Finding Peace

Chapter Fourteen

 I close my eyes gently as I float up through the trees. Somehow I just know that nothing is going to hurt me right now, that nothing can hurt me right now. It's the most incredible feeling in the world. Power continues to flow through my veins for what seems like hours, but is probably only a few minutes.

Opening my eyes, I can truly see the world around me. I run my fingers through the breeze, enjoying the gentle chill the current sends through my arm. I can reach my arm out and touch the very top branches of a tree, I can see past the horizon, I can relax my muscles and let my weight rest on the air.

You know, this really isn't that bad. To think, all those years I was scared of heights. I had no idea you could see so much way up here. I think, letting a small smile grace my lips.

As quickly as whatever that magic was had come to me, it decided to abandon me. In the air. Above the trees. I can feel the burning power that had been flowing through my veins start to fade leaving me with one problem, I don't know how to get down.

By this point, I am high above the trees. On instinct, my arms fly out and I desperately try to find something to hold onto before I begin plummeting towards the earth. You know what, I just remembered why I don't like heights. This is bad. This is really bad.

Slowly picking up speed as I go, I start falling through the air. All that adrenaline and terror that had slowly vanished starts attacking me full force. I can feel my heart drop to my stomach and my hands start shaking.

Eyes watering and lips trembling, I fall through the air grabbing at branches like crazy. Most of the ones I manage to grab are the little baby ones that do me no good anyways. Of course I would have magic that saves me only to turn around and try to get me killed. Why else would I have magic. This is not how I saw myself dying. I mean, come on, plummeting to my death after just figuring out I have magic? That's pretty tragic.

"Help." I try to call out to someone. Anyone. But I can't seem to get enough air in my lungs. My lips mouth the words but no sound comes out.

"Help me. Please, someone! Please." I frantically call out, but to no avail. I can't seem to find my voice amidst my shock and the rush of the air. As I get closer to the ground I reach for the bigger branches, the ones that could support my weight but they all seem just out of reach.

Picking up speed, tears start streaming down my face. There is no hiding my terror now. There is no shock, only genuine fear. I guess fate decided not to hate me entirely today because just as I was about to give in to the fact that I'm about to die, my hands brush past a thick branch. My survival instincts kick in and I prepare for the next one, holding on for dear life the second that branch touches my skin.

The instant the branch starts holding my weight instead of the air, I breathe a sigh of relief. That relief might be short lived, but it is still relief. I let myself breathe for just a second before attempting to scoot down the branch to the trunk of the tree I landed on.

If I somehow manage to get down from here without dying, I swear I'm going to start working out. I promise myself when my arms start to burn from holding my weight. Sighing, I make the dreadful mistake of looking down. The second I do, my palms get uncomfortably sweaty and the muscles in my arms seem to instantly abandon me.

"Help!" I scream. This time, words actually find their way out of my mouth. I hardly recognise my own voice. It sounds so desperate, so scared. I don't have time to think about the way it sounds though. My fingers are struggling to keep their hold on the rough bark.

"Please! Anyone!" My voice breaks as I sob uncontrollably, dangling from a branch, 60 feet in the air.

I try to pull myself up, wishing that I had done more pull ups in gym, but my arms are giving out. Even with all the food and rest I've been getting the past few days, my body is just too weak. I can't hold on for much longer and I know it. When my hands finally start to slip off, one word escapes my lips.