Matched

Chapter 6

Kate's head was swimming by the time Preston was done telling his story, and now he was just speaking plain gibberish. Jump? Why in the hell would they do that? They were so safe, up on high, solid, ground, and now they were supposed to just throw themselves over the edge when that was just asking for death?

She turned to face Preston, but her eyes widened when she saw that he had moved back, far enough to make her concerned. "Preston?" she called. He seemed as though he didn't hear her as he began to run at her. Kate tried to move, but she seemed frozen to the spot. She glanced to her right and saw that she was dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. "Preston!" she screeched as she turned back to where he was, just enough time for her to see him collide with her, throwing them both off of the cliff.

It took Kate's mind exactly 0.3 seconds to realize that she had entered free-fall and another 0.3 to realize that she was plummeting towards her death. She let out a scream as they came closer and closer to the bottom, and she closed her eyes so that the end could come unseen.

As they reached the bottom, where the ocean was calling out for them from its murky waters, the rocky impact that Kate expected never came. Instead, she felt an impact with something cushy. It was like landing in a pile of pillows.

She opened her eyes to look around and saw that she was suspended in mid-air over the rocks below. She tried to stand up, but her legs were too shaky. Preston was getting up beside her. He had let go of her in mid-air so that he wouldn't fall on top of her.

"I always think that it's going to get easier every time I jump but it doesn't. I still get a little shaky after the fall," he said to himself. Looking over and seeing that Kate was struggling to get up, he rushed to her.

Taking his hand and letting him pull her up, Kate was speechless. In the course of ten minutes, Kate had heard an entire story about the the origins of the universe and it's ultimate demise at the hands of somebody she was now being watched by, and now she had just fallen, well, was pushed off of, a cliff and landed on a magical barrier. There wasn't much more of this Kate could take.

"My father got angry at me one day last year, so I came out here to think. I was standing at the edge of the cliff when a noise from behind me scared me. I stepped backward, forgetting how close I was to the edge and I fell off. I thought it was the end for me, but I landed the same way we just did. I've been coming back here for a while now, just checking to make sure nothing's changed," Preston explained.

He motioned towards a hole in the rock behind them. A cave. "We've come this far, we might as well go in," he said. Gaining a tighter grip on her hand, he led her towards the opening in the rock.

Kate stopped. "I don't like this Preston. I don't like this at all."

He started to speak, but she cut him off. "No. I get to speak now. My day started out with me getting a device ripped out of me from the side of my neck. Then, I had an entire change of habitat within a few hours, and now, you dump what I through was a load of bullshit on me and throw me off a cliff, leading me to think I'm going to die but then being saved by a magic barrier." She stopped and looked at him, exhaustion sleeping into her features. "Preston, I don't know how much more of this I can take."

He grabbed the hand he held tighter and reached up to brush a stray strand of hair back from her cheek. "I know Kate, but this is the only night that I can effectively take you here without my father noticing. Any other night he would be suspicious, but tonight is all about appearances for him. I need you to be strong for a little longer."

When she didn't answer, he squeezed her hand, giving her a little strength. "Please, Kate. If you are who I think you are, you are our only hope."