AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I give a short, somewhat hysterical laugh. Then I run down the short platform and leap off the end.
I think I scream, but luckily there’s nobody to hear it except the seagulls. For a long moment my stomach’s in my mouth and there’s just blue sky, and I’m falling like a stone, and oh my God this fucking wire is never going to be able to hold me, I’m going to hit the fucking ground and die instantly, and I turn a little in the air and see the floors of the Sky Tower flying by, and oh Jesus I actually did it, I jumped off the fucking Sky Tower! Even though I’m not yet down, sheer exultance replaces the fear. I yell loudly as the wire kicks in and I feel resistance, and then it’s lowering me slowly to the ground, where I land gently on both feet on the blue safety mat.
*
Elizabeth
I stare in shock as Huxley lands on the mat near the assistant. Oh my God. He actually did it.
“Wooooooo!” he yells, fists pumping the air. The assistant unclips him from the wire, then helps him out of the harness, laughing as Huxley bounces all over the place, refusing to stand still.
“He fucking did it,” Jamie says beside me, “Jesus! I really didn’t think he’d go through with it.”
“Me neither,” I whisper.
I know what it’s taken for him to do this. I’ve been with him many times when he’s been faced with heights. He can’t go up ladders or outside stairs even if they have a railing, and he won’t look out of airplane windows, or any window in a building that’s more than a few floors off the ground.
So for him to jump off a tiny platform six hundred feet in the air, with only a wire to keep him safe, will have taken immense courage.
Did he really do it for me?
He thanks the assistant and shakes his hand, then leaves the landing area and walks over to us.
“Dude!” Jamie runs up and claps him on the arm. “You did it!”
“I did. I really did. I jumped off the Sky Tower.” He looks up at the platform, swallows, then bends forward with his hands on his knees. “Holy shit.”
The poor guy’s shaking like a leaf. My heart goes out to him, and I put a hand on his back and rub it.
“You’re okay, sweetheart. You’re back on terra firma. Just take deep breaths.”
He inhales and blows it out slowly. “I’ll be all right in a minute.”
“Take as long as you need. Are you going to throw up?”
“Already done it.”
“Aw, Hux!” I bend and kiss his hair.
He doesn’t reply, breathing deeply, and I think he’s fighting nausea.
“I’ll get him some water,” Jamie says.
“Okay, thanks.” My hands are cool, and I put one on the nape of his neck, my thumb stroking up the short hair on the back of his head. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got you. You’re all right.”
“Sorry.”
“Hey, you’ve earned five minutes of recovery.” I bend to hug his back and kiss his hair again. “I can’t believe you actually went through with it. I was convinced you wouldn’t.”
“I know.” He stares at the ground as if he’s afraid it’s going to disappear.
“I’m so proud of you,” I tell him. “I’m going to kiss you when you feel better.”
He glances up at me for the first time with a touch of humor. “There’s an incentive if ever I heard one.”
“Hux!” It’s Mack, emerging from the Tower and running across the pedestrian area toward me. “Hey, you fucking legend!”
Huxley laughs and straightens, and Mack runs up and envelops him in a bearhug.
