Cliff

He lifted up the branch to let her through. The place where his finger pushed against the sadistic bramble split open, drawing blood. He let out a gasp and pulled the wound into his mouth and sucked hard, the metallic flavour covered his taste buds. She climbed under his outstretched arm and extended him a lazy smile, her eyes squinting in the setting sun. It's molten fury sat purposefully atop the dark shadows of the forest, burning intensely. As she passed him her 'Smiths' t-shirt caught on one of the patient thorns and ripped slightly, revealing the taught skin of her sun kissed stomach. He smiled softly back at her, and breathing in her flowery scent (one once so repugnant to him), he followed her. They walked silently for the majority of the journey, occasionally exchanging quiet, carefully chosen words about their surroundings. He noticed a lone spider resting delicately on a pure white web. Droplets on rain sat amongst it like friends at a table, all patiently awaiting their victimised dinner. The way the web pulled and pushed in the gentle spring breeze made him think of it as an organism breathing softly, inhaling the sweet air. The serenity surrounding them was so soft he felt that speaking would break it, shatter it into a thousand pieces all ready to cut into him. So they walked in wonderful silence. When they reached the drop she turned to him with tears in her eyes and beckoned to him to join her on the ledge, he followed her. They stared at the glaring inferno as it began its decent into the unknown, to journey to provide light and warmth to the side of the world currently dwelling in darkness. He didn't know why she was crying, he didn't ask either. She reached towards him and weaved her fingers between his, he was shocked at how frail they felt constricted by his desperate grip. He wanted to kiss her but he knew he couldn't, the understanding tore him apart. He remembered how she tapped her feet to the melancholy guitar riffs the radio offered them on the way here, her head listlessly bobbing along to the beat. He looked at her and smiled once more. The perfection of the moment consumed him suddenly and he too began sprouting tears. They trickled down his face silently and he made no effort to wipe them away, he simply allowed them to fall beautifully down his porcelain cheeks. Their translucency caught the sun and shone with it like matchstick fires cascading from his eyes. She squeezed his fingers as they wept together, neither one even pondering as to why. She turned her crumpled face back to the sun and began singing, a sorrowful lament about lost love and a wasted life. He listened intently and wished with every fibre of his being that the tune would never cease, but alas, she belted the last bar and released his shaking hand. Screaming at the top of her lungs she ran full pelt over the edge of the steep cliff, and wincing in fear, he followed her.