Lightning

Chapter 1

        “I don’t think we should be doing this.” I said, looking down, the ground looking too hard for comfort, my fear of heights not helping the situation. 

            “If you don’t go, I will push you out the window.” My friend Abby said. What a loving person she is.

            Isn’t a Friday night supposed to be fun? Does that include being scared out of your mind? A normal Friday night, for me, would be to stay home and do school work so that I would have the weekend to just be a blob. Apparently that isn’t good enough for my buddy Abby here.

            “But you know I hate wood! That fence there, the thing that will get us out of this room and on solid ground, is full of wood, ready to dig its way into your skin.” I said, pausing, catching my breath.

            Silence overcame us for a few seconds before Abby broke the silence. “You have some serious problems.”

            I shrug. “I don’t have good memories with wood. Blame my mother.”

            Abby’s laugh did nothing to ease my tension. “Ok, on the count of three I want you on the side of the house climbing down.”

            “This is not a good idea.” I say, trying to stress the words as much as I can.

            “And I don’t think staying at home on a Friday night is healthy. It’s the beginning of our senior year! Live a little!”

            I sight, giving up. If I die I am holding her personally responsible. “Ok, but maybe you should go first. I’ve never done this before, and since you have, you should demonstrate.” I feel guilty, I don’t need to keep stalling but I think I need more time to build up the courage.

            Abby looks at me for a little bit, suspicion radiating off of her. “I promise I won’t run away.” I say, sounding a little grumpy.

            “Whatever.” She huffed.

            My heart started to get fast as I watched her climb over the window ledge, waiting to hear screaming. When I heard nothing after a while, I’m not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed.

            “You can get your butt down here, now.” I hear Abby whisper/yell at me from the ground.

“Yeah, yeah.” I mumble to myself, walking over to the window sill. You only live once, I tell myself. Here I go. With that I threw my leg over the ledge and began my journey down.

            I could feel my heart beat, the pace picking up. I’m not so sure I can make it down before having a heart attack.

            “If my parents catch us I will never talk to you again.” Maybe if I talk it will make things go faster.

            She laughed, “As if. I’m the only person that you talk to on a daily basis. Another reason to get you out of the house, you need to build social skills before going to college.” She may have a point, but she doesn’t need to know it.

            “Well aren’t you such a good friend.” I mumbled. I was really close to the bottom at this point, thankfully, splinter free. I was probably close enough to jump down, if only I was that lucky.

“Ari, stop!” She whisper yelled. “Don’t move, your parents are close to the window right now. I’ll tell you when to move.” Well shit. You see what happens when I try to have fun? I only hope my muscle less arms can hold me up.