A man meeting his online love for the first time watched in sheer horror as tragedy struck while they tried to take a selfie, but things only seemed to get worse for the poor guy as time went on.
MailOnline reports that 23-year-old James Nichols traveled some 8,000 miles from his Derbyshire, England home to meet Cheynee Holloway in South Africa for the first time after the two enjoyed an online romance. But the day after he arrived, a horrific tragedy struck as the two prepared to take a selfie at a popular cliff in Johannesburg.
As Nichols set up a tripod to hold the camera for the photo, Holloway awaited nearby atop of a rock at the top of Northcliff Hill, which gets as tall as 5,000 feet in places. Out of nowhere, the rock gave way, and Nichols watched in horror as Holloway plunged over 50 feet down to a path below.
Nichols immediately climbed down the cliff to aid his lover, performing CPR for nearly 20 minutes until paramedics arrived, but it was of little use. Holloway’s injuries were too severe, and she succumbed to them shortly after the fall. Unfortunately for Nichols, this wouldn’t be the last of his heartbreak either.While the two enjoyed a long distance relationship, Holloway had planted a rock at the Botanical Gardens in Johannesburg and sent a video of her doing so to Nichols. She vowed that the two would retrieve it while he visited, but they never had the chance, so Nichols went back alone and found it.
He had it with him in a knapsack in his car, but shortly after arriving back home in the U.K., his vehicle was broken into and the rock was stolen while he was hiking near his home. Thieves smashed the rear window and took his prized possession, causing Nichols to offer a £300 reward for the stone. Sadly, he had brought the rock with him on the hike to symbolize bringing his lost love with him on an adventure.
“I didn’t realize at first. They had rummaged all through the car but it didn’t look like they had taken anything,” said Nichols. “But then I saw it was gone and that’s when the sadness really dawned on me.”Nichols said he’s not concerned with getting the person who stole it in trouble, he just wants the rock back due to its sentimental value. In the meantime, losing his only memento of his promising relationship with Holloway has left him devastated.
“It’s all still so raw and to say this has made the grief worse would an understatement,” he said.
It’s hard to imagine losing someone in such a tragic manner, and even harder to imagine what it would be like to have a keepsake of them stolen. Hopefully he gets it back. Even though it’s just a rock, its sentimental value is worth far more than the sediments it’s made out of.