Arduous

Chapter One

[Catherine, 23:51, Somewhere in Alaska]

"I'm dead. I must be dead. If I am not dead, then why am I on the ground? The only reasonable explanation would be that I must be dead."

The day had started off normally. My father decided that Anne and I would have to be sent on a 'start of school' trip. Not one to the Bahamas or Hawaii, although I wish the trip was to a place like that. My father sent us to Alaska! Like, seriously! Anne and I had to go along with it though. It was either us or the nitwits they call Jessica and Max. And those two really would be dead at this point. My father was informed that the senator of Alaska had a death wish placed upon him. 

Jimmy Locks was a Russian spy. It is told that he was fired years ago for almost starting a World War III. Jimmy escaped after eleven years in the torturous jail. Jimmy was flying over to Alaska on a private plane that he rented. He was about to murder the senator of Alaska, but then Anne and I got our mission, the plan and two parachutes that supposedly worked. 

Anne got the easy job of giving the sleeping pills to the pilot along with the unsettling passenger, Mr. Jimmy Locks. Anne dressed herself up to look like those boring ladies with the cart of food and water. If I am correct, which I almost always am, the cart ladies are called flight attendants. She looked like a real live doll in her uniform! I snuck up into the roof at the beginning of the trip, and when I heard Anne talking to herself in the bathroom, I knew that the pilot, as well as everyone else, was put to sleep. I had a couple of minutes to set up the Thermobaric explosive, while I had heard Anne strap up her parachute. She had left quickly and I heard the door open up to the outside as I finished setting up the Thermobaric explosive. I had quickly crawled down the hatch to the bathroom and rushed out of the door to the outside. As I jumped, I could see Anne far below with her parachute popping open. The blast of the Thermobaric explosive was powerful and it threw me further at the ground. I only had seconds to open my parachute. That is how I ended up on the ground. Dead. 

"Ugh," I groaned. Or not. 

I slowly and painfully got up from the snow. I didn't have enough time to slide on my jacket before almost getting blown to pieces. If I had kept it on in the plane, I would have been boiled alive, but now that I was in the snow, I wish I had kept it. My parachute was sprawled around me. It didn't open up until later in the air but it seemed to save my life, even if I was in pain from it. I moved my legs in the spot with my big, fuzzy boots. Luckily, I was smart enough to keep them on. I took my parachute off of my back, almost as if I were allergic to it.

Looking around for Anne, I saw her blue coat that she managed to put on before jumping. Her bottom half was under her parachute on the ground, only showing her face. I struggled to Annes side. Her eyes cracked open the tinniest bit but as soon as she saw me, she tightly clasped them shut again.

"I'm dead!" Anne exclaimed. I rolled my eyes in exasperation. 

"You're not dead." I explained in a bored tone. Anne opened her eyes once again and squinted at me.

"You're just a dream, Catherine!" 

I sighed. "And I thought I was exaggerating when I practically fell from the sky without a parachute."

"But you did have a parachute." Anne uttered back to me. 

I kicked Anne in the side. "Just get up. I think the coldness is starting to affect you. We need to get out of it as quickly as possible before you're sent to an asylum." 

I watched as Anne got up, wincing because of the pain just like I had, from the snow. She took her parachute off from her shoulders. I took in her appearance. Anne's auburn hair was pulled back into a ponytail and covered in snow. When her hair was let down, it went down to her shoulder blades with a waviness that was bordering on curly. Annes eyes were a deep cobalt blue that shone on her pale skin. She had a soft look to her, even though she was involved with the mafia like me. Her figure was nice but she was rarely seen without her baggy sweatshirts.