The edge of voyages

Prologue

“Trust me… You will be fine. But you have to let go” he yelled over the resilient wind.

“I can’t!” I responded, my whole body screaming no. My nails bored into the palms of his nervous hand, my adrenaline causing sweat to trickle down my forehead and all of my body weight channeling into the helpless grasp I had on him. I kicked my legs back and forth, realizing for the millionth time there was not anything for me to fall on at the moment and understood how insecure the body underwent when its dangling vulnerably so high up in the air. My heart skipped a beat every time I reminded myself of this fact, every skip as wrenching as the last.

“Let go… I promise you won’t get hurt!” he yelled again over the potent wind in a tone intended to come out as reassuring and trustworthy but in-stead only sounded the way I felt: terrified and panicked. My skin practically complained from being ripped from my flesh because of all the pockets of wind funneling around me. All I wanted to do was let out a few screams, but every time I attempted to, the increasing harshness of the wind swimming against me dried up my saliva before I attempted to make a sound. My hair cascaded in the wind and flapped all over. I shut my eyes every few seconds, hoping and wishing all of this was just a nightmare, a daydream, or a movie we would rewind in a heartbeat, but the hope became crushed and I had no control. My body continued to scream terror, and my eyes had swollen from crying, sobbing and constant blinking. My hand lost a little bit of connection every few minutes and I went psychologically haywire every time.

“How are you so sure I’ll be alright?” I yelled, before inhaling too much wind and swallowing down a cough.

“Honestly… I don’t. But I’ll think of something and I’ll make sure you get out of this unharmed. I did promise you no harm would be done from the beginning, right? ” he said and I nodded. He started to tear up and I watched them fall down his cheeks. It was the first time I had ever seen him cry, and I realized I was a sucker for guys brave enough to cry when things were not going well, especially in a situation like this. His emotions reached out to me and for a moment, the whole world stopped and revolved around me and him. We became interconnected and I could sense the heat of his body, the throbbing beat of his heart along with my own, his pleading voice, his struggle to hold onto me for only a few moments longer and his adrenaline propelling in sync with mine. Our palms got sweatier as the world took on its motion again. Neither of us said another word, speaking through the eye contact we held and sending telepathic messages back and forth. Before either of us had the chance to say anything more, I lost connection of his heart, his voice, his adrenaline, his effort and most important, his hand as I plummeted into complete air with nothing else to grab onto. I was struggling for air even though air remained to be the one thing I was surrounded by and I flapped my hands around in full panic. I practically felt the imaginary hands grabbing for me and I tasted fear fresh on my tongue as I let out terror filled screams and descended farther and farther down. I saw my life flash before my eyes, dreaded the future pain I was going to experience once I hit ground and knew I would never be the same again, whether I came out dead or alive. I had no idea where I ended up or where I headed but before I knew what was happening, I became encompassed into pure darkness.