AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Grateful I was no longer staring into the abyss I was now certain would lead to my unwanted demise, I finally took my first deep breath.
“Talk to us, Marge. What’s going on?” Even through the plastic goggles, I could see the concern in Sylvie’s eyes.
“I ... I can’t do it,” I admitted, relief and regret twisting inside me in a confusing ball of emotions. “I don’t want to do this.”
“But this was your wish, dear,” Doris said.
I pulled my goggles onto my head. “I’m changing my wish. I don’t want to do this anymore. My new wish is only to live a long, happy life with Roxie and you gals on Wilder Lane. That’s it. That’s my wish, and I won’t do anything stupid like jump out of a plane and endanger that wish.”
“I’m on board with that wish.” Alice pulled up her goggles, swiping a finger up her eyes to fix her thick, faux lashes.
“Well, I’m not!” Doris announced with a surprising amount of gusto.
“What?” I spun toward her, Lucas moving his body to stay with mine.
She stamped her little foot. “No! You’re scared. We’reallscared, but we are willing to jump anyway because this is your wish.This.Not living some boring, safe life on the couch, waiting to die. We did that already, remember? This is our pact. To help each other fulfill our dreamsandlive this life with everything we’ve got. We don’t back down because we’re scared. You ladies taught me that. And just because we’re scared now doesn’t mean we stop. We’re doing this. We’re jumping.”
Hearing those words started the palpations in my heart again. “I ... I can’t,” I admitted on a sigh.
“What’s going on, Marge? You’re never scared,” Sylvie asked. “You’re the one leaping headfirst into danger every time it comes around, dragging our kicking, screaming bodies behind you. This isn’t like you to be the one balking at danger.”
“I know,” I sighed. “But I came so close to dying in that ocean. I don’t think you understand how scary it was. How certain I was that I had chosen to do something stupid and give up this amazing life I finally have for a few seconds of thrill. And now that I realize Roxie and I are only in a rut and not doomed to a platonic friendship, I’m even more hellbent on getting home to her. I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize that goal. I want to live this incredible life we’ve all built, not end it fast before I even get to enjoy it.”
“But it’s only incrediblebecausewe’ve done all the crazy things we’ve done. Without pushing ourselves way past our comfort zones, none of us would have what we have,” Doris said. “Without our crazy wishes, we would have no spouses. We wouldn’t have a flourishing company. We wouldn’t have each other.”
Her words hit hard. Itwastrue that I had gotten the life I loved so muchbecauseof doing stupid crap like this. But still, I couldn’t imagine risking it now. The horror I would feel if my chute didn’t open and I had all that time while plummeting to my death to think about everything I threw away just for the rush of jumping out of a plane.
“It’s true,” Alice admitted. “Even though I have zero desire to jump out of this plane, I can’t let you wimp out on your wish because you’re being yellow.”
“I’m not yellow.” I narrowed my eyes at the insult she always used to get my blood boiling.
“You’re a little yellow right now.” Sylvie sucked the air through her teeth. “But it’s okay. It’s scary. We’re scared, too.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the blue sky behind me. “I don’t want to die. I want to get home, grab Roxie, and kiss her so hard she feels it right down to her toes. I want to rekindle that fire between us and keep stoking the flames for the rest of our lives.”
“You’ll have that,” Alice said. “As much as I gripe, we aren’t going to die. We’ll be fine. Won’t we, Bryce?”
“I’ve done this jump hundreds of times. We all have,” he said, gesturing to the guys. “It’s going to be okay. We’ve got you, ladies. Promise.”
I chewed on my lip, glancing behind me at the open door separating me from the world below.
You can do this, Marge.Percy’s familiar voice echoed in my head with the comforting tone he always used to convince me to do things I didn’t want to do.
But Ididwant to do this. Deep in my heart, it trulywasmy wish. I was just so damn scared to feel that close to death once again.
Sylvie reached out and took my hand. “I swore to my daughter I am getting home to be with her when she has the baby. You know how serious I am about keeping that promise. If I actually thought there was a chance we would die, I wouldn’t do this. But we won’t. We will be okay. I know it. Don’t let fear take away this wish from you. You’ll always regret it if you don’t jump today.”
Even though the fear still coursed through me like poison, I thought about the sadness I would feel in not accomplishing this wish I’d been so excited to undergo. How heartbroken I would be not to experience those feelings that Percy, Manns, and Stilts had gotten to share. I tried to work them into every one of my wishes, my tribute to my best friends of a life past who couldn’t be here to do these things, and I realized then how disappointed they would be if I packed up and went home to a boring life being too scared to live it. Toreallylive it.
With renewed gumption washing through me and feeling like all three were standing on this plane beside me, beside my Widows, I lifted my chin.
“Okay. You’re right. I’m not chickening out and turning into a big yellow canary today. Almost drowning in that ocean was scary, and I really thought I was going to die. But it helped me realize how incredibly lucky I am in my life and how much I want tolive.You’re right. For me to live, I have toreallylive. And that means launching my ass out of this plane! Let’s do this!”
“Yes!” Doris clapped quickly while she bounced as much as possible in her little harness still attached to her partner. Then she slowed her clapping. “Oh, jeez. Now we actually have to do this.”
Sylvie pulled a scared face, then, after a moment, composed herself and lifted her chin. “We’re scared too, but we’re with you, Marge. We can do this.”
“Well, shit. I’m gonna regret calling you yellow to talk you into this, but here goes nothing.” Alice slid her goggles back down, and I did the same.
