AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I suppose opposites attract… orIam attracted to my opposite.
Do I only like him because he’s off-limits? No. I thought we would make a great couplebeforehe rejected the notion.
On paper, we make sense. I’m not possessive, and he likes his space. Perfect!
But Carl insists he doesn’t want to mess up what we have together with sex and drama. He has a point, but my heart doesn’t appreciate it.
Until last week, I had an uncomplicated companionship with someone who shared half the household responsibilities, but now I need to find somewhere else to live.
I grimace. The timing is horrible. I’m still building my fledgling business and barely able to pay my bills with it. I will have to tap into my tiny nest egg I hoped to use for promotions and better equipment. I will also have to get a part-time job to cover the rest of my expenses, which will only slow down my growing business if I’m distracted.
Having a roommate has been economical, especially when Carl bought the house and gave me a sweet deal on my rent.
This sucks. My best friend, my heart, is probably bending another woman over an office desk right now. Okay, maybe not, but the image makes me realize ourfriendshipis doomed. Even if everything ends with this new woman tomorrow, I can’t deal with the rejection anymore. No matter how great I am, or how accommodating, it doesn’t matter to Carl. I will never be his girlfriend or, heaven forbid, wife.
I blink away the accumulating tears before I cause an accident, and my fingers grip the wheel as I pull into the Heartbow Hotel. After a few cleansing breaths, I go inside to check in.
I instantly roll my eyes. It’s a Cupid-themed hotel.Great. Just what I needed. Heart decorations are fucking everywhere.
I consider dragging my luggage right back out, but I buck up and embrace the hearts and cherubs with bows and arrows.
I always thought it odd that Cupid, the god of love and desire, is portrayed as a baby with weapons. Maybe it’s the idea that if you’re crazy enough to fall in love, you will probably have a hostile toddler on your hands very soon.
The clerk checks me in, and as I’m leaving the front desk, she says, “Have a love-filled day.”
“Not today, Cupid,” I mutter. I really have to get it together before I meet with the betrothed couple tomorrow.
My large suite is analmosttasteful blend of pink, red, and white, and I could do without the several paintings of lovers in the throes of passion hanging on the walls.
Throes… It’s ironic that the word means agony. I suppose it makes sense. Love can be torturous.
I toss my clothes bag onto the bed and use the bathroom before I head out. I want to check out the photo shoot location, Lovers’ Bluff, so I can be prepared the next morning when I meet the couple.
I pull into the vista’s parking lot and grab my smaller camera. I plan to test out angles and bring my big boys out tomorrow. Luckily, no one else seems to be here, which means I will be freeto wander and take snapshots without interference. Solitude is such a rare treat these days.
The bluff has a well-worn trail that reaches the tip of a small peninsula that extends into the ocean. It’s late afternoon, and the sunlight is about to cast a relaxing golden hue over the landscape.
I walk out to the farthest point I can, then I sit down and take a moment to feel like I’m hanging off the edge of the world, where beginnings and endings are made.
Maybe ending my fruitless domestic life with Carl will open up new opportunities for me… even if they aren’t necessarily romantic in nature.
I breathe in the ocean air and sigh. It has been too long since I’ve been to the beach or ocean. The crashing waves below are hypnotic and lull me into a peaceful state of mind. Negative ions, healing warmth from the sun, the perfect humidity, and the white noise of waves give me a sense of actually enjoying my life instead of just existing.
I’ve just been existing lately. Clenching my fingers around my camera, I wish I had someone’s hand to hold instead as I watch the sun dip lower in the sky. The sun’s rays slowly change their hue and cast a warm, orange glow instead of bright yellow light.
Remembering why I’m there, I jump up and crawl around for places to shoot before I lose the remaining daylight. The peninsula isn’t very wide at points, so I have to crawl down a couple places to see if I can get a secure foothold to capture perfect shots.
I’m framing what will be a particularly dramatic upshot when my foot slips. I reach out to catch myself before I plummet fifty feet into jagged rocks and surf. My free hand grabs onto a rock face, but the piece comes loose. My other hand is holding mycamera, but even if I drop it now, I’m already falling backwards. It’s too late.
Please! Help!I beg the universe for a miracle.
There’s a strange phenomenon that I have experienced before with near-death experiences. Time feels as if it slows down in moments like this. From what I read in a scientific article, they believe our brains catalog everything so fast that itseemslike time slows down.
Well, whatever is happening, it feels like I have all the time in the world to worry about how badly it’s going to hurt when I crash onto the rocks below. I wish there were actually higher beings who could prevent this. I wonder if this accident is the Fates’ idea. Maybe it’s my time to go. At the moment, it doesn’t feel like anyone would miss me all that much. Carl would be upset, but he’d get over it with his new fuck buddy, and I don’t really have friends since I’m not great at remembering to have a life. My parents are all but nonexistent. Yeah, I know I’m whining, but if I don’t do it now, when will I get a chance?
My feet break completely free of my faulty toehold, and I’m horizontal now. My light brown hair whips around my face as I descend, and my stomach roils with the sensation of the drop.
Is it a good thing or a bad thing that I can’t see when I will hit? I close my eyes anyway, surrendering to my gruesome death.
