There's The Cat and Then There's Me [boyxboy]

Chapter Seven: Falling, Falling, Falling

Three… Two… On-

“Hey AJ!”

Fuck. Fuck Shit. Fuck Shit Fuck.

I froze in my tracks. I literally could not move; the cat was still freaking out, hanging from my window from which I was kneeling on with one arm extended with the cat attached to the end and the second balancing me on the wooden sill.

“You really wanna do that?” Accel’s voice called out.

YES! Do it Andrew! Just drop it… just one little movement.

But I couldn’t.

“Here I’ll catch it for you!” He moved to stand directly below the window, trampling mum’s flowers.

She’s going to kill me.

“Come on! I dare you to do it,” he teased, “Come on Andrew… don’t you trust me?”

His teeth glinted in the sun with his last comment, the shark grin shocking my muscles into releasing. By the time I realized I had actually dropped the cat it was already falling.

OH MY GOD! SHIT!

Breath rushed out of me in horror as I watched it fall in seeming slow motion.

“NO!” I yelled.

Oh fuck I’m dead. I just killed the cat. I just killed the cat. I just killed the freaking cat.

“Got it!” Accel called up, still smiling, “your turn now!”

He caught it? Thank god…. Wait what?!

“Come on… JUMP!”

“JUMP?” I said horrified at the thought, “Are you for real? I can’t jump!”

Something I forgot to mention earlier…. I have a paralysing fear of heights. It’s kind of why birds are my favourite animal… I’m jealous. They can fly so high, dive, soar, glide way up there, thousands of meters up in the sky and I can’t; partly because I’m human and partly because I am absolutely terrified of heights. So why am I hanging halfway out of my window? I have no idea. And now that I know I am… fuck.

I felt my muscles seize up against my will. I scrunched my eyes closed tightly, begging my fingers and legs to move backwards so I could escape inside. My attempts failed.

I. AM. GOING. TO. DIE.

 Don’t be ridiculous… you won’t die... just be mortally wounded.

“What’s the problem Andrew? You scared?” Accel called up, humour outlining his words.

I’m fucking terrified.

“N-n-n-n-o,” I managed to stammer past my lips. My eyes opened slowly and I felt the world spin as I saw the distance from me to the ground. Ice cold fingers raked up my spine and I began to break out in a cold sweat, beads of which I could feel  trickling down my cheek. My breathing grew faster and faster with each passing second until I was almost hyperventilating.

So high, oh so incredibly high. I think I’m going to die now. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod.

Drawing on every inch of will power in my body, I forced my hand to release from around the edge of the window sill. Then I did the most idiotic thing in the world. Instead of acting like a normal human being and simply shuffling backwards I attempted to stand up and turn around. On a window sill about five inches wide.

Of course I slipped.

A strangled cry wrenched from my lips as I my foot left the worn wood, arms flailing wildly. Fear slammed through my chest and my heart clenched tightly… then I was falling.