"May, are you ready?"
I turned to my best friend, giving her the 'stupid face'. "I don't know, Shanaiya. Are you ready to jump off the edge of the Grand Canyon with nothing but a parachute to hold you up?"
She just laughed. "I'm not going to wait for you, you know." Her long bronze hair covered her face momentarily while she checked how tight the straps of her harness were. I shuddered. No matter how tight they were, it didn't seem like they were holding me in securely.
"See ya." Shanaiya gave me one last confident smile as she launched herself over the edge. I screamed involuntarily. I checked my own straps quickly and followed her.
It wasn't until after I was suspended in the air that I realized what I'd done, what Shanaiya had made me do. "I hate you, Shanaiya." She was way too good at getting me to do things I don't want to.
She laughed again and swerved so she wasn't in front of me. I was shaking so hard I could barely hold onto the poles. It was all I could do to talk to her. "So, uh, how are we going to get back up there?" I asked.
"We aren't." I had a flash of panic before she continued, "We'll land at the bottom of the canyon."
We'll kill ourselves. How could Shanaiya be so careless? "What will we land on?"
"We won't land on anything, May. We'll land in the river. It's like thirty feet deep around here. We'll be fine, May, stop worrying and just have fun!" With that she swooped away, trying to do a loop. And failing.
I took several deep breaths, watching the said river rush below me. It was so far, and so fast! We were going to land in that?
I am going to die. No, no I'm not. I'm going to be fine. I kept telling myself that as I dipped the nose of my kite downward and gained speed. I pulled up quickly at the rush of wind in my face. Maybe I wouldn't do that quite yet.
Except the wind had other ideas. It gusted at me from behind, making me turn vertical. My short blond hair fell in my face. I couldn't see. I screamed as I momentarily lost control. How did you let Shanaiya talk you into this? You are so stupid, May!
All my breath came out in a whoosh as my kite righted itself and stopped falling with a violent jerk. I felt one of my harness straps snap. "Oh...my...God...." I whispered, praying that it hadn't really happened. I forced myself to look.
It was very real. I tried to turn myself around to find Shanaiya, but I didn't see her anywhere.
"Shanaiya!!"
"What?" Came a distant reply. Too distant.
"My harness broke!" I shrieked back, my voice become more shrill. I turned around again, trying to see her. I finally found her several hundred yards further down the canyon from me. "Help!"
She flew closer. "Oh, stop worrying, May! It probably just came unbuckled. Just lean so the pressure's off it and snap it back together.
"You know what, Shanaiya? Why don't you come here and try and buckle together some frayed thread for me. You obviously know something I don't." Why couldn't she see that I was in mortal danger? Without exaggerations?
I glared at her as she ignored me and continued down the canyon. Jerk.
I leaned to one side, hoping to maybe tie the harness strap somewhere secure. It would have been easy if it weren't for the wind and my weight combined forcing the kite over again. I tumbled once more, going downwards faster than I would ever be comfortable with. I let go of the strap and gripped the bars of the kite. I forced them to the side, and I stopped falling. With another violent jerk and another broken harness strap. I felt vulnerable, or at least more than I had.
There was now only one strap holding me to the delta plane. I wasn't really breathing anymore, just gulping each shuddering gasp like each might be my last. I could still see Shanaiya up ahead, finally succeeding in flipping herself gracefully upside down and right side up again. Aiming myself down the canyon I searched for a breeze. I found one and, controlling my plane better, started to relax just a little.
I finally caught up to her. "Shan, I think we should head down now."
"Why? Are you too scared to stay up here?"
Ooh, I hated her right then. "Oh, no, why should I be scared? I only have two broken harness straps."
She gaped at me. "They're really broken? Oh my gosh, May, I thought you were kidding!"
"Why would I kid about something like that?"
"I-I...I'm sorry, May."
"Save it. We need to get down into the river."
She nodded and angled down.
Consumed by frustration I followed, just a little too hastily. A little too quickly. I pulled up after barely a second. I should have known better than to nosedive like that, but then...I should have known better than to pull up so suddenly. I felt the third strap release it's hold. There was too little holding me to the kite, and too much space between me and the ground.
I wish someone would tell me why situations like this cause your hands to sweat. It only makes things worse. My hands slipped a fraction of an inch. "Shanaiya!!"
Shanaiya was already touching down on the rushing river. So close to it there was no way she could hear me. I slipped a little more.
Praying frantically to whatever deity might be out there to hear me I tipped the nose of my kite down, just a little. I started a gentle descent. I leaned and turned it into a spiral. All the while begging the wind not to come.
It didn't. But the closer I got to the water the clammier my hands became. I gripped harder, but my fingers burned. I couldn't hold on for much longer. I tipped a little further, going a little faster. Too fast. Again. I didn't pull up this time, the wind did. Catching the myself and the fabric by surprise the kite turned upward. Not incredibly suddenly, but suddenly enough. My fingers slid further and further until they were at the very bottom of the poles.
I was still hanging on, but I was too far off balance. I swung to the side, still going downwards. I flew away from the river and into the canyon wall. My body crumpled against the hard rocks, my fists finally letting the plane go. I grasped desperately at the black, rough wall, bloodying my fingertips. Nothing. Everything I touched crumbled. I finally fell. It wasn't a terribly extreme height, but after being slammed into the side of the canyon and falling it there's not much you can really do once you finally roll into the river. I could feel very little, but for my face and fingers.
I managed to open my eyes. My blond hair was floating amongst the grit and gravel carried by the rushing water. Water that was getting darker and darker. A single fish brushed under my fingertips. I turned toward the surface. I could see silhouettes. I opened my mouth to tell them...something. Goodbye, I think, but there was nothing left in my lungs to even make a single bubble.
I turned myself over and, in a sense, dove. deeper and deeper. Darker. Darker. And a single prick of light peircing the black horizon. It grew. There was a person walking toward me. Walking. I walked, too. I had reached the bottom of the river, I guess. It was peaceful. I took the man's offered hand and he led me to an entire world as beautiful as the bottom of the river. I turned back once. He waited for me.
I don't know how or why, but I was not surprised to see myself sprawled lifeless on the ground, slowly being covered by silt. I was not hurt or sad. I felt no emotion at all. I turned back around and let my guide take me to his world.
