Free Guard My Heart by Aj Summer Page B

them
against my skin, but I just couldn’t bring myself to look at the rumbling falls
in the distance. What is the use, it doesn’t mean anything to me. Nothing does,
except why I got myself into this mess. My family. They matter, and in the end,
this price would be worth it. I have to keep reminding myself why I’m doing
this. I’m feeling a little selfish at the moment. They will mourn me. They will
get over it. But me, what would happen to me?

THE FINAL ACT
     
    “Come up with me,” Mia says, pulling on my arm.
    I lift my head and look at her standing over me. I’ve been
lost in the dark cloud of my brain all morning. The other kids are swimming and
diving off the high rocks and into the pool at the bottom. It’s actually quite
beautiful here.
    The falls are nestled into the side of a mountain. The
water carving an age old path into the body of the vast rock. The water tumbles
down the crooked path and collects in a deep pool at the bottom, surrounded by
various rocks of all shapes. Some are flat and round and most of the girls are
sunbathing on those. Other rocks are big with jagged protruding
edges.
    Some of the guys are jumping off the cliffs and into the
water. The school photographers are having a field day snapping pictures for
our year end DVD.
    “Kyle, come on,” Mia says again, yanking on my arm harder.
She wants me to jump off one of the lower cliffs with her. Trust my sister to
want to be a daredevil today.
    I sit up and eye the flat cliff some of the more cautious
guys are jumping off of. It’s not even high, maybe ten feet above the water
surface. Mia could easily make the jump herself.
    “Mia, I’m not really in the mood to join you in a belly
flop contest,” I say half-heartedly. I’m going to have to try harder than that
to get out of it.
    “Are you scared?” she teases with a smirk.
    “I’m not scared,” I snort.
    “I dare you,” she says defiantly.
    Jenna laughs next to Mia and gives me an idea. “Take Jenna
with you,” I offer.
    “Uh, no,” Jenna says holding up both her hands. “I want to
live,” she adds shaking her head from side to side.
    I laugh and shake my head.
    “Kyle is a chicken,” Mia sings flapping her arms around.
She looks like a deranged ostrich.
    I fear she might start clucking soon so I get off my ass
and walk towards the rocks.
    We have to maneuver over several shallow pools in between
the rocks, and at some places, Mia clasps her hands so tight around my arms I
swear she’s going to burst a blood vessel. I think the only reason she asked me
to jump with her is so I can help her over the slippery rocks. Twice I have to
pull her up onto the higher rocks. Did I mention it’s only about ten feet high?
When we finally get to the top, Mia looks down and takes a step back,
splattering her back against the side of the mountain. I think she thinks if
she pushes hard enough she might disappear inside the mountain.
    “Since when are you afraid of heights?” I tease
her.
    “I’m not afraid of heights,” she shoots back and takes a
step forward, only to immediately step back. “Okay, maybe I’m a little afraid
of heights,” she says nervously.
    “Remember the diving board at the community center? This
is the same height,” I console her. She’s starting to look pale, and I did not
haul her ass all the way up here just too piggyback her back down.
    “Are you sure?” she asks eyeing me
suspiciously.
    “Yup, give me your hand and close your eyes,” I tell
her.
    She hesitates for a second, her eyes darting between the
edge and the way we came up. One thing you should know about my sister is that
she’s a sport for anything, and this was her idea, so she will go through with
it. She just has to psych herself up first. Mia doesn’t have a lot of faith in
herself. She’s constantly pushing herself to do better, crazier, scarier
things. It’s as if she has to prove something to herself.
    She places her hand in