Fear of Heights - Micro-fiction
Source: Pixabay image by Gerargosan
Fear of Heights
Jared hunkered down in the plane, feeling wretched. He and his buddies would be dropped off with provisions in a remote area of Alaska for a survival trip. He hoped he’d live to experience it. Had anyone ever died from a fear of heights?
Rudy nudged him with a hiking boot. “What is it, motion sickness?”
“No. I’ll be alright.
”Marcus laughed. “I think it’s homesickness! We’ve been gone a whole hour. Waaah!”
Rich looked at his cell phone. “Will phones work? Marcia will freak if I don’t talk to her for a whole week.
Rudy shook his head. “Guys, the point of this trip is to get away from the stuff that ties us down, and be real men.”
Jared looked at them from his position on the floor of the plane. “That’s just another phrase for ‘midlife crisis,’ if you ask me.”
Just then the plane jerked and shuddered.
The pilot called out. “Shit! Lost the propeller!”
Things happened fast. Parachute packs were handed out and the Cessna’s side door opened.
Jared shook his head. “No, I can’t! I have a horrible fear of heights!”
“Well this is your test!” Marcus grabbed him, threw the pack on him and tightened the straps. “Count to twenty and pull this!” Then he was airborne.
Wind rushed. He twirled, tumbled, then spread his arms and became stable. He’d forgotten to count! He pulled. The chute opened. The world slowed down. And it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Thank you for reading! This is the story I came up with for the weekly micro-fiction prompt. The word of the week was "test." (I run the contest, so this isn't an entry. It's just for fun!)
Be sure to follow the #microfiction tag to read and support the other entries.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://jaynalocke.com/2019/02/23/fear-of-heights-micro-fiction/
A beautiful example of how something horrible can change into something beautiful. We should just take a chance and do it - well, in general - life threatening situation is obviously different but you get the point :)
I think that mostly the fear is only in our head and when we do the first step we can't understand how could we be so afraid before :)
Thank you for sharing your short story! It's been a pleasure to read!
Have a lovely Sunday!
Thank you, @delishtreats! Yes, we all carry fears around in our heads, I think. And probably most of them are unwarranted. I'm sure one doesn't have any choice in the matter in many cases, especially things like fear of heights or claustrophobia. But maybe it's possible to be cured of it with, as Jared was. :-)
Thanks so much for reading and commenting on my story!
Oh gosh. That ending!!!!
Posted using Partiko Android
Thank you, @riverflows! I'm so glad you were able to read it. I had a little posting glitch, and the story got messed up, but now it's fixed. Thanks for your comment!
Damn those glitches!!!!!
Posted using Partiko Android
Excellent microfiction. I was right there with them when the pilot did his "oh shit" thing. I like that it ended with him loving his parachute drop rather than going ....splat!
Thank you, @blueeyes8960! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I agree — splat would have been terrible!
Posted using Partiko iOS
I would motion sickness.
I should also have fear of heights / fear of heights!
That's horrible,
I am very pitiful.
Oh, that must be terrible! Well I hope you never have to get thrown out of a plane! :-)
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