Falling

• Jessica Handley, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2016

Falling.
I can't look back, can't change my fate.
Falling. Birds swoop past and buildings are left behind but I barely notice.
Falling. The sky a distant blue, the clouds frame a brilliant golden sun
but I am falling. My mind is a mist, nothing forms inside.
Falling.
Someone screams as I plummet past their bathroom window but I am still
falling.
I close my eyes as the ground rushes up to meet me, expecting to feel the hard asphalt of a busy road, but nothing happens. All is silent. I open my eyes.
I am

Flying! I watch as houses shrink before my eyes and the everyday life of people becomes a blur. Soon the ground becomes a mere speck in my view. Laughing with glee, the wind whistles gently through my hair and tosses it past dark clouds. I fly up, shivering at the coldness of the atmosphere. I adjust my position so the sun's glare isn’t slicing through my eyesight like a blade. I sit back as I ride the sun towards tomorrow.

Tomorrow; the word wanders through my mind and my inner self tells me I am seeing something no human has ever dreamt of, let alone glimpsed. I gaze in awe at my surroundings, the sun shining on a happy, peaceful world. Animals thrive, animals that are only heard of in fairytales. It's like I have fallen through the pages of a book into a world of mystery and magic..... Suddenly the picture fades and I am devoured by the eye of a tornado. Visions of a happy life whirl past, the tornado taking control of me; I yearn to dwell in an ordinary world with ordinary people and an ordinary life, but I know it is no use. I am extraordinary. As the tornado spits me out and diminishes, I see blue. Blue sky, blue ocean. Nothing else in sight. That's when I realise I am
falling.