Falling

• Hannah Munday, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2010

He nudged me forward grinning wickedly. I was already dizzy from the height, so the nudge sent me stumbling and I had to reach out and grab a handrail to stop myself from getting knocked out on a pole. Then again, lying on a comfy hospital bed would be a thousand times better than what I about to be forced to do.

The straps dug in and I was terrified out of my mind. All I could hear was my heard beating a hundred miles an hour and The Man snapping in my ear, telling me to hurry.
I shuffled forward and peered over the edge of the metal walkway. I rested my hands on my knees and took a deep breath, well rather took half a breath before getting pushed forward and plummeting earthward.

I can't tell you much about my descent, because all I saw was trees, sky and hair, and all I could hear was my screaming and the wind, which sounded as though it were laughing at me. Then again, that could’ve been The Man back up on the walkway.
I saw the hard, unforgiving ground rush up to greet me, I braced myself for the impact, but barely five centimetres off the ground, I felt a tug at my feet and I came flying back up. (Well maybe I was exaggerating just a little; it was probably more like 5 metres) Then, I came rushing back down. I bounced around for a while longer, trying to gather my senses, before coming to a rest upside down, a fair way above some scrub. I hung there suspended by my ankles for a while, trembling, waiting for the man to come back and get me. He appeared a while later, grinning mischievously. He sauntered up to me and winked,
“ Great fun eh, Bungee Jumping?”