Ghigau

Prologue

The Amalfi Coast

Seventeen year old Jamie Talbot stood inches from the craggy precipice, and peered over. It was a long way to the water’s surface, a hundred feet or so. In front of him, the azure sea stretched unbroken to a shimmering horizon, where it became indistinguishable from the sky. In the far distance, tiny sailboats crisscrossed his view like dust mites in a sunbeam.

    He’d dived from similar heights, but only from a board. He wasn’t frightened, but adrenaline was coursing through him, heightening his senses, sharpening his reactions; his body’s way of preparing him to face danger. He took half a step back, and stood stock still, hands at his sides, then looked straight ahead and began slowing his breath, bringing his heartbeat down, gathering himself, focusing.    

    When he felt ready, he swept his arms upwards to 45 degrees, and held them there, hands extended, palms forward, like a rock star hailing his audience.  He expelled his breath, then inhaled deeply. His calves flexed as he stood on tiptoe. ‘Living my best life’, he said to himself. He bent at the knees and waist, and swung his arms down and behind him in one smooth motion, storing potential energy in his contracted muscles. Then, swinging his arms forward and up, he uncoiled and launched himself skywards, pushing away from the cliff-edge at the same time. He arched his back so his body began to invert, then tucked in and gripped his shins, tumbling acrobatically, as gravity accelerated his fall. The cliff-face, sky, and ocean, wheeled before his eyes like the symbols on a fruit machine, while the hot summer air, so calm and still just moments ago, rushed passed his ears with an increasing roar. He let out a whoop of pure joy. 

    At about thirty feet from the water he unfolded his body to slow his spin and stretched out his arms to meet the onrushing surface of the Tyrrhenian sea.