Ruth Writes

As the manager of the resort starts to list the activities available for the duration of their stay, she zones out. The view is even more unbelievable than the brochure suggested. The sun sparkles atop the waves lapping in and out of the beach just a stone’s throw away. She fans herself with her passport as she watches.

She tunes back into the manager’s speech and looks as he points out past the hotel. ‘And if you look over at the cliffs just there, you can see some of our guests using the hang gliders.’

She turns back as her friends murmur interested sounds. She tips her sunglasses down her nose and catches the person who is about to freefall next. They hold onto the bar and take a run towards the edge of the cliff. At the last second, they leap, holding onto the hang glider. The multicoloured triangle floats across the sky. Her stomach flips just watching it. She’d have to be dragged up there kicking and screaming.

Her friends all enthusiastically sign up for the last session of the day. She tells them she’s going to explore the beach instead. She says she’ll keep an eye on the sky for them and they agree to meet back at the hotel restaurant for dinner. She makes her way down to the beach, holding her flip flops in her hands so that she can bury her toes in the sand.

The sun is falling lower in the sky, the sea darkening with its loss and the people around her are packing away their things. She strolls along the curve of the beach. The further she walks, the more the hotel starts to look as small as her friends jumping off the cliff. She reaches the part of the beach that begins the trek up to the top of the cliff. She moves to turn back until she hears hushed voices coming from somewhere nearby.

Curiosity gets the better of her and she creeps towards the voices that are whisper-shouting at each other. They both sound angry. She can almost taste the venom from their words in the air. She spots two men. One is shovelling the ground frantically, shaking with fury and doing most of the talking. The other is standing over a body. Her stomach falls and her knees nearly collapse underneath her as she takes in what she is seeing. Two angry men shovelling a hole in the ground to bury a body. She squats behind a large rock and peeks around.

Thinking back on all of the crime shows she has consumed over the years, she decides to take out her phone with a shaky hand. If she can snap a good picture she can run back to the hotel and call the police. She focuses the camera and taps the screen. A loud sound effect plays on her phone that echoes around the deathly quiet. Both men stand to attention and catch her. She bolts.