Mirror, Mirror, On the Wall

Chapter Ten- On the run

If you've never been pushed out a five-story building's window, count yourself lucky. Of course, the fact that you are still alive and can count probably means you have, in fact, not been pushed out a window. So essentially, I'm talking to everyone when I say, IT IS NOT FUN.

Wind whipped across my face as I fell, kicking and screaming, the ground coming closer. I closed my eyes. I didn't want to know when my bones would hit the ground with a crunch, death sure to follow. They say your life passes before your eyes, but that didn't happen to me. All I could think was "I'm going to die, I'm going to die, AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly someone rammed into me somewhere around the second story, wrapping their arm around my stomach. I choked, which cut off my screaming long enough for me to hear Jasiana say "Oh, SHUT UP. You're not going to die."

I opened my eyes hesitantly. We were slowly floating down.

"Wha-" I started to say, looking up at Jasiana. She was giving me a smug look, like she was so-much-cooler when falling out of a building. Which, considoring she wasn't screaming, her hair was perfect, and she was using her backpack as a parachute, she sorta was. It's hard to explain, but she was grabbing onto the straps of the bag with one hand, and the backpack body was expanding, just enough to slow us down. Craining my neck, I could see Maio doing the same thing. He was floating down slightly faster than us, just enough so that when we landed, he landed at the same time.

I did not land gracefully. While the elf siblings landed on their feet like they jumped out of five-story windows everyday, I quickly crumpled to the ground.

"WHAT," I half-yelled, struggling to my feet,"ARE YOU TRYING TO DO, KILL ME?!?!?" Now that I was safe, all my fear turned into rage.

Jasiana looked down her nose at me, how I don't understand, since she was about five inches shorter, and said,"I'm sorry, I was under the impression that you were screaming like a little girl, about to die and splatter all over my backyard. It would probably be an improvement, with your looks." She stuck a finger in my face. " You'd die without me. You'd probably die WITH me, too. You're pathetic."

"GUYS!," Maio cried out," WE HAVE TO GO RIGHT NOW!" He pushed us towards the woods, which were about one hundred feet away from where we had fallen. "SETTLE YOUR DIFFERENCES LATER!"

I remembered why I was trying to escape and started running as fast as I could. Maio and Jasiana ran along side me, and the three of us kept on running when we reached the woods, like hell was at our heels.

' I won't die here', I thought, pushing myself to run even faster.'Not today. I won't. I won't let Ms. Perfect Jasiana say I-Told-You-So to my corpse. I. Will. Not! I'll keep running!"

.......

I don't know how long we ran. Half an hour? Two? All I remember is not being able to breathe and tripping over every tree root, rock, or hole that got in my way. When we finally stopped, I collasped against a tree, gulping down air. Maio was breathing a little heavier, as well, but Jasiana was breathing normally. She dumped her pack to her feet, and came over to where I was slumped.I glared at her, unable to speak, which she ignored as she climbed the tree I was leaning against. I tried to watch what she was doing, but gave up when my neck refused to bend more and pieces of bark Jasiana rubbed off as she climbed got in my eyes.

"Here."

I returned my neck to its normal position and saw Maio ruffling through his sister's abandoned pack. He pulled out two canteens and tossed one to me while taking a swig of the second. I caught it, twisted off the cap, and took a big gulp. At first I recoiled from the taste; I don't know what I was expecting, but it definatly wasn't the sparkling sweet water that was in that canteen. If spring had a taste, that was what I was drinking. Like flowers, clean creek water, and sunshine.