text: She was just sitting up there. If it weren’t for the picture of her, no one would’ve known she would be here at all, but the people nicknamed her as the girl on the edge of the crane. Her feet dangling below her, her right hand positioned behind her back on the stainless steel and her left, stretched out in front of her. That’s how this girl was sitting on the edge of the crane, hundreds of metres above the ground. Judging from her outfit, you would assume that she was a schoolgirl. At least when taken into consideration, her plaid skirt and her uniform style shirt. If a closer look was taken, you would realise that she is in fact a young woman, no younger than 18. Her ironed skirt and white-ish shirt, was just a part of her outfit. Her twin pony tails, were flying all around her body, bending to the force of the wind. The altitude was high enough for the wind to pick up speed and yet high enough for the wind to loose its power. Otherwise her hair wouldn’t have been the only thing flying around. Normally people would assume anyone sitting that close on the edge of death, would have the intention of jumping. And yet she had this look, in her eyes, of childlike interest. Her left arm reaching out into the dark sky, towards something only she could see. It was a clear night and the stars could be seen, perhaps she too saw them behind her spread out fingers. Perhaps she was reaching out, to form the illusion that she was holding a star, pinched in between her fingertips. Below her, you could see the city, as it shimmered under the cover of darkness. You could see the apartment lights with tenants living inside them, the cars slowly whizzing by, leaving either red or white stripes depending on their direction and the shops still open at that time, luring in customers with their colourful signs and displays. She hadn't come to die, no. But perhaps she had come seeking for comfort in a place where no other rational human would sit. She knew one misstep was all it took for her to end her life prematurely. But she wasn't nervous about that at all, in fact there weren’t any signs of fear or even anxiety in her eyes. Perhaps she had already made up her mind that she wasn't going to fall, or she had some tricks up her sleeves. Speaking of, they were too long and too dark and yet it was obvious that they were trying to conceal something. Perhaps some wounds or some scars, maybe even her thin fragile body itself. No matter what it was, she never uncovered them, granted that the only time we saw her, was in this still picture. It must have been freezing up there but apart from that, no one knew how this woman got up there. Some think she must have climbed the crane, without anyone else knowing or seeing. And yet nobody saw or reported her and prior to the photos discovery, no one had even known she had existed at all. It’s likely she didn’t make any rash movements or loud sounds, but to be seen or heard at this height would’ve had taken a tremendous amount of effort. Too much for random passerbys to spot her. People below her weren’t interested in the night sky, like she was. They were much more interested in getting to their destination, too busy to appreciate their surroundings or their achievements they already amassed. Perhaps she was the embodiment of all that people have lost over the years, all that people have longed for in this world, that was taken too soon by a world too focused on money and survival. If this photo was taken at the wrong time or the camera had never been placed there and if no one ever knew she was there, would she have existed at all? Why would she, out of all places, sit at the edge of the crane in utter silence, with no light source other than the dim shimmer of the stars? Adding to the mystery, no one knows how she got down there. The only evidence that she had existed at all, came from a still frame shot of a camera, which had been increasingly forgotten over the years, mounted to the top of the crane. It was one of many cameras mounted to the absurdly costly piece of equipment. Initially meant to record any evidence of malpractice but was deemed useless, since all it took, were shots of the sky and the city from the back of the crane. Furthermore, it was one of those really old cameras, which by some miracle still took a shot every minute after all these years. One still frame shot of a girl who mysteriously appeared and disappeared, sitting at the edge of the crane. One, was all it took for the world to be piqued in interest, as to who the woman was. Interestingly, the camera had enough quality to capture the girls expressions and clothes, but other than that, it was too dark to make out anything else, except the glowing lights of a city succumbing to the night. She could have been some otherworldly being, visiting us for a short amount of time, or perhaps she did this on a dare and had some way to climb up and down without being noticed, or the camera was so old that it was suddenly mixing up its records with previous shots. No one knew who the girl was, her picture was published in all the newspapers and media outlets, everyone trying to figure out who and where she was. But no answers were found. Anything that did turn up, was proven to be fake, made up by others searching for attention and validation. After a while everything died down and most people forgot the existence of the mysterious girl on the crane. Perhaps it would have been for the best. After all something this mysterious, maybe would be better off staying mysterious. But some people theorize that she wasn't pinching the stars with her fingers, as some people would do, some claim that she was reaching out to something. Something that was the reason why she and her body was illuminated, while the rest of the crane wasn't. Some had even saturated the photo to show the existence of a glowing orb, which apparently was floating just a bit away from her hand. But no one ever took those claims seriously. After all, glowing orbs, flying thousands of metres above the ground didn't exist. And with that, the woman couldn’t have existed at all. After all if no one is there to witness her existing, in the world we’re in, she would cease to exist. So this mysterious girl, at the edge of the crane, was forgotten about, from the rest of the world. And those who did remember her, nicknamed her: The girl on the edge of the crane.