Elemental

Chapter 2

I don't scream- can't- as the air is ripped from my lungs. I close my eyes against the wind whipping all around me. Ethan's face flashes against my eyelids. Along with the advice he gave me after one of my  failed test simulations.
      "Don't think about it. Because when you think, you falter. And when that happens, you fall. So just let go. You're intincts want to keep you alive. So let them do the work." Letting go of the control is the hardest part.
        I've never been able to clear my mind, so i don't bother trying. Instead I let his words play in my mind, giving my body over to instinct: those primal thoughts and feeling that want nothing but to keep you alive. Except now they are aided by more than physical strength. Now, humans have the power to bend and manipulate the elements.
          My hands flex, trying to grab the air with my power, but nothing happens. My heart stops for a second.
         Please Ethan. Please be right about this. A sob builds in my chest at the thought of him. How many times have I told him how much I appreciate him? It doesn't matter. It will never be enough. All I want to do is have the chance to say it one more time.
      I stop thinking, about flying or passing the test. I retreat completely into my mind, where nothing but memories can bother me. My body is still falling, but i give it up. Let it do whatever it would like. It's then that I feel it. As if my very essence is seeping into the air, binding with the element itself.
        Air wraps around me, soft and malleable but stable. My descent slows instantly. I don't dare to move, fearing that if i break concentration i'll start falling again. My eyes open a crack.
      One hundred feet below, the ground stares back at me. Black uniformed enforcers stand along the wall, not looking up: Perfectly composed as always. Slowly, i allow myself to move towards the ground.
       I'm still 50 feet in the air when a shooting pain erupts through my skull. I yell out and I feel my power falter. And then i'm falling again and it feels as if the oxygen is being ripped from my lungs away until I'm suffocating in midair.
        The terrifying thought that I might die before I even hit the ground permeates my oxygen starved thoughts. I'm free falling now. the ground is coming up far too fast. If I get lucky I'll only break every bone in my body... But i've never considered myself lucky.