Resisting the Current

Clayton scuffed the square toe of his boot at several pebbles on the granite platform and watched them plunk into the diverging river below. The resulting echo barely ascended the canyon walls. The outcropping, known as Suicide Ridge, hovers over the point where the Aurora River splits, spawning the narrow Shadow River, where the former’s shimmer is devoured by the steep rock cliffs pinching its sides.

He knew the legend. If you leapt from this bluff, the path your body took at the fork would decide your afterlife. He’d never taken stock of such notions. Just like his attitude toward Reverend Holloway at First Baptist—Clayton had told him where he could shove his wrath of God nonsense during the reverend’s hour-long attempt to steer him onto the straight and narrow after his clandestine joyride in the neighbor’s truck. His father would tell anyone who’d listen that embarrassment killed the boy’s momma, not an undiagnosed atrial fibrillation.

Religion was often where he and his girlfriend, Danielle, diverged, too. Especially during their latest predicament. With high school clearly visible in their rearview, how could they care for an extension of their young adult selves in less than nine months? Clayton had laughed off her request for financial support—his job at the Gas ‘N’ Go provided for beer and cigarettes, not formula and diapers. When he had pressed for an alternative, she crossed her arms and shook her head. The final blow was the simple handwritten note she’d handed him the next day. No words. No tears. No wavering. Only I’m sorry, Dani. The “i” still dotted with a heart, even though her love was now for a tiny future someone.

Clayton scanned the opposing cliffs for hikers and glanced upstream for kayakers. He found neither. With his toes perched at the edge and a twinge of vertigo, he took a deep breath.

The splash thundered through the canyon. The body bobbed twice before drifting toward the junction.

Clayton pulled her note from his jeans pocket and secured it under a nearby rock. He sat with his legs dangling over the stony ledge and waited, curious about which path her body would take.