Andrew D.

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            The air whistled around 17-year-old Nathaniel Robbetussien’s ears. The air  was damp; they had just soared through a cloud. He could see the ground, but not in any detail. He and the crew of the plane he was in were up at around 30,000 feet. All he could make out were the gray-brown strips of roadway, and the green-yellow fields below him. Even that was hard to make out through the clumps of water vapor that were obscuring his sight. It was like trying to read a book through quarter-inch-thick glasses. “Be ready to jump in one minute,” Nathan’s instructor, Jon, hollered over the plane’s deafening roar. One minute! I would need three years to be fully prepared for what I’m about to do, Nathan thought. As he tried to prepare for his jump, he remembered just how he had gotten into this mess…

             It had been about a month ago. Nathan was in the front yard of his high school talking to his friends about this month’s “Skydiver Times” magazine. Unfortunately, one of the school’s bullies had overheard him, and came over. “Hey, so I here dat you are very interested in skydiving. Well, I got a deal to make for you. If you go diving from the sky a month from now, I kin git you into duh next air show for free!” Now, Nathan did love skydiving a lot, and the air show entry cost was $13 for everyone over 10 years of age, so he accepted the deal. As soon as he said yes, he knew he shouldn’t have, but the evil child was already walking away.

            He would always remember that fateful day when he agreed to do the most terrifying (and stupid, he thought) thing he had ever agreed to do. Why so scared? You may wonder. Well, poor, poor Nathan was afraid of heights. Unfortunate combination, isn’t it? Adores skydiving, but is afraid of heights.

            Anyway, Nathan and his family spent the next month preparing. They found him a place where he could be taught, practice, and even jump. The employees there helped him find a jumpsuit that fit him. They taught him almost every thing they knew, but since he read about the sport so much, he already knew most of the drill. They showed him how to jump, and all of the safety measures. Every thing went fine until the day of the jump. Nathan had locked himself in his room. His two best friends, Tess, and Archie came over to see if they could help. When they finally got him to come out, they talked some sense into him. Nathan figured that one jump was worth getting into the air show for free. Okay, now that that’s cleared up, lets get back to present-day Nathan.

            “Thirty seconds!” called Jon. Here we go, thought Nathan. Since it was only his first time, he would be diving tandem. That means that he and Jon would be strapped together. Nathan strapped on his helmet. Jon strapped on his helmet-cam. “10 seconds!” 9…8…7…6… Nathan could hardly breathe. 4…3…2…1 GO!

            “Sto-” Nathan was yanked out of the plane. WHOOSH! Nathan felt his gut being pulled up into his throat. This is crazy! This is outrageous! This is- “Awesome,” Nathan whispered when he spotted the ground. At least, he thought it was the ground. He flipped himself over and spit. It came back and landed on his nose. “Yup, that’s the ground.” But it couldn’t be. The greens, browns and yellows. These fields never looked this spectacular on the ground. BEEP BEEP BEEP! That was the altimeter. It meant that- Uh oh. FAWHOOSH!! The parachute yanked Nathan up really hard. It was like running into a wall, but not breaking your nose. His stomach was pulled back to its original spot.

            “Whoa, that was a rush,” Nathan exclaimed when his feet finally touched the ground. He dashed over to his parents.

            “Um, honey, you’ve got something right…” she pointed to his nose, “there.”

            “Oh, yeah.” He wiped off the spit from earlier. His friends rushed over.

            “That was way awesome! No offense, but I didn’t think you’d do it,” said Archie.

            “Well, I almost didn’t.”

            “Oh, before I forget. Here.” Tess handed him a slip for three free entries to the next air show.

            “Oh, I don’t need these. I-”

            “That’s right you don’t young man! Look at this bill!” shrieked his mother. He did. He did the math.

            “Um… guys? We might want to RUN!!!” That was a very good decision on his part, because it turns out that the money spent on skydiving could have gotten Nathan’s whole family into the air show 20 different times. The sunset was beautiful as Mrs.Robetussien chased her only son over the horizon. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

THE END

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