��������������� The waves crashed over the rocks down below the cliff, a calming litany that soothed Aurora's mind and relaxed her body. She sat on the cliff letting her emerald green eyes gaze out over a vast, calm, blue-green expanse of ocean. The dying rays of sunlight danced on the horizon turning the sky brilliant shades of pink, purple, and gold. Smiling slightly at the sight, Aurora then bowed her head and returned her vision to the hardbound leather book in her lap. Picking up her idle pen she began to write once more. Soon the all too familiar scratching of pen communicating with paper joined in with the rhythm of the pounding surf.

����������� She loved this, her end of the day ritual, more than anything she could remember. This was her spot�well, hers and Darrien's she supposed, but that was neither here nor there. Right at the moment this place was hers; she was alone with her journal and her thoughts.

����������� "What is perfection?" she murmured aloud, her question heard only by the sky overhead. The sky held no answer. With her pen, she answered herself.

����������� 'Perfection�' she wrote, 'According to any dictionary, perfection is the freedom from fault or defect, to be flawless; saintly. I don't believe in it for a moment. There is no such thing as perfection and those who seek to find it only find the imperfections in themselves and the world around them.'

����������� She paused for a moment then began once more. 'My parents are mad at my brother again; it is more of the same as always, just on a different day. They don�t agree with the choices he's made in life and have yet to realize that he is 22, a grown man. They wanted him to be perfect and take it as a slap in the face that he has chosen any path other than the one they had marked for him�the path of normalcy. Darrien, instead, has chosen happiness and love, and I am so proud of him for it.

����������� 'But now, it seems, their focus has fallen upon me and I must bear the burden of their scrutiny. To ease the disappointment of their son's supposed shortcomings, they now prey upon the daughter. Figures, doesn't it? I am far from perfect and refuse to make any attempt to be so. They won't be too happy when they finally figure this out. My mission in life is not to be the most perfect wife, mother, businesswoman, daughter, and citizen the world has ever seen. I want to carve my own path, find my own happiness, and to hell with all the rest! Perfection is a joke, but my parents aren�t laughing.

����������� 'My dreams are my own; my life is my own, and when I finally graduate from my accursed high school, I am going to leave this place and finally live my life as it is, in fact, mine to live. I will make my way in this world as my brother has; only my choices and paths will be different from his. I will live; I will make it; I will be fine. And I will have more than just the contentment I find up here on the cliffs�'

����������� The pen grew idle again as the sun slipped below the horizon and darkness began to descend. Aurora's attention was drawn from her words and to the world around her. The moon had yet to come out, but one or two stars appeared in the velvet sky. A breeze laden with the clean scent of the ocean began to blow suddenly, stirring the pages of her book and ruffling her long red-brown hair. With a sigh, Aurora laid the pen inside her journal and closed the book. She shivered slightly as the breeze continued, her hand immediately reaching behind her to grab her ever-present black leather jacket. The nights on the bluff were always colder than the days, but she wouldn't miss them for the world.

����������� The moon rose, darkness settled, and more stars scattered and sparkled in the indigo sky. Where sky ended and the sea began, it was hard to tell; the reflection was so perfect. Here, up on the cliff side high above the beach, things were simple; here life was beautiful; here Aurora was unafraid. Here, the world was perfect and she didn't have to be. Here�she found her peace, if only for the moment.