Short stories

When You Fall

Nicky stood with her hands on her hips in Liam's hallway, surveying all the items they had collected and thrown on the floor. They were going skiing, so they had collected all the essentials. Skiis, poles, coats, gloves, boots, hats, goggles, and various other ski equipment.

"I think that's all we need," Liam said, gazing at all their things.

"I think so to," Nicky said. She went forwards to grab her coat, then ended up tripping on a skii pole, landing on her elbows onto Liam's big coat.

"Oh! Are you ok?" Liam asked, leaping over, and picking her up himself, set her back on her feet. Nicky was a little lady, standing around 5'3 and was very thin, and it was easy for Liam, who was a tall and muscular man, to pick her up.

"I'm fine!" She said, laughing. "Good thing your coat was there, because it didn't hurt a bit."

"Oh good," Liam said, laughing with her. "I'll always be here to pick you up."

"I know." Nicky said warmly. Then she picked up her coat and put it on. She laughed and threw Liam's coat at his chest. "Lets go!" She said, getting her stuff on.

Five minutes later, they both had their boots, coats, scarves and hats on. Gloves were stuffed into pockets then skii stuff was loaded into the trunk of Liam's car. They drove ten minutes to the skii place. Getting out of their car, they grabbed their skiis, poles, put gloves on and put their goggles on their heads. They went to the building at the bottom of the hill, payed for tickets, then headed out the back to the skii lift platform. They latched on their skiis, then went and stood waiting on on the large orange rectangle where the skii lift would swing around and pick them up.

"I'm so excited!" Nicky said, her small frame quivering slightly.

Liam laughed. "I can tell." Liam gazed lovingly at Nicky. Her cheeks were rosy and a stray bit of her wispy brown hair stuck out from the edge of her hat. He cared so much for her. They had been dating for around two years now, and over the time he loved her even more. She was really sweet, had a iron determination, and she cared about everything. He couldn't imagine his life without her.

"Oh, here it comes!" Nicky said, pointing a gloved finger at the chair that was heading down the wire towards them. It swung around, then scooped them into the seat. Nicky giggled as the chair was pulled higher up the mountain.

"Look at this view," Liam said to her. Off the side of the seat, they saw the slope, then tall pine trees near the edge of the skii track, then more pine trees falling into a valley, then sloping up again onto the mountain in the distance.

"That's beautiful," Nicky said slowly. Liam looked ahead of them, seeing the mountain grow closer until they almost were at the top. The chair reached a platform at the top, slowed, and that's when Liam and Nicky hopped off. The chair then sped up and made its way back down the hill to pick up other people.

They saw a few arrows pointing to the paths they could skii on. A few people pushed off the easy one, and Liam saw them speed down the slope. The easy path went down the way they had come, and had no obstacles. There was one one down the side that was short and steep, then one down the back that was longer, and for more experienced skiers. Liam and Nicky had gone skiing many times, but they had only tried the hard one once. It was slightly steep, had one ramp if you wanted to jump. But near the edge it sloped, then dropped into a sheer cliff. It was blocked the best it could by putting trees starting where it sloped down, then a few spaced rocks near the cliff edge where trees couldn't be put.

"I'm ready to go down this one," Liam said, pointing to the experienced slope.

"Me to," Nicky said.

"You can go first," Liam said, walking over to the top of the slope, gripping a pole in each hand.

"Ok!" Nicky said, a smile on her face, pushing off. Liam pushed off right after her. After speeding down for a second, Liam realised Nicky was the left side, where the cliff was. She didn't really like being on that side, so he thought he'd be nice and switch with her. He didn't mind going on that side since there was no danger of falling unless you were directly steering for it, but it just made her nervous he guessed.

Liam looked over at her, and she glanced at him. He saw they were nearing the cliff, and he waved a pole slightly. She must have understood, since she sped up a bit, while Liam dug his poles into the ground beside him slightly to slow. Nicky veered to go in front of him, and in that split three seconds, Liam watched everything go horribly wrong. Liam saw the back of her ski collided with his, and she careened sharply to the left. The left, at the exact moment when the slope turned to a cliff. He heard her scream as she slid towards the edge, then he yelled himself as she hit a rock by the edge and fell. She disappeared from sight completely.

Liam cried out, digging his poles hard into the snow, forcing him to an almost stop and steered over to the edge. A thought of horror ran through his chest. His warm hands suddenly were freezing and his mouth went completely dry. He looked down over the edge to see Nicky lying in the snow on her back some 15 feet down. In an almost fluid movement, Liam unclasped his boots, threw his poles aside, and jumped.

Liam felt cold air circulating under him as he fell, then he landed. He had expected it to be hard, something like when you landed so hard buckled your legs making you fall flat on your face. Except, he landed somewhat softly. He fell into deep snow, landing on his behind and sinking to his chest before stopping. Yes, it did still hurt slightly. The wind was partly knocked out of him and the pain of landing shook through him. But he didn't care about that right now and almost didn't feel it.

Gasping for a breath, he struggled to get up, getting his footing. He ran over to Nicky, tearing off his goggles. If she was hurt... a horrid shock ran through him. He couldn't lose her.. not like this. She was everything to him. And he invited her to come skiing. Was it all his fault? Oh no.. it was his fault.

He dropped to his knees beside her, reaching his arms under her through the snow and lifted her head and upper body up. He slowly pulled off her goggles. She opened her eyes.

"Nicky!" Liam said, a tear leaking out of his eye, a wave of relief washing through him.

"Liam," she said, gasping. "I fell, I fell."

"I know," Liam said, another tear falling out of his eye then dropping into the snow. "Are you ok? I'm so sorry oh my gosh." He began sobbing.

"I'm fine!" Nicky said, pulling herself up to sit. Liam kept his arm behind her back to support her. Nicky smiled, happy tears glistening in her eyes. She pulled Liam into a hug.

"You'll always be here for me." She said, her voice muffled into Liam's shoulder. He squeezed her one last time, then pulled away, holding tightly onto her hands. Tears still glistened in his eyes and he smiled happily.

"That's right," he said, staring into her eyes. "When you fall, I'll always be there to pick you up."