Misdirection
March 25th, 2021
Starring: Cora (female, late teens/early 20’s)
An outdoor pool. Cora stands on the edge of a diving board, only a few feet over the water. She lightly bobs up and down, testing the springs:
CORA
My older cousin loved to cliff dive.
For literally two years, she spent her weekends and vacations driving to cliffs and jumping off them.
She'd record videos; our family would always watch them at dinner. Every week, her parents would call my parents flipping out, worried she would jump too shallow and hit a rock. Land weird, get paralyzed.
I thought it was awesome. But even I expected something to go down.
Then like...nine months later she was gone.
No cliffs involved. Anorexia.
The clues were all there.
It was embarrassing. Not her—for us. That we missed them.
Everyone was watching her jump, instead of asking why she was jumping. Having any awareness of what was really going on.
...
There’s no good way to notice misdirection. We’re not meant to.
But given the stakes, you have to try.
...
I am, at least. Can't afford to get fooled twice.
With that, Cora jumps off the board and pencil dives into the pool.