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"Bodhi, do you have any idea how many people you've killed? How many laws you've broken?" I yelled, quite ready to slap the ever-present look of knowingness off of his face.
He scoffed. "The only law that matters is Gravity."
A cold shiver ran through me, I knew at once what he meant, or rather what he was going to do. It couldn’t end like this, not after the hell I’d been through to get this man, I wasn't going to let him go when I was so close to finally catching the free spirit.
I barely had a second to take action as he closed his eyes and opened his arms out as if accepting the fate that would soon follow, he leaned back and in that instant, all of my thoughts went completely blank. I didn’t know what I was doing, I just knew that I couldn’t let him go. “STOP!” I screamed out and as Bodhi fell over the Angel Falls, I tried to catch him before he could fall further, but something in my body decided to jump after him. So began our plummet downwards, six seconds to think about what was to come.
‘Six seconds’ I thought. ‘it was always six seconds’
I was in a state of panic, this couldn't be where my path would end, I hadn't fulfilled my purpose yet, I hadn't caught the Ex-Presidents, I had failed. Even worse than failure was that if Bodhi survived this seventh ordeal then he would be so disappointed in me, this was obviously where Bodhi wanted the ride to end, the rush of beauty and life and adrenaline would stop here for him. Bodhi would be disappointed because I had changed my own path because of him, but then it hit me, three seconds in and three left to go. This was where I wanted my path to end, with Bodhi.
I took one last look at Bodhi, the so-called Bodhisattva. He was after all the epitome of the name. A man who is able to reach Nirvana, but takes the long way around out of compassion in order to help other suffering beings. That’s what Bodhi was doing all along, sharing from the earth’s beauty and giving it back to the people who suffered, he really was the Bodhisattva.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, the water from the falls covering me and for a second I felt it, Nirvana. I saw true beauty, the way it should be, I saw that Bodhi wasn't the villain of this story, he was the hero, All desires and grief and pain had been taken away.
And in that last second just when I felt the water below me, I thought I knew Nirvana.