Exit Wounds | Noah Sebastian

F O U R

"If you aren't a chicken, I dare you to go up with us," Noah challenges, his brown eyes dancing with mischief.

"Fine," I say, my voice firm, but my hands were shaking. From fear or the energy drink I didn't know.

I follow Noah and Finn to get into a harness and put on a helmet. Noah set a helmet on my head and I tightened the straps and snapped the buckle in place. Once he had finished tightening a harness around Finn he brought one over to me. My hands shook as I lifted it to his shoulder for support as I stepped into the black fabric that would help me or kill me.

"Calm down, darling," Noah says smoothly, in his calm tenor.

"Don't call me darlin, its condescending," my high, southern accent sounded way less eloquent than his did.

"Not where I'm from, it's a sign of endearment," Noah informs me and finishes buckling the straps. I suck in a breath when his hands graze some of the skin on my stomach where my tank top has risen up.

Noah turns to both of us, explaining he would be going up first. He suggested I go second and Finn go last. I'm not sure if he suggested I go second so I wouldn't bail or because it was better weight distribution. Probably the former.

When Noah was halfway up the wooden pegs that were nailed to the trunk of a thick tree he called over his shoulder for me to head up. Noah had instructed us to wait for everyone on the first platform. Climbing up the tree was not bad, even standing on the small platform wasn't terrible.

Noah was saying things to encourage me all the way until I was standing beside him. He had even muttered a good job with a wink when I stood up, but we were only twenty feet off the ground. The first couple of tasks weren't so bad either. The first was a simple suspension bridge with wide slots. Another was a simple, short zipline type thing, but we were getting higher and higher. When Finn joined us on the last platform Noah began explaining that we would be stepping onto wooden pegs and that we would have to swing to the next one.

"No, I'm going back down," I said firmly. I had already done more than I had planned to.

"No, you aren't, you are going to woman up and swing from that peg to that peg," Noah challenged. I huffed and put my hands on my hips, I was not going.

Noah went across with ease, but when it was my turn I tried to step out onto the first swing. The air rushed out of my lungs, and my heart began to race. I fell to the platform and clutched my chest. Finn was yelling at me, asking what was wrong but I couldn't get words out, and I couldn't get a breath in. Suddenly Noah was back, his large hand on my back.  I want to yell at him to back up, to stop touching me but I couldn't get any air in my lungs.  Spots danced at the edge of my vision.

"Delaney, you are having a panic attack, focus on the sound of my voice. You can breathe despite what your brain is telling you. Take a breath in," he demands as he studies me.  I manage to take a breath. "Good girl, now exhale." I let a breath out, and my vision is starting to return. I force a few more puffs of air in and out and the moment passed after what seemed like an hour.

"Fuck," I rasped, really being able to breathe and gasping for air now. Noah pats my back and helps me stand up. "Can I go back down now?"

Noah chuckles, "I'm going to need you to have an actual heart attack before I allow you to quit, don't be a quitter, Delaney."

"I'm going to stay right with you, I'll help you across," Noah coaxes in a softer voice. I nod at him, because I am not a quitter.

Noah moves to the first peg, it is large enough for him to be on one side with me on the other, and reaches out for my hand. I step out on to the peg, I glance to the ground and Noah yells at me not do that. He moves to the second and waits on me. On the third he moves ahead and lets me move on my own. I can sense Finn right behind me and knew I was okay. I finally step onto the platform. I feel like I could do anything, I look down, we had to be fifty or sixty feet off the ground now.