Forgetting Love

11

Ryan and I used to love climbing. It all started when our school went on a field trip to the science discovery center. That is where we found the rock climbing wall. We were about nine at the time, I think.

We thought we were special. All of the other kids, including the older ones, had watched in awe as we raced to the top and rung the bell. While most kids couldn't make it, we got to the top without falling. Even Devan and Evan were stumped by it.

Maybe it was the idea that we could do what most kids couldn't, or it was the small taste of adrenaline that we had never felt before. Either way, we fell in love with climbing. Everyday, we went to the forest behind my house and would find a new tree. It quickly progressed from plastic walls with knobs and safety harnesses, to small trees with a low base to stick out feet in. We made it harder with every new tree.

We would test the limits of not only ourselves, but the tree as well. Usually we'd stop when we'd get to high up, like when the branches would tremor from our weight , but one day I didn't.

I can still picture this tree as if it were a painting in my mind. It sat just at the edge of my backyard and would mock me everyday after the incident until Dad cut it down with a power saw. It was a plum tree. It was very tempting for our young minds because it was the perfect tree. The trunk came about three feet off of the ground and would broke in to branches leading up to the top. Autumn had begun so the leaves were an orangish brown and the fruit littered the ground. We could almost hear it calling out our names.

I was feeling very competitive the day we planned to conquer the tree. Ryan was first in the tree, like always. I followed not far behind. We hadn't made it very far up when he decided to stop. "The branches are getting weak to fast," he said. "I'm stopping here."

Usually when he would stop, I'd find a branch not far from his and lay claim to it. Then we'd talk and giggle for what felt like hours. Like I said, this day was different. I thought we weren't nearly high enough. The branches were holding my small body just fine.

So I scampered up the tree past him. He looked at me surprised. "Hey Morgan, stop." But I didn't. I wanted to get higher than I ever been before.

When I finally stopped, I looked down at Ryan in victory. I wore a smug smile on my face, but his expression only showed fear. "I win," I announced.

He didn't climb up to me like I thought he would. Instead he stayed on his seat and tightened his grip. "Don't move," he had said.

I was confused. "What's wrong?" As soon as the words left my mouth, did I notice that my branch was slowly sinking. I could hear it making creaks. It is going to break. I panicked. I completely ignored Ryan's advice. "Help!"

I was high. It felt like I was on the tallest tree in the world. I was quite sure I wouldn't survive the fall. It looked like falling in to an abyss. And the branches, ready to scratch me as soon as I fell in to their arms. I was overreacting, but I didn't want to fall.

I started moving. I wasn't going to just sit there and wait to fall. I was stubborn and a fighter even as a child. I gripped a sturdier branch next to mine. Then I tried moving towards it, but that was all the force my branch needed. I remember hearing the snap. It sounded like a crack of thunder. The branch started falling.

The only reason I didn't follow it was because of my grip on the other branch. The bark dug in to my soft hands and left scratches on them. I was barely hanging on. That was the scariest moment of my life up until that moment. I was terrified. I thought the only thing keeping me from death was a branch. No one else could help me. They wouldn't get there in time. "Ryan!" I pleaded because he was the only one I had left.