Here's the story! Don't kill me! Just know... this is what happened.
The day started wonderfully. I woke up at 6am to turn off the Alarms and unlock the doors to the Hale before I went back to bed for another wonderful hour of sleep. After an hour, my friend Spenser Arn, texted me saying "We're jumping point at 9:00!" I was stoked. (As you know from some previous posts, The Point is a small cliff of which you can jump off of into the ocean, just for fun. I had done it twice before and I was excited to do it again)
Right after Spenser texted me, I got up and dressed in my beach attire, grabbing sunblock and anything else which I thought I needed. I rode my bike to Kathery's house in the wonderful warmth of Laie. Once I got there, she was still very much asleep. But after poking her, she got up! I texted Spenser telling him that Kathery just woke up and that we might be a little late. He told us to hurry up and suite up! We quickly ate our oatmeal and walked over to Foodland. Spenser then texted me again and said "Actually, it looks like we're going to be a little late too" I was like "What a joke! We're right in front of Foodland!" Kathery and I rolled our Eyes and walked up to point without them.
When we got there, Kristine and Kalie were already there. They had gone for a run and were stretching up by the rocks. About the same time that Kathery and I got there, Rebecca popped up from behind us! I was so glad she was able to come! I called Spenser and asked him where he was. He said he was going as fast as he could! He was waiting for Ty and Andrea. While we waited, Kathery instructed us in a Yoga lesson. It was really fun and it felt so good!
Finally Ty, Spenser and Andrea appeared from behind bush! It was time to jump! We were all so stoked! I was so excited to have all these wonderful people with me! They're all amazing and I love them with all my heart. The Eight of us were unstoppable!
We made our way to the edge of the Point and looked down at the water nervously. Everyone urged me to go first since it was my birthday... but I really didn't want to go first. So, Kristine decided she was going to go first. She ran, jumped and screamed "Happy Birthday Kylie!" all the way down until she hit the water. Spenser went next, determined to jump higher and scream louder. He ran, jumped and screamed until he also was in the water. Then it was my turn.
I stood at the edge, building the courage to jump. I looked down and the water, waiting for a wave to come so I could jump into it. Finally, a huge wave came and I threw my body off the cliff. I didn't scream, but I was smiling the whole way down. I felt like I was flying. Finally, I hit the water, legs bent but head up. I went pretty far down, but I didn't hit the bottom. I kicked hard and made it back to the surface. What a great feeling. Knowing that you were swimming in the ocean after jumping from a rock, it was amazing! I looked up and saw Kalie jump in near me. She screamed out like Tarzan. It was funny! I looked up to the right of where we were jumping and I saw tourists taking pictures of us. It was really funny.
Finally it was Kathery's turn to jump. She was so nervous. She took forever to jump but finally she did. Once Kathery hit the water, I swam towards the coral so I could climb back to the top and jump again. I waited for a wave to lift me before I planted my feet down and stood atop the coral. Kalie swam with Kathery and did the same thing. We all made it up. As we climbed up the side of the cliff, back up to the top, Rebecca had jumped and was right behind us. As I got to the top, Ty and Andrea also jumped. It was Andrea's first time and she was super nervous. But Spenser encouraged her and finally she jumped right after Ty.
As I made it back over to the jump site, Spenser was already running and jumping off the cliff. I watch as he threw his chest out and flew down into the waves. I wished I was brave enough to do something like that, but I wasn't. I waited for Kathery and Kalie to come up behind me before I approached the ledge for another jump. I could not see Spenser because he had already swam under the ledge and was probably already on the coral. I jumped again, with the same feeling of excitement! But this time, when I reached the surface, I noticed the waves were so much bigger then they were ten minutes ago.
I look at the coral ledge and saw Ty and Andrea struggling to get on the Coral. Spenser was already standing on it, trying desperately to help the other two up. I began to swim towards them, knowing that I had to get out of the water. But then Spenser yelled at me "Tell them not to jump!" I saw his face as he screamed; something was wrong. I swam away from the coral, back out to where the other four could see me. I screamed at Kathery not to jump, because she was on the ledge, ready to throw herself back in the water. At first they didn't hear me, but finally after they saw how hard the waves were hitting me, they got the message.
I looked back towards the Coral ledge. Spenser was standing, hugging the wall with his back. Andrea and Ty were both sitting next to him. He screamed something, but I didn't hear him before a huge wave came from behind me, enveloping me in the water. I kicked back towards the surface and took a huge breath. I looked back at the ledge.
I couldn't see Andrea and Spenser was hanging onto Ty's arm, desperately trying to keep him on the ledge. I turned my back to them as I felt a swell coming towards me. I looked and saw a wave that was much bigger then me. I dove into the wave, kicking as hard as I could against the current. I felt myself getting pushed closer to the coral. I knew that if they wave hit me into the coral, I would get hurt. So I tried to swim back towards the ocean. I finally broke the surface, gasping for air. I looked back towards the others. Ty was lying on his back, trying to regain his footing. Spenser had both of his arms around someone's arms. I couldn't see her behind the rock but I knew it was Andrea. She had been thrown into two rocks and was now stuck between the two. Spenser was hanging on very tightly.
Another wave hit me from behind. This one spun me around pretty bad. I swam down, trying to find the current. I finally found it and found myself back in the air. I was so much closer to the coral then before. I knew I had to get away from it. I wanted to swim to where Spenser, Ty and Andrea were so I could help, but I knew that I would have gotten hurt if I swam over there. I watched helplessly as Spenser was knocked off his feet and let go of Andrea. He quickly jumped back and grabbed her. Ty was hanging on to a rock, determined not to let go.
Another Wave hit me. It wasn't as big as the last two, which I was grateful. I began to pray that Heavenly Father would help me find a way out of the water and watch the others at the same time. Then I noticed that once the waves hit the rocks that Andrea was stuck in, the waves ceased, making the water behind it a lot calmer. I knew I had to go around the boulder, on the opposite side of where the other three were. I began to swim out and around the boulder. When I was within acouple feet of the boulder, my shin hit some shallow coral. I started to run on it before a wave came and swept me off my feet. I scraped my leg along the coral, trying to stay standing.
I finally made it around the boulder and found a medium sized rock of which I took sanctuary. I breathed hard as I climbed up to safety. I looked up and saw Ty and Andrea standing in an alcove behind the giant boulder. Ty looked drained. Andrea look extremely pale. I couldn't see Spenser. I began to freak out. But then he appeared from behind the boulder, running at Ty shouting "Where's Kylie?!" Ty hadn't seen me and just stared at Spenser. Then Spenser turned around and saw me. His face flooded with relief. I had never seen someone so relieved before.
He beckoned my forward, telling me I had to jump to the next rock. I looked around relentlessly. I really didn't want to move. But I listened to Spenser, trusting that he would come and get me if anything went wrong. I jumped from the medium rock to a smaller rock. After that, I made it into the alcove.
We all stood there for a moment. We were all alive. But we weren't out yet. Waves still came into the alcove pretty hard, making us hang onto the rocks so we wouldn't get swept away. Spenser looked around, trying to find a way out. He looked at me and shouted "We have to get out of here!" I looked the way we would usually get out and knew there was no way that was going to happen. I looked the opposite way, knowing that we could swim to shore. As I mentioned it, I knew that wasn't a possibility either. Andrea was pale and bleeding from scratches on her legs and Ty was in no condition to be swimming.
Spenser and I looked up and found that it was possible for us to climb up and out. However, the rocks were sharp and we knew it would be difficult.
Then, like a miracle from heaven, Kristine and Kalie appeared above us. We shouted at them to throw down our shoes. They quickly grabbed our shoes and started throwing them down. The first slipper we tried to hand to Andrea, but she shook her head and said it wasn't hers. Spenser tried to hand it to me, but I shook my head and said "It's not mine". Spenser then looked up at Kristine and said "This isn't any of ours!" Kristine looked at us like we were idiots. "Just put them on!" She shouted. (Now looking back at this part, we all feel really silly).
Finally everyone was wearing slippers (flip-flops) and we were ready to climb up and out. I went first. I climbed halfway up a rock with Spenser's arm around me, making sure I didn't fall. I found a hole which I could climb through. The hole was covered with sharp rocks, but at this point, I didn't care. I wriggled through, tearing my swimsuit and made it through. I was safe.
Spenser shouted for Kalie and Kristine to pass down shirts to cover the sharp rocks. (Wish they had thought of that earlier) We placed the shirts over the rocks before sending Andrea up. Andrea made it through the hole with ease and was standing safe next to me. Ty came through next, also making it through the hole. As he climbed through the hole, I saw that his back was scratched up pretty bad. (I found out later that when Spenser had caught his arm, Ty had been pushed down the coral, scratching his back as he rolled down).
Spenser was next and last. He was too big to make it through the hole, so he climbed up and over the hole. He lost his slipper as he climbed up. I couldn't believe that he actually thought about going back to get it. We all scolded him, urging him to just come up to safety. He watched his slipper for a minute before joining us on the ground.
We all climbed up the rest of the way and made it to where Rebecca and Kathery were waiting for us. We all stood in a circle, staring at each other, breathing hard. I saw that Spenser was bleeding from scratches on his legs. Andrea also had many scratches all over her legs, and she had a few cuts on her arms and face. Ty's knees looked pretty bad, and so did his back. I looked down at my own leg and saw that only my left leg had gotten hurt. I was grateful.
Andrea's Injuries:
Spenser's Injuries:
My Leg:
We were alive. We were all safe. We later said a prayer, thanking Heavenly Father for blessing us with safety. But as we walked home, Ty said "I'm glad we are all walking home together." Spenser looked at him emotionally, pointing out the three key words in Ty's statement.
1. "Walking" - We had all only received minor injuries and were alright.
2. "Home" - We had lived to make it there. The happiest place to be.
3. "Together" - We hadn't lost anyone. We were all together and we all made it.
I am so grateful that we all made it out safely. At first I felt super guilty because it was my birthday activity. But Ty has told me many times that it is not my fault and that I shouldn't feel bad. I still do a little, but I'm ultimately grateful that we were able to keep our cool and make it out of there.
Ty told me to have a good birthday because I had so much to be grateful for. I took his advice and ended my day with them, feeling older and wiser.
Now, I'm confessing to all this, so nobody is allowed to kill me. It's okay. We all made it. We're all doing very well. And the four of us who got stuck down there, we are all taking care of each other and looking out for each other. I've spent pretty much everyday with Andrea, Spenser and Ty. We all love each other so much more and we all understand each other so much more then before. It's been crazy but ultimately, I'm glad.
Ty and I decided that, ultimately, this was the best birthday ever. I'll never forget my {19th} year~!
