Dream Nightmare

Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty One

          “Envy!” Connor pointlessly yells.

          “We have to get him down! Maybe he’s still alive!” I’d heard stories of people committing suicide by hanging themselves. Sometimes the people haven’t been hung long enough before they’re actually dead, when someone finds them soon enough. We still had a chance. But we had to hurry!

          Connor looks away from Envy’s body, to me, and says, “I’ll climb up and cut the rope. Stay down here and catch him!”

          I stay under Envy’s dangling body as I watch Connor climb up a tree and listen to him curse under his breath as he struggles. It was a good thing he wasn’t a monkey because he sucked at climbing. “Come on we don’t have all day!”

          “I’m trying!” Connor yells. He jumps for a branch in order to get higher but he doesn’t jump far enough so he falls back to the ground and screams with pain.

          That’s it. I can’t wait any longer. “Change in plans. You stay down here and catch him.” I start for the tree and realize I don’t have anything to cut the rope with. “You’re knife!”

          “Here.” He throws me the knife, and I step out of the way not attempting to try to catch it. “I think I broke my leg,” he cries out.

          “Are you insane?! Don’t throw a knife at me!” I say ignoring his broken leg. In the blink of an eye I’m half way up the tree, ten time further than Connor went before he fell. It wasn’t that I practiced climbing trees in my free time or anything it was just the fact that I had to hurry before I was too late.

          The screams from Connor cover the entire forest.

          I’m right above Envy, with my stomach lying on the branch he’s hung from. My legs straddle it, while my hands – one on either side of the branch – get ready to cut the rope. “Are you ready to catch him?”

          “Are YOU insane?! My leg’s broken. I can’t even stand up.” I hadn’t paid attention to him while I was climbing the tree. Looking down at him, I see him struggling, trying to stand up, but he isn’t able to do it.

          “What am I supposed to do? The drops too high. If I cut the rope and he falls this high he’ll be a goner for sure.”

          Holding on to his right leg with both hands, he yells to me, “Hold on to the rope with one hand and cut the rope above that with your other hand.” More painful screams.

          Obviously Connor wasn’t thinking very well with a broken leg. I was definitely not strong enough to hold Envy with one hand. Even if I could, what was I supposed to do next? Climb all the way back down while holding one hundred and sixty pounds with one hand? Not happening.

          “Hurry!” Connor yells, “If there’s any chance of him still being alive it’s now or never. CUT THE ROPE!”

          My heart beat is the sound of bass from a live concert. The blood pumping through my veins is the unforgiving rush of Niagara Falls. I inhale a deep breath as I grab ahold of the rope as tight as I possibly can with my right hand. Then, with my left hand, I cut the rope as I exhale.

          Instantly my body feels the weight. If I didn’t let go I was going to fall. I let go of the knife and use my free hand to clench the branch I’m on as tight as one of those machines that crushes cars up. “Connor!” I yell, hoping by some miracle he can help me.