Untethered

Prologue | Innocence

"Emma!"

"Emma, where are you?"

"Please come out, Emma, I'm sorry!"

The scrawny, wild-haired little girl hid high up in the large crook of the old willow, biting the inside of her cheeks to stifle the sound of her crying. Despite her efforts, angry tears still squeezed out of the corners of her eyes, making dirty tracks down her face. Clenching her fists, she resisted the urge to drop onto the tall red-headed boy beneath her, and pummel him into the ground.

Go away... just go away, she willed him, squeezing her eyes shut.

It started out as such a good day. For the first time, Evan let her tag along with him to the pond. Granted, her big brother wasn't exactly happy about it, but Grandma said if he wanted to go, he had to let her come with. She was ecstatic.

She chattered excitedly all the way to the huge cottonwood tree that stretched out over the large pond. Years ago, someone had tied a long, thick rope to the thick branch that stretched farthest over the water, and put a big knot on the end. The knot was meant to stand or sit on-it was a swing-and better than any roller coaster in the opinion of most of the neighborhood children.

Ryan Cameron was already there when they arrived, leaning against the trunk, waiting for Evan. The boys had been best friends for as long as Emma could remember. He was also their next door neighbor. She didn't like him much. He was three years older than her seven years, and always seemed to want to annoy her.

At first, the boys ignored her, settling down to compare their new baseball cards. Finally, after pestering Evan with unwavering tenacity, he turned on her:

"What is it, Emmy?" he demanded exasperatedly.

"I want to swing!"

"Just wait a minute!"

"Come on," she pleaded, "You promised you'd show me how!"

Evan ignored her. A few more boys had shown up, and now they all had cards out, absorbed in whatever complicated system of selling/trade they had settled on. Emma was getting impatient though. Just as she was about to start whining at him again, she was interrupted.

"I'll show you, Em," Ryan grinned.

Emma glanced toward her brother and whined, "Evan!"

He was still focused on his baseball cards. "Ryan can show you," he shrugged.

"Fine!" She turned back toward Ryan, "Let's go!"

"Okay," Ryan smiled again, "So, first, you grab the rope really tight."

"Yeah..." Emma was getting annoyed. She was younger, but she wasn't stupid. "What next?"

"Then, run back. Like this," he scurried backward, holding onto the rope with both hands. "Then run forward as fast as you can. When you get to the end of the bank, you have to hold really tight, and then jump on!" Instead of running forward, he turned toward her. "When you're on, pump your legs up and down to go higher. When you're high enough, jump off over the water. Okay?"

"Yeah, yeah! I got it!" She tried to grab for the rope, but he held it out of her reach.

"Uh-uh, my turn first, little girls second." He smirked, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Hurry up! I want a turn!"

"Okay, jeez!" He ran back, and called to her, "Watch what I do."

He raced forward, jumped on, and then flew past her. When the rope jerked tight, he crouched down, his feet balanced on the knot and pushed up, making himself swing back. He repeated this a few times until he was flying high, and the rope almost went slack every time he reached the end. When she thought he couldn't go any higher, he whizzed past her over the water, and he jumped!