Black Rose

Chapter 9

    Jamie held his hand out to me. No way! No freaking way! I was not going to do this. “Get away from there before you fall!” I yelled at Jamie who was standing on a rock at the edge of a slow running waterfall.

    “Why?” Jamie jumped in place landing hard on the rock.

    “Stop!” I shut my eyes afraid he was going to fall. That was the last thing I needed. Being a witness to death.

    “The water is moving very slow so you can walk through it. I promise you won’t fall. I’ve been doing this since I was six.”

    I glared at his fingers that were stretched out towards me. He was waiting patiently for me to grab his hand and I was chickening out. Taking in a deep breath, I shut my eyes and reached my hand out to his. Instantly, my body was pulled forward causing a small yelp to escape my mouth.

    “You okay?” Jamie questioned as I continued to squeeze my eyes shut. “You’re holding on pretty tight.” Deliberately, my eyes peeled opened.

    It wasn’t that I was holding on to him but more of he was holding onto me. His hand rested against my hip gently pushing me into his chest. My cheeks heated.

    Realizing the position we were in, I quickly made a small distance between us. “Um, so what’s next?” I asked avoiding the fact that I was so close to him.

    “Believe it or not,” He started, looking down at me with wide eyes, “We’re going behind the waterfall.” When he saw the surprise look on my face, he added, “Behind the slow moving waterfall.”

    Before I could even inquire about how that was possible, Jamie took a small step forward into the stream. “There’s a huge rock when you look off the edge, see?” Unexpectedly, he grabbed my shoulder causing me to lean forward a bit. Now that I was finally looking over the edge, we didn’t seem so far from the bottom. I also saw the rock Jamie was speaking of.

    “Follow me.” Jamie completely let go of me, and bent at the edge of the waterfall.

    “Wait!” I shouted, holding out both arms to balance. Of course, he didn’t listen and lowered his leg over the edge until his foot rested on the rock.

    “Take my hand, Liana,” He called up, reaching his fingers towards me. Deliberately, I scooted to the end of the water.

    “I don’t think you understand how much I want to run away right now.” I said, crossing my arms.

    “You’ll have an opportunity to run away later,” He replied, motioning his fingers for me to take them. Sighing through my teeth, I rolled my eyes and finally gave in. Slowly, I bent down, taking his fingers in mine, and slid down towards him.

    Jamie caught my waist in his arms as he slowly lowered me onto the rock. “Wasn’t too bad, right?” He asked smiling down at me.

    “Just...please, hurry and do whatever you have planned.” While I spoke, he moved his foot through the water that was falling.

    “For this part, you’re really going to have to trust me.”

    I nodded my head, “If I trusted you this far, I think I can trust you with pretty much anything else.”

    With one quick nod of his head, Jamie stepped from the rock into the waterfall and disappeared, leaving me on my own. For a minute I was sure he fell down into the water but it wasn’t until a hand reached through the water that I remembered what he told me.