while still living." 

"I thought, slow death is all a hassle. Why not end it in a jiffy? This cliff fascinates me so much. It's calm and beautiful, a perfect place for me to rest. I tried to end it all again here. But you came once more and halted me. Right then you were the only family to me, like my other half."

"Is that true? If I've been living with you then, how come I've forgotten?" He asked while staring at her brown eyes and sees his own image in it. "I got a decent job in the city – enough for me to eat a day. I often go back here to see the place." 

"Then there's this day that while you were saving a boy from the cliff, in his replacement you faced the accident. Your body straightly dove into the water. You barely made it alive, but…" She stopped for tears in her eyes can't be controlled anymore. "But what? I made it alive, yeah that's why I'm still here. Did that made my memory be lost?" He asked.

"No. Your memory stayed. But when townspeople saw you washed ashore, your body's broken. You've gone crippled."

"What? That doesn't make any sense. What are you talking about?" 

"Poor Keelan. Melancholy pushed you to make a flawless world as a getaway place. You desperately tried to forget the past – all your sufferings and pain. Tried to deceive yourself by erasing the half of you. This world of yours is not real. I am either not real, or maybe I am because I am you." 

Numb lower half of body on bed was laid and the scent of antiseptic was smelled inside a white room.