Flying

There I was. feeling the too-soft-to-be-comfortable, sanitary seat under my sweaty thighs. My stomach gives a lurch as the plane tips to the right, giving me a clear view of a sure free-fall to death. The pilot heads down the unusually short isle and grasps the nearby chair for balance. "It's time, Elenor" he says. Taking a deep breath, I pull the parachute on and run through the steps of opening it in my head. The pilot interrupts my thoughts and says the same things out loud. I nod as I pull the goggles over my eyes, carefully stowing my glasses away. I take another deep breath. He slides open the side door and screams over the wind, "READY?" I nod again. "ONE! TWO! THREE! JUMP!!" I try to stop myself mid-jump but it's too late. I'm out the door and falling. Falling so fast that my mind is still jumping while my body is flying through the air. Actually flying. I fumble with the string that would save my life and yank. Hard. I see a wisp of blue-and-white. Then I'm yanked back by the force of air filling the parachute. But slowly, I learn to enjoy this. I feel the droplets of water in a nearby cloud. I'm happy, as long as I don't look down. Oh. my. god. I looked down. I hadn't realized how close to the ground I was. I was maybe 10 miles away and I could see houses starting to appear below the clouds. A few minutes passed and I finally braced my knees for landing.