Race Track of Love

RTOL 8

Chapter 8

His laughter, from how it sounds, meant like it's telling me "You're weak!", then my face flushed. Never in my life did I ever feel humiliated when there's something I could not do. I always thought I am able to handle everything by myself. At that moment, as I gave him a stare from the opposite side of the fence, I felt a need to prove what I can do.

"Pretty sure I can do this! The question is, are you sure of this?!" I shouted, and he stopped. Looking at the perimeter fence with one horizontal row of barbed wire on top, I gulped hard of the thought that I might feel the grassy ground with my face when I finally get to cross over, or get scratches from the wire.

"Just do it, and if you can't, the least I can do is catch you anyway," he cried out, following a giggle.

Staring at the perimeter fence trying to calculate speed, projection and force it would require to hop over it, I shouted: "Fine, I can do it and I will make it. Just...get off my way. Will you?"

I started climbing, inserted a foot on the horizontal metal bar and made a hard grip on the fence. "There you go, keep it up. It will eventually get easier," he said with encouragement.

He was absolutely right. From the moment I actually stepped on that metal bar, the rest of it was a lot easier. When I reached the top, I had a hard time getting balance. Soon I realized that climbing up was more convenient than climbing down. I gave him a grimace and asked a favor, "Can you hand me a ladder or a stool maybe to help me get my feet on the ground?"

"I can't find any ladder. It must be kept somewhere. I'll catch you; don't worry, just trust me on this."

"Nope, I can't," I admitted.

I looked down and thought to myself, "How do I get down from here? Jeez."

I saw him as he held his hands out signalling to catch me. "Yes, you can. You're seven feet off the ground, and that's basically as tall as a standard door."

"Is this what they refer to as 'Drastic times call for drastic measures'? FYI, I am not that desperate to get into that point, Marc," I uttered in a shaky voice.

"Don't you consider yourself desperate to come down? Admit it. You are and you just have to," he shouted seven feet from the ground.

I made numerous attempts to just jump my way down, but seven feet is just too high. I was almost in the brink of tears when a memory jolted in from the past. It was when my rude cousins – Jewel, Charlyn and Patricia asked me to get the balloon that was stuck in a tree. When I wasn't able to come down, they started giving me their demonic laughing faces and from that day on, I wasn't able to erase it from my memory. Remembering what had happened, tears started falling down from my eyes and a whimper followed – finally, a choking sound.

"Mitch? Are you crying? I am very sorry, this is entirely my fault. Just jump and I'll catch you," he asked, his eyes squinting to get a better look at my face.

Tears are falling all over my face and even if I'm already feeling weak, I keep on telling myself that I can do it. I can feel my legs getting numb because of lack of movement and nervousness.

He then started giving me instructions on how to get down, telling me to place one foot on the metal bar. But I can't see anything. My tears are blocking my vision.

Slowly, he told me to try once again, if not, I just have to jump my way down and he assured me he'll be there to catch me all the way.

I just sniffed to the fact that I didn't have any choice but to do what he suggested me to do. As I make a step, I am constantly telling myself that I can do this. I thought to myself that fears should be overcome, and I should not let history repeat itself with regards to the bad memories I had.