Dear Adelaide,

16

"Jane!" Before I could even process where I was standing, I bounded across the carpet. The melody stopped. She paused on the other side of the balcony, her back pressed up against the railing, her chest to the sky, an inch away from dropping into air. She swung around dangerously to see me, and her face shifted into panicked shock. Her golden skin had washed away to reveal swollen tired eyes and dipping pink across the nose and cheeks. Even her hair was in a loose tangled mess above her shoulders. The look in her eyes was wild, frightened.

"Jane-" I took a cautious step forward, my hand outstretched towards her, although she was still a good distance away, a broken silhouette cutting the setting sun in two. Her voice was shaking.

"I've done something terrible, Sister."

I tried to speak, but the words wouldn't leave the sandpaper of my tongue.

"I've done something terrible..."

"Jane, why don't you come back inside?"

She shook her head slowly from side to side, turning back around to face her eyes to the fall. "Jane, please?" I moved another step. My mouth was bone as I struggled to form words. "The wind is bad out. Please, come back inside."

"No...out here it's...calm." She stood still, her face to the clouds, her eyes shut. She spoke calmly. "You really are perfect you know."

"...The perfect choice?...You mean?"

"No...perfect. You know that. You must... Even now, you keep me here." Jane stood a moment longer, floating against the sun before turning around to face me once more. "It's nearly your birthday."

"Yes it is...and...and you can play me your song...and I'll dance to it Jane...Jane, why don't you come to the other side of the balcony?" I was nearly to her now. "Why don't you come inside and tell me what's happened."

Jane nodded slowly. A shout brought her head whirling back around.

"Oh! Jane, Dear!" The cry came from down below outside. Daphne and Evelyn had arrived from the guest house with buckets of cleaning supplies in hand. The voice belonged to Daphne, and it was followed by a scream. Evelyn dropped the buckets, from her hands, onto the gravel drive, sponges and cleaners tumbling out and rolling at her shoes.

"Jane, Darling! Jane, Darling, what are you doing up there? Get back inside, Dear, please!"

"No Mother...I-I've-"

"Jane please," I urged towards her.

"No...I've made up my mind. I-" Jane inched closer to the edge. "I-I can't. Not after what I've- I can't do this any longer. Not after what I've-" This time Jane turned her gaze to me, her words came close. "I've done something terrible, Sister." Jane went back to humming, singing the tune she'd once played for me on the piano.

The one for her-

"Jane-" I tried.

But her eyes were closed again, as she turned back around to face the open.

"No!" Evelyn's scream cut up through the air.

But not hitting Jane, as she let the melody move her another step forward, and she met with the air, her entire body falling forwards.

A scream shook the world outside the house, as her back left the railing, and I found myself outside, glimpsing her body's descent as it tipped down.

The next moments moved fast and slow. Seconds and years. Warm honey. It was honey moving me then, I'm sure of it. Showing me what to do. How to play.