Shadow Jumping

The Arrival

I felt the ground fall away from under my feet, that sickening feeling of your stomach trying to keep up with the plummeting drop. I saw my friends usually smiling faces contorted into one screaming mass of wide, unblinking eyes and open mouths. I saw the trees growing taller, leaning over me as the ground sank below me. The birds stopped singing. I knew that they were watching. I saw their fragile forms as they fluttered between the gnarly branches of the trees. I watched as one by one they drifted from their perches, dead too like the red leaves that littered the floor.My vision faltered, dark flashes interrupting the sight of my friends of the park where we were stood. Then it vanished altogether, the trees, my friends, everything. I was falling into a black emptiness. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see what was waiting at the bottom, not that I would anyway, with the only sight to see being black nothingness. I focused on the falling, comforting myself in the thought that if I made it to the bottom I would not have to worry. I would die from the impact.

It didn't help much... in fact it probably just moved the problem, but for some reason, I found the courage to open my eyes. I couldn't see anything. It was worse than being blindfolded. At least with that you know that eventually you will be able to see again. I listened to the air rushing past me, it bit at my bare arms and face, leaving them stinging and cold. I realised then that it wasn't a dream. I could feel. If I was dreaming how would I know if I was still falling? A deep sense of dread settled in my stomach as it occurred to me that I wouldn't survive this.

I reached out to either side of  me. I stretched my stiff arms as far as I could flailing around in hopes of finding something, anything to hold on to. I found nothing. My hands fell limp at my side, disheartened, giving up.

I felt hopeless, I didn't know what else I could do to stop my descent through the darkness. It was useless. I tried to push myself to my left by swiping my legs through the air, but I couldn't tell if it was working. I couldn't see a thing. I gave up, because that's is what I do. Any signs of trouble and I will bail out on my friends, leaving them to clear up the mess. I'm a coward...go on, judge me. I don't care, I'll admit it, scream it until I am blue in the face... but it wouldn't change the fact that I was stranded in the middle of goodness knows what, falling at what seemed to be a million miles per hour.

Am I pessimistic, probably... but then I think most people would be, given the situation. My head filled with flashes, my brothers face, my grandparents, my rabbits, my teacher and my friends. This is it then, I thought, off I go. I shuddered as a bitter chill ran it's ghostly fingers down my spine. The cold racked through my entire body, until it seemed to settle, back in the centre of my chest. I closed my eyes, telling myself not to panic. It was going well... until someone behind me started screaming.