From out the window, up the outer stairs, and around the gallery, the duo almost reached the pinnacle of the lighthouse.
The gentle breeze of the wind only found near ocean waves, brushed against their face, producing this strange euphoria within them. Adding onto that jubilation was the nightfall scenery that lingered in place wherever they went.
Lauren would call for Zachary, urging him to keep up with her, every five seconds or so, she was really eager to show him this "last step."
"What are you doing?"
Although with questions on his mind, Zachary asked her with a smile.
In his eyes, she still looked odd and crazy. But now he could not really see it as a bad thing, far from it. That sense of madness and passion blended together formed an infatuation so meticulous; it could only be seen as fantastic. If there was any other experience that replicated this free and mindless joy, it would have probably been the strange stimulants that every parent warned their children from. However, this feeling was more than that, this was incomparable.
Dozed off in his own daydream of thoughts, he woke up when he realized Lauren was no longer by his side.
"Over here," a voice came from over his head.
There she was, the girl of magnificent imagination, on top of the cupola, with joy still on her face. She had taken the ladder that was just near him at the moment, and made it to the very top of the lighthouse.
When he realized that the cupola was, and how it was a little steep for one's foot to step on, he began to worry. "Isn't it a little dangerous?"
"Eh, feels fine to me," she leisurely walked around the cupola to show off. It felt as if she could lose her footing and fall at any moment, and yet nothing happened, "What do you think?"
「I think I'm going to die.」
He swallowed the lump in his throat, mustered up what little courage he had, and held onto the ladder.
In a matter of seconds, he was up safely on the highest peak of the lighthouse, standing right beside Lauren. He tried to lean on the edge to see how the world looked from up here. They weren't high up by a large margin, but it still had quite the effect on how wide the view down appeared.
"What are we going to do?" He still had no idea why he was here.
Lauren snickered, "We're going to shock our minds after all that rest."
「Rest?! But we barely got any.」
Unless by that, she meant rest from school, then perhaps it was something to be considered as so. But then again, there wasn't anything of note that happened at school that would make him feel particularly restless. It wasn't until he made it to this pier and had to traverse through it, like an adventure who knew nothing better but to risk his life at every second, that he felt fatigue building in both his mind and body.
While he was off in his own world of overthinking, Lauren was already moving on with her plan.
She took off her school pullover and threw it on the side, unbuttoned the shirt that was underneath, and finally, she took off her shoes and socks. Now she was wearing nothing but a light tank top and her skirt. There was no need to take the rest off, she believed, as she wanted to shield herself from the cold breeze — although those two pieces won't exactly do the job.
When Zachary turned to look at her after finishing his deep thoughts, his face reddened and he backed away in embarrassment. He did not take Lauren for someone who would casually take off most of her clothes in front of others, especially in front of a boy she had just met.
But even with his visible look of discomposure, Lauren took nothing of it.
"W-What the hell are you… d-doing… like that?" He tried to keep his words together.
"Taking a leap of faith!" She smiled.
Following those words, she ran to the rear of the copula.
"Try to keep up with me!!!"
And then, she leapt forward and… jumped.
She jumped as high as one could, putting a good distance between her and the lighthouse. In an instant, she was gone from Zachary's sight.
"...!" He felt his heart stop and body freeze at that moment.
*SPLASH*
What followed after was the clamorous sound of impact against the ocean floor.
If his mind was in the right place, then Lauren had simply jumped off the lighthouse and dived into the ocean. This manner of thinking was not exactly "in the right place," but if it were… that girl went beyond the definition of madness.
He carefully walked over to the rear where she had initially jumped. It took him a few seconds before he could get himself to look down and watch the scene before him. Even then, there was not much to see… because he had his eyes closed.
"Come on down!"
Suddenly, the cheerful voice of the girl, who almost led to his death several times, came back ringing in his ears.
Opening his eyes, he saw Lauren's small figure floating on top of the water. She was completely fine. No scratches. No broken legs. Nothing of note that would make her scream in pain.
"Come on, get down here," she called out once again.
"Can't I just get down… the normal way?!" He replied back.
She shook her head. "It's part of the experience, you have to jump!"
"Are you mad?!" He snapped, almost slipping off the cupola in the process from his movement before he quickly picked himself back up, "There's no way in hell I'm making that jump?"
"You made it all the way up, so why stop now? Jump!"
"But…"
He thought about it for a moment.
This whole situation, all the weird things that have been happening to him, all brought him joy. He felt it before, and he felt it again now. It was no illusion. He was so caught up with his safety and what was around him that he hadn't realized until now. That was genuine joy beating in his heart this entire time.
Lauren was amazing. She had brought excitement into his mundane life.
And yet—
「I don't want to jump.」
Looking at the sea again from this height almost brought him nausea. He hadn't been to many high places, so of course, he would be completely ignorant to the fact that he feared heights.
「Don't think about it!」
He stepped back with his eyes closed…
「Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! Don't think about it! I have to change! I'm allowed to dream!」
…and took a leap of faith.
…
When he opened his eyes, he was in the air. The wind was rushing incredibly against his body. He felt he was being pulled into the water at immense speed, like a picture that suddenly grew larger and more detailed.
Before he knew it, he dropped into the ocean.
Under this ocean, the water was rushing at his body from every direction possible. It was harder to move. Everything felt slower as if the moment had completely stopped in time
"...!"
For some reason… he could not swim back to the surface. His body had halted every possible system that aided his movement.
And into the darkness, he went.
The deep, deep darkness of the beyond.