Trust Fall

My bow had been taken along with my quiver of arrows. I tried to pull away from my captures, but it was in vain. They pulled me into the helicopter. I caught one last glance at my friends. The fighting was still going strong, but I was able to find some of my comrades amid the fighting. One of them looked up at me and I saw the horror on their face as the helicopter rose into the air. I lost sight of them. I couldn’t see the battle. The door was open and I dared to sneak closer to the edge, trying to see what would happen to my friends. My family. 

I caught sight of the ground below for just a moment. Enough time to see that the battle had begun to slow and a truce might be in the works. Suddenly the helicopter turned slightly, tipping beneath me. My captures had long ago let go of the rope binding my hands. I had begun to slip them off of me when the floor shifted. I lost my balance and fell. I screamed. I heard other screams, but couldn’t tell who they were coming from. For a moment, I saw the sky expanding before me. The next moment, my breath was sucked out of me as I hit the ground. I squeezed my eyes shut. I heard someone call my name, followed by gasps. The jolt was great, but I had enough sense to tell that something was under me, lifting the top half of my body. I didn’t have to figure out what it was though, before the blackness enveloped me. 

✬

I looked up in horror as I saw April being pulled into a helicopter. It took off before I had a chance to try and stop them. I tried to follow its flight with my eyes, but my attention was consumed by another attacker. I raised my epee, blocking an attack. I couldn’t see my attacker’s face, only their cold, sleek, black metal mask. I kicked them back and turned my gaze back up to the sky. I noticed several of my comrades trying to look up as well. They must have seen April being taken as well. 

I searched the skies, looking for the helicopter. It hadn’t gotten far, it still hovered over the battle, which was beginning to let up. I blocked another attacker, seeing one of my friends approaching me. She pointed at the helicopter and I nodded. We were too far for words, but our gestures were enough. Concern was on her face and I knew that mine mirrored hers. How much more worried was April? Knowing her, she probably was more concerned about what was going on down here, than what was going to happen to her. What was going to happen to her?

Suddenly, I heard a scream. My head snapped up. April was falling through the air. I wasn’t sure if her captures had pushed her or if she had just fallen. Maybe she fell on purpose. I didn’t have time to think about how she was now falling, only that she was falling. I ran across the battlegrounds, my eyes trained on her, nothing would pull them away. I had to catch her. If she hit the ground at that speed, she would die.  

Others were screaming and yelling around me. I realized that I was yelling too. April was nearing the ground. I reached her right as she was about to hit the ground. I slid myself underneath her, catching her in my arms. My epee fell out of my hand beside me. I felt the air rush out of her lungs. Her eyes were shut tight and I was afraid the fall had broken something. I saw some of my friends gathering around me. The fighting was almost completely stopped.

“April!” I yelled. I wanted to scream her name louder, but I didn’t want to sound angry. Her body relaxed under my arms and my breath hitched. I waited. Had she just died? Was she still breathing? Those few seconds felt like thousands of eternities. After a few moments, I saw her chest begin to rise and fall. I let out my breath. I hadn’t realized that I had been holding it until that moment. 

“Is she okay?” One of my friends asked. 

“She needs a doctor,” I replied. I looked up and my friends were nodding. I stood up, cradling the lifeless form in my arms. I began walking through the battlefield, which was now silent. The blank-masked foes were nowhere to be seen. Only my friends and I remained in the wasteland. Someone picked up my epee and we all began the trek to the edge of the field, where I hoped to find a transport.

✬

I looked up to the sky and saw April. Falling. Out of a helicopter. When had she been taken? How long had she been in the air? I saw movement and saw Jay running across the battlefield. Several of my comrades were looking up to the sky or watching Jay sprint across the rough terrain. It was clear that he was trying to catch her, but I wasn’t sure how much that was going to do for her. If anything, he might get hurt in the process. 

I didn’t stop him though. I knew that nothing was going to get in his way. I had seen the helicopter take off, but I had not seen April in it. How long had she been out of the fight? How high up was the helicopter before she fell? I aimed my gun at one of my enemies and fired. It was set for stun, but it still knocked him to the ground. 

I saw what happened next as if it were in slow motion. Jay reached April just as her body was about to hit the ground. Thankfully he was already on his knees, so the force of her fall didn’t knock him over. His epee fell at his side just before April landed in his arms. I heard the air wrenched out of April and I joined my friends as we gathered around her. We kept our distance, giving her air. Her eyes were closed.

“April!” Jay yelled. His voice carried across the nearly empty field. The black-masked foes we had just been fighting had disappeared. His voice was full of desperation, nothing I had ever heard come out of his mouth before. 

“Is she going to be okay?” Max asked. I looked over at him. His arms were bruised and his clothes were dirty and ragged. 

“She needs a doctor,” Jay said. He lifted April off the ground and walked to the edge of the field.

✬

I caught Jay’s gaze. I pointed up the helicopter, where April was being held captive. Jay nodded. I didn’t have time to get any closer to him because a black blank face came charging at me. I raised my sword and blocked my attacker. I stepped away from my wounded opponent. I looked around the battlefield trying to get oriented. 

A few minutes later, the battlefield was full of screaming. April had fallen from the helicopter. I could sense the panic all around me as my friends all gasped and yelled. I saw the black, blank-faced masked enemies who we had just been fighting, slowly disappearing into the forest that lined one side of the battlefront. Jay was running, his epee hit the ground, and April fell into his arms. We gathered around her, not sure of what to think of this turn of events. Fighting and getting cuts or bruises was one thing. Falling to our deaths was another. It was something none of us were expecting. Jay yelled her name, splitting the silence. 

After a moment, I dared to speak, “Is she going to be okay?” Jay stood. We had been battling for hours and yet when he stood, he did not seem to notice that he was carrying the extra weight of a human.

“She needs a doctor.” Without hesitation, he began walking towards our transports. Jay’s footsteps didn’t waver as we followed behind him. We soon reached the transports and Jay walked up the ramp, followed by a few more of us. The others filed into the other transports. The pilots among us started the engines and began rolling the transports toward the nearest city. I was one of those pilots and I took my place in the front of the transport. I stepped on the gas, trying to go as fast as I could while also keeping my control over the vehicle. I could tell that April was alive, but she needed to get to a hospital and fast. 

✬

I awoke in a starch white room. A nurse was standing at my bedside, looking at something on a screen beside me. I wanted to sit up but my torso felt like someone had shoved fire down my throat and had gotten stuck in my ribs. I gasped and the nurse startled.

“Oh, you’re awake,” she said, placing a hand over her heart, “You startled me.”

“Why does it feel like my internal organs are actually a campfire?” I asked. The nurse smiled slightly at my remark before explaining.

“You fell out of a helicopter. One of your friends says that he caught you before you hit the ground, but the impact still broke two of your ribs. It is natural for you to hurt for a little while, but the bones will heal themselves.”

“How long will it take?” 

“At least a few weeks. Then you might be able to move out of the hospital, but you would still have to lie still and wait for the bones to heal completely before resuming normal activities,” The nurse replied.

“You said someone caught me. Who was it? Where are my friends? Did they defeat the black-masks?” I asked. There were so many questions swimming in my head and this nurse was not doing the best job of answering them. 

“I don’t know anything about the ‘black-masks’ but I could go get the person who claims to have caught you,” the nurse answered.

“Please,” I said thinking, ‘ Any one of my friends can give me more answers than this woman can.’ The nurse nodded. She left the room and moments later returned with Jay. I had known Jay before I had known any of my other comrades and I was glad that it was him. I should have known he would have been the one to catch me. 

“April… you’re awake…” Jay said softly, like if he spoke too loud, it wouldn’t be true anymore. I nodded.

“I’ll give you a moment,” The nurse said before stepping back out the door. Suddenly I was alone with one of the people I had known almost all my life.

“Are you okay?” I asked. At first, he looked taken aback by my question, but then a small smile spread over his face. 

“I should be the one asking you that,” He replied, his smile growing, making his eyes squinch up as well as take on a joyful gleam in them. Something I knew all too well.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m okay. Only a few scrapes and bruises. You never answered my question.”

“You never asked,” I replied. His smile grew a little more, before fading entirely.

“Are you okay? I was really scared that you hadn’t survived the fall,” he said, more seriously now. 

“The nurse said I have two broken ribs, my chest feels like fire, but other than that, I think I’m okay,” I answered. I had never been able to hide my emotions from him and I wasn’t able to now, “When they took me in the helicopter, I didn’t know what to do.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” After another moment Jay continued, “How did you fall out of the helicopter?” I sighed. I knew this would come up.

“It was partially my fault. They didn’t have the door closed and I had come probably a bit too close to the edge of the helicopter. I wanted to keep looking out at the battle. My captures had let go of the rope since we had gotten on the helicopter. It shifted and I fell.”

“So no one pushed you and you didn’t fall out on purpose?” 

“No.”

“That’s good. I thought someone might have pushed you,” Jay breathed.

“Yeah,” I didn’t know what to say. Clearly Jay had been thinking about how I came to fall out of the helicopter. I now had questions about how he caught me. Had he just been under me and caught me before I slammed into the ground? Did he go out of his way to catch me? Had he gotten hurt when he caught me? I knew that I fell from really high up and gravity’s pull on me had been great. How much force of my fall had landed on him?

“I’m glad you're okay,” Jay said. 

“Yeah. Thanks for catching me,” I replied. Jay nodded and my face lifted into a half smile. He smiled back. After a moment, I had something come up into my mind.

“If I were to fall again, would you still catch me?” I asked. 

“Yes. If I were to fall out of a helicopter, would you try to catch me?” He said with a smile.

“Would you trust me to catch you?”

“Every time.”