The wind blows my hair. I’m standing on the edge again. I have nowhere left to run anymore, no further way to escape my predicament.

I lurch over the edge of the cliff, and feel vertigo as the blood rushes through my veins when I see the huge seventy foot drop. There’s a slim likelihood I would even survive if I jumped off the edge. Aside from the impact of the water, there might be rocks and shrapnel that I can’t yet see beneath the surface.

I go pale. This is it, I realise. This might really be how I die.

I turn and grab my pack off my back, then I pull my winnings from it. A golden crown. Enough to feed my family, and a symbol of our oppression all at once.

I think of my wife, Lillian, and our children alone at home. Thinking of her and the little ones makes me want to cry. She was one of the first people who accepted me for who I was. She didn’t ask me questions when I cut my hair and started wearing a tunic and trousers instead of dresses.

Nor did she turn her back on me when I changed my name to a shortened version of my previous one. _Jack, that feels right, _I told her. She just hugged me tightly. And eventually our friendship grew into something else, and her children became mine as well.

I’ve been a talented pickpocket all my life. I shamed my father long before I ever got the idea to run away from home. So, when our family started going hungry I volunteered to get some food to feed us, against all odds.

‘Be safe.’ She said to me, when I told her what I was going to do, and that just this once, she couldn’t stop me even if she really wanted to.

‘You too.’ I replied, sincerely.

It was worth it, I think as I hold the crown. Even if I can’t get back to them this time, it was worth trying, it was worth that.

Eventually, I hear the men running after me again, cornering me in all directions, and I shove the crown back into my pack.

‘You can’t escape any longer.’ The frontman yells.

‘You’re right.’ I say. ‘I have no where else to go.’

He lunges forward.

‘Have a nice life.’ I say, with a slightly deranged smile, before I turn around and run right off the edge of the cliff.

The feeling of falling from that great a height is so much more terrifying and exhilarating than I was expecting.

It feels like my whole body is being blasted with wind, and there is such a lurch to my stomach as I plummet that it makes me feel like I’m constantly being displaced. The sensation makes my eyes water, but at the same time there is such a thrill shooting through my bones that part of me wants to cry out in glee from it.

But, I can see the water rapidly approaching beneath me. I feel suddenly afraid again.

I tuck my limbs as close to me as possible and stretch my legs out as I hold my breath. This is it, I think, I live or die, right here, right now.

The water breaks apart as I hit it, but I feel the impact all down my legs and arms. It feels like punching something hard that gives way from the force of your aggression.

As soon as I hit it, the water drags me under, and soon I’m completely submerged. I’m glad that I held my breath. Just as I think I’m safe, I feel my head hit something sharp, and I reel forward. I put my hand to my head but I’m growing foggier, and I can’t even think straight when I eventually pass out.

The next thing I know I’m waking up on the beach, the sea splashing harmless ripples on to the shore and splashing my feet. 



I look around for a minute, dazed.



_I must be the luckiest person alive_, I think. And then I laugh. I laugh so hard, I could break a rib.

 Wait a second. I reach behind my head, nothing. No contusion, no cut, nothing. Impossible_. _I look around for signs of anything that could have been the cause of this divine intervention. Then I start shouting with wild abandon.

 ‘Hello! Hello! Thanks for saving me!’

 I must look like a madman. When I’ve done this for almost a minute straight, I suddenly see a large sparkly fish tale in the distance. Is that a mermaid? It is. Or at least I think it is.

 I grow so excited I jump up in spite of my tiredness, then I cup my hands in front of my mouth to try and make my words louder.

 ‘Thank you!’

 It was said that in ancient mythology, mermaids helped save sailors thrown overboard by delivering them to the shore. They were known for their powers of healing.

 I can hardly believe my luck. A real, living mermaid just saved me.

 I’m so distracted I almost forget to check my pack.

 I fumble as I hastily pull it off of my back. And, when I pull out the crown again I can’t stop myself from crying. It’s like the emotions of the day hit me all at once. _Time to go home_, I think.

I walk for a while to the nearest town about a mile away, and when I get there I pay for a hackney carriage.

I have a few spare pennies and the distance from home isn’t very far. It’s a good thing I know where I am.

The moment I arrive I have the brightest smile on my face. I even pluck a couple of flowers from the garden outside our small cottage. It grows bluebells this time of year.

I stand around and wait for a while as I wonder what I’m going to say. Here it is, the thing that will save us from our hunger. Or, I’m safe and I’ll never ever have to leave your side again.

Eventually, I just do it. No point in dawdling. Not when it was Lillian. I knock on the door.

‘Who is it?’ She calls as she opens the door.

‘You know who.’ I say when I see her face.

‘Oh..’ She stands frozen in shock, she has a hand clapped to her mouth. Then, she throws her arms around me, tears pooling in her damp eyes.

I react instantly, enfolding her in my arms. Then the kids run out and cling to my legs, I’m almost bowled over.

After standing for a while in her embrace, I mumble through a cloud of auburn hair. ‘Do you want to see what I’ve brought?’

‘No,’ She brushes me off with her hand as she pulls back.

But, instead of giving her the crown, I produce the bluebells instead.

She smiles. ‘They’re beautiful.’ She says as she kisses me.

~~The End~~