Off the Edge

“It was sunset, I think.” Lea was sitting across from her father in Harley’s Hut on the fourth day of their hike across the Craggy Mountains. A hiker’s breakfast of canned tuna, crackers, avocado, and two mugs of hot chocolate sat between them on the roughly hewn wooden table. “I don’t know why, but morning somehow feels different to the evening, even in dreams apparently.”

“Mm,” Rob agreed, taking a gulp of his hot chocolate. “Funny that.”

“A man was carrying a young woman towards the edge of a cliff, but I couldn’t see his face because I was standing behind him. I wanted to run after him, but I was stuck. It was like I wasn’t really there; I was just seeing it happen. I couldn’t even call out.” She dipped her cracker in the avocado then spooned a portion of tuna on top. No sooner had she taken a bite than it was as though she regretted the interruption, for she jumped straight back into her account without giving herself time to finish chewing, let alone to swallow. “The man reached the edge of the cliff and the woman finally started to struggle, like, grabbing onto him as he tried to throw her off. He obviously didn’t want to fall off with her or he would have been able to overpower her easily and she eventually got—”

“—she got free, didn’t she?”

Lea was finally given the chance to swallow as she and her father looked up to see a young man standing at the end of the table, his pack already hanging from one shoulder, ready to leave.

“Sorry,” he said, swiping his dark fringe away from his similar-coloured eyes. “I am Angelo.” He set his pack on the floor and extended his hand in greeting.

Rob was quick to shake his hand before Lea had the chance, but Angelo turned his attention to her, nonetheless.

“Forgive me for eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help it. I was tying my laces over there when I heard you telling – your father, I assume?”

Rob nodded.

“…about the dream I had last night.”

Lea frowned and glanced at her father briefly before turning back to the stranger with a smirk. “When the young woman freed herself from the man’s grasp and fell on the ground, what happened next for you?”

“A bull came charging.” Angelo waited a moment to see whether Lea would confirm this on her part. She gave him nothing. “At first, I thought the bull was going to finish off what the man had tried to do and push off the woman, but instead it smashed straight into the man, sending him over the edge and falling with him. The sunset glowed red. Then I woke up.”

Several seconds of silence followed, the din of chatting coming from the other tables tormenting Rob and Angelo as they waited for Lea’s response. Yet if she felt their gaze upon her, she didn’t show it. Finding herself fixated on the food in front of her, she loaded a cracker and popped it in her mouth without tasting it, then washed it down with a large swallow of hot chocolate. “The same thing happened in my dream,” she replied at last and didn’t see either her father’s or Angelo’s reactions, for she was too fascinated by the swirls of steam floating up from the surface of her drink. It was only by following the steam upwards as it rose that she caught sight of the stranger’s face peering at her through the hot wisps. Her father looked on beside him.

“Has anything like this ever happened to you before?” Angelo asked quietly.

Lea shook her head then took another sip. “Dad.” She didn’t bother looking to her father as she addressed him, instead keeping her attention fixed on the unsettled stranger. “What do you say we let Angelo walk with us today?”

And so, it was agreed.

Come midday, it had been established that Lea and Angelo had never shared the same dream before.

“Alright, alright, then,” Angelo conceded. He had fought hard all morning to find a previous similarity. “Well, perhaps, we share something in common in our real lives, hm? What do you think?”

In substitute for a shrug, Lea shifted the pack on her shoulders. “Even if we do, what will it tell us? Maybe the dream was just a coincidence.”

Angelo showed what he thought of that with a ‘humph’ and jumped straight back into questioning. “What are your hopes in life?”

“I want to travel everywhere and teach.”

“Teach what?”

“History of the world – as I learn about it. What about you?”

“Me, I just want to build houses, and maybe other buildings if I feel like it. Do you want a family one day?”

“I don’t mind. I’m happy either way.”

Angelo cocked his head to the side as though to glimpse this strange young woman from a different angle. “Not much seems to bother you, does it?”

Rob snorted in front of them. “She likes people to think that, I’ve noticed.” Then he twisted his head around just far enough to wink at his daughter, who simply rolled her eyes.

“Why do you say that?” Angelo wanted to know.

“Yes,” Lea chimed in, for once allying herself with Angelo. “Why do you say that?”

The pair of inquirers caught up with their older companion on either side of him to await his answer.

“You don’t bother about things until they matter,” he said with perfect innocence. “A commendable trait if you ask me.” Then, turning aside to Angelo, he added, “there will come a time when the question of a family bothers her.” He didn’t wait with them when both his daughter and Angelo slowed to a halt to share a look as he continued.

“Is your dad acting strange or is he always like that?

“No.” Lea took a moment to clear her throat. “He’s not normally that sort of strange.”

They resumed walking, both trying to ignore the awkwardness as the first silence began between them. Lea took the opportunity take in the sights they were passing. Angelo couldn’t take his eyes off Lea’s father as he replayed the dream over and over again in his mind. There had to be some explanation, some connection, some meaning. Was it a prophecy of some sort? If so, how would it happen? And how soon? Would it go down just as it had in the dream or was it merely symbolic of something else? Perhaps it wasn’t the past that connected him and Lea, but the future! Yes, that was possible, but one quick glance beside him suddenly awoke a fear of mentioning anything of the sort to Lea just yet.

As the next hour rolled by with no word passing between them, their steps began to stray from their previous synchronised rhythm and before long, they had become so distant from one another – Lea having re-joined her father, leaving Angelo lingering behind, barely in view – that a clueless observer would have seen no connection between them at all.

Rob had almost forgotten about their new acquaintance; Lea noticed the gap, but it didn’t bother her; and Angelo watched as the space grew ever larger and his answer grew ever clearer.

He was back in the dream. There was the man and the young woman in front of him. He looked on but did not interfere. Not yet. For a moment, he wanted to warn Lea. Though she had acknowledged her father’s abnormality earlier, he was willing to bet she hadn’t caught on to the situation. He drew breath to call out to her, only to close his mouth promptly. That would only draw attention from her treacherous father. How the man swaggered as he walked. How was Leah laughing with him? His stomach churned and he was on the brink of catching up to her and bringing her aside to talk to her when something else stopped him. It wasn’t a fear of her father. It was a fear that he might prevent the dilemma from happening altogether. That would rob him the chance of being the bull – the hero of the day – for that would inevitably be his role once Lea’s father began his attack. Saving a life before it is in danger did not seem half as honourable. He would have to wait.

Waiting was hard. Every minute seemed like an hour and though they passed by several cliff edges, Rob never even hinted towards pushing his daughter off the cliff. How long was he going to wait!

The sun sank lower and lower, but all Angelo noticed of it was the gradual fading light around him as he glared hungrily at the pair ahead of him.

By sunset, he was desperate. They had just passed the sign indicating one kilometre until the next hut and, coming out from the glade of trees, the path snaked down close to the cliff edge. Perfect. It was now or never.

Clutching onto the straps of his pack, he ran towards them, catching up to their heels just as Rob lifted his arm to steady Lea who had stumbled on a rock.

“Careful!” Angelo cried, breaking the two apart and forcing himself between them.

With three abreast, there was hardly room for Lea to stay on the narrow path and Rob instinctively stretched his hand across Angelo to pull her back in from the edge.

Angelo didn’t need a second invitation. “Don’t touch her!” he yelled, stepping in front of Lea before Rob could reach her and taking it upon himself to push her away from the cliff while shielding her from her father.

“What the hell, Angelo?” Suddenly, Lea didn’t care about showing she was bothered. She tried to re-join her father, only to be blocked again by her spirited companion.

“The dream was a warning, Lea,” he hissed, flashing his eyes in urgency. “A warning against your father.”

“What?” Either she didn’t get it, or she wasn’t convinced, but she certainly didn’t like the idea.

Neither did Rob, who wasn’t deaf or stupid and knew exactly what Angelo was hinting at. He grabbed one of Angelo’s pack straps and swung the young man around to face him. “Why don’t you try accusing me to my face, hm? You don’t know a thing about me or my daughter.”

“Maybe not, but that won’t stop me protecting her from you.”

Rob shoved him backwards onto the ground to avoid punching the insolent stranger in the jaw. “Come on, Lea,” he grunted. “Leave this fool to continue on his own.”

Lea crouched down to him, wearing what almost looked to be an expression of pity. “It was just a dream, Angelo,” she said softly, but she may as well have lathered the phrase with a contemptuous sneer, for that was how it sounded in Angelo’s ears.

He snarled in her face and gripped onto her wrist. “That we both had!” he insisted and fell back again as Lea wrenched her hand free with a sigh and rose to leave.

He was only delayed for an instant. It was an instant free of thought. He simply saw the young woman begin to walk away beside her father and he acted. He had to before it was too late. The hut was visible on the hill in the distance, and he was determined that Lea should reach it unhindered. There wasn’t a moment left to lose.

So, he abandoned his pack and sprang to his feet. Then he set his eyes on the father and charged.

He must have been screaming because they both turned around: first Lea, then her father. Lea turned and shoved her father out of the way. Then Rob turned to see Angelo crash into the wrong target and hurl himself over the cliff after Lea.

The sunset glowed red. But Rob was already awake.