Chapter 2

A long exasperated sigh escaped my lips. How long has it been? I thought to myself. It must have been at least 3 hours by now...

I looked up the long stalk of the tree and squinted my eyes. The tip of the tree had disappeared into the darkness, so it had to have been quite a while since I had decided to climb down the tree. I was out of breath, I was tired, and I was covered in scratches; compliments of my horrible tree climbing skills; but I pushed myself to continue down. There had to be an end to this stupid tree.

Just as I began to get the hang of climbing down, I noticed the gap. A few branches down from me, there was a large space; about thirteen feet, that had no branches. As I got closer, my hope became even thinner. The gap had no branches to climb on, no stumps to grip, and to top it all off, the trunk looked as if someone had sanded it until it was smooth as a table. I slowly realized that it must have purposely been stripped of its bark and branches to outsmart any prisoners who tried to escape. I cursed under my breath and lowered myself to a sitting position on a branch.

"How stupid am I?" I hissed to myself. "What, did I think I was just going to climb right down this tree and march out the doors to freedom? Of course there's going to be impossible obstacles! This is a PRISON!" I yelled into the dark emptiness. My anger began to boil up inside of me as I realized how stupid I was to waste my energy climbing down this stupid tree without thinking about it first.

I took a short, angry breath and stared down into the shadows below. I blinked slowly, as an idea began to devise in my head. Right at the end of the gap, there was a distinctly thick branch coming out of the tree. If I could just jump at the right angle, maybe…

No. I couldn't jump that far down onto a single tree branch without falling into that ocean of nothingness. But then again, I'm dead anyways. I've got nothing to lose.

I let out a shaky breath and slowly lifted myself to a squatting position. I pushed my doubts to the side before they could consume me into going back up the tree. I let out three more quick breaths.

"I can do this." I said breathlessly.

I leaned forward.

"I can do this."

Slid my feet to the edge of the branch.

"I can… no… no I can't" I shook my head quickly.

I drew back by an only an inch, but my luck ran short. My foot slid completely off the branch, and my other foot followed. Frantically, I clawed for anything I could catch myself on, but nothing was there. I let out a small noise and squeezed my eyes shut as I slipped completely off the branch and shot downward. For just a split second, time seemed to slow, and I was floating in mid-air. I was filled with every thinkable emotion all at once. Horrified, Wondrous, Shocked; and as I let my eyes open, I was jerked back to reality. A large object was flying up to meet me at a remarkable speed. My face twisted into horror as I realized it was the thick branch, and I was only seconds away from colliding with it. I flailed my legs and arms, trying to turn myself upright, but I only leaned back more. All feeling drained from my legs as I fell. I squeezed my eyes shut once more and curled up into a ball at the last second. The distance between the branch and my body finally closed, and my lower back hit the branch head on, knocking every bit of air out of my lungs. Billions of little spots and stars blurred my vision as I plummeted down, slamming into branch after branch after branch, my consciousness fading with every hit. Only one thought could compute in my mind through the pain, shock, and fear: Grab a branch.

My arms felt twice as heavy as I aimlessly thrashed them around. My mind was spinning, and I was losing awareness as I reached for anything I could grab. I managed to hit every other part of my body with branches; my face, my back, my legs, my neck, but I could not focus hard enough to grip any of the branches I was colliding with. I tried to breathe, but no air would come to my lungs. I channeled all of the energy in my body into keeping myself awake, but the blows to the head were no help. I repeated the words in my head. Grab a branch, Grab a branch, Grab a branch.

I strained my eyes until I was sure they would melt under pressure. Finally, something in my mind connected, and I gripped the tip of a branch.

"YES" I somehow managed to croak.

My hand slipped off of the branch a split second later, but I did manage to slow myself down a bit. I grazed another branch with my hand, slipped off again. I continued to grab with all my might, until finally my fists clenched completely around a branch. Within a second I took an intensely painful jolt to a stop. I heard a loud snap, and realized that the force of the stop had caused my shoulder to make the noise. I dangled there for a moment, and then the pain hit me. A tidal wave of throbbing pain rushed to every inch of my body, and it took all of my will not to let go of the branch my fists held so tightly. Only then did I realize that I had been holding my breath for who-knows-how-long. I inhaled as hard as I could, trying desperately to rejuvenate my lungs with air. I breathed in and out so desperately that I thought I would drop dead right there. I reached a point of frantic gasping as I finally pried my fist from the branch and practically dropped myself onto a lower branch. I sat there in an awkward position on that branch for the longest time, trembling like a bush. My vision blurred once more, and my breathing became rapid and shallow. My head slumped into a downward position, and I caught a glimpse of what looked like the light of the ground before everything faded to black.