#hights

He was fine! He was happy! Then the shelf had to ruin his joy. :(

Anyone else thinking it was the lake just dried up?

Kinda giving it Extinction vibes...

Anyway was lazy so used my previous art to make this new one for this episode.

Full picture:

London in the corner:

Zoom in on the poor souls on the ladder

It was a stupid game, really, I don’t even remember who’s idea it was, probably Sam’s. It all happened a couple of months ago, just after the end of the summer term. It was my friend Michael’s birthday and we had all completed our finals and were hoping to spend a pleasant evening to celebrate the occasion. After emptying our dorms at York St John’s University, a few friends and myself had hopped into Michael’s van and driven all the way to the Bempton Cliffs Seabirds Center before heading off by foot to the cliffs. Now, I was not entirely sure all of this was legal but one of Michael’s friend, Sam, had assured us he knew one of the security guards on patrol that night and that we wouldn’t run into any trouble. I had my doubts about that of course, but seeing the huge grin plastered on Michael’s face I said nothing.

Most of the evening had gone nicely, we’d joked around, drunk a couple of beers and in our state of inebriation even tried to set up a camp fire (which for obvious reasons, did not not take). As I stated previously, I am not exactly sure how we started playing the game, the only thing I do know is that I didn't like it. I like it at all. One at a time we would run to the edge of the cliff and stop abruptly, right before stepping into the void beneath. We would then stand there, arms spread wide, staring down to the sea crashing onto the rocks for as long we could before we grew dizzy from either the hight or the alcohol. I am not particularly scared of heights but this was a stupid game. But still, wether it be because of my tipsiness, my friends’ insistance or Michael’s disappointed frown when I first refused, I finally agreed to play. And let me tell you, the feeling of standing on top of that cliff was unlike any other. I remember that there was something… beckoning about the vast open space and the depths of the dark waters far below.

It felt like the entire atmosphere had changed. I couldn’t hear the voices and laughter of the boys behind me anymore. In fact, I the sounds of the waves had stopped has well. The only sound I could hear was the howling wind. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the wind seemed to push me nearer to the edge, almost like it wanted me to jump. And some part of me felt compelled to do so. My heart was beating wildly in my ribcage, like a bird begging to be set free, to fly away. I took a step forwards, and the breeze slowed a little as if appeased that I was doing what it wanted. Jump, jump, jump it seemed to sing softly in my ears. There was this heavy feeling in my stomach, like someone had dropped a very heavy rock in it and I could feel it dragging me down, down down. Into the void.

I was about to take another step when a hand gripped my shoulder, snapping me out of my transe. I turned to see Michael standing behind me, a worried look itched onto his face.

"Are you all right?" he’d asked, ignoring the laughing group behind him.

All at once I felt very ill. Wether it be because of all the drinks I’d had or because of what I had been about to do, I didn’t know, but my entire body began trembling and I suddenly wanted to get as far away as possible from this place. My legs were shaking so badly Michael had to help me walk back to sit by the others. While my experience had seemed to sober me up, everyone except Michael - he was never much of a drinker - was still quite drunk. Sam especially, was the loudest. He had this feverish glint in his eyes that, in the moonlight, made him looked a little delirious. I should have understood back then, and ask to go back to the van or something. But I didn’t. And with what happened next - I know will regret that for the rest of my life. Without a warning Sam bolted towards the cliff, charging like a mad bull. But instead of coming to a brake as we all had done, Sam didn’t slow down and kept running. Before any of us could even say anything he had already leap off the edge. It all happened so fast, none of us even had time to realized what was happening.

Inspired by this post

Ao3

Warning: Character death and a whole shaker of salt

Boy needs to stop getting used