It was as if she'd seen her children sliding off a cliff. Slowly but surely. Hanging on to a bush here, a crack there, but all into a continuous descent towards the edge of the abyss of estrangement. All the time looking at her, their puppy eyes and cries begging her to make it all stop (her being their mom and all). But the years had passed and she still couldn't make it all stop.
She tried to hang on to the summer they had spent in Cornwall, playing hide and seek in her father's yard or racing along the beach, stampeding on sand castles left to dry in the sun by other children. But it all seemed to happen in another life. And to another person. Instead, her kids were now long past the edge of the bluff, in the mid-air of forgetfulness, falling towards an inert and ragged future, without her in it.Her skull was now a boiling pot of tears overflowing out of her eyes with the incredible speed of loneliness.
But no! She would not stand this. It was not irreversible as long as she is still on this planet. And she decided to jump off after them, wearing hope as a parachute.