Week 5 Story: Life on the Edge

Author's Notes

This story was based on the story of Jatayu and Sampati. The two eagles were very competitive in seeing which could fly the highest over the mountain. It ended with Jatayu flying too close to the Sun. It would have burned him and killed him if Sampati had not flown above him and shielded him by casting a shadow with his wings. The younger brother doesn’t die in this story. I wanted the competition and danger to be things that were easy to relate to.

Life on the Edge

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. “Ugh. What is that noise? Why is it so bright?” I gently try to open my eyes, but all I see is a white overhead light and a bleach colored room. As my eyes adjust I realize that I am laying on a bed. The noise was coming from my side. "Oh, a hospital", I said in bleak acknowledgement of where I was.

Feeling dazed I try to sit up. My head is ringing and the room gently turns around me. As I lean forward I feel a hand on my chest, it was my mom. She says gently to me, "Now now baby, no need to rush getting up", as she lays me back down on the bed. "I'm so glad that you are still here", she says as tear begin to roll down her face. "I told you not to play by that cliff", she nervously chuckles. As she said that the previous day floods back into my memory, hitting me like a train. It did not choose to fall off the cliff, it is just how it happened.

Anyways, this story starts back in my childhood. Me, my parents, and my younger brother, all lived in a remote cabin in the Edelberg Mountains. A forest service road lead out the the cabin. Water came from a well, and most of our food came from the home garden and the local wildlife. Given we were deep in the mountains there was not much in the form of entertainment. The closest town was 45 minutes away, and it really wasn't much better. As a result my brother and I had taken to exploring the mountains in our free time.

One day, however, we came across a cliff that dropped down 20 feet beneath us. At the time we were scared to even get close to it, but that changed over time. We adopted a test of strength to settle arguments between us. Whenever there was a disagreement we each had to face the cliff. The one who got the closest to the edge would win, and the other would have to concede defeat.

After a couple of competitions though we had both become confident at standing with our feet hanging over the edge of the cliff, and the competition practically stopped there. It wasn't until recently when we meet a girl named Jane on our trip to the nearby town that we had a reason to return to the cliff. We both loved Jane from the moment we saw her, but we knew that only one would be able to be with her. It was decided that whoever could climb the farthest down the edge of the cliff would be able to ask Jane out. So we set off to find the cliff that had long sat alone.

We decided to go one at a time so we could judge how the other person did. My brother went first, and he managed to make it about over the cliffs edge, but couldn't find a way down and gave up. As I reached down to help him up, eager to easily beat how far he went, the rocks crumbled and shifted underneath my feet. I flipped over in the air, and then everything went black. So here I am, stuck in a hospital bed. The doctors have told me that I landed on my back, damaging my spine, and paralyzing me from the waist down. I guess my mom was right.

Bibliography

Jatayu
Sampati
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