4
Earth
"We've been walking for hours," Cristina complains, "There's nothing exciting here."
"What? No surgeries?" Preston laughs, "You really don't know how to have a life outside the hospital, do you?"
"Oh! Like you do!"
Preston glances at Cristina with a look of indignation.
"Sure I do."
Cristina grins.
"You do, do you?"
"Hell yes!"
Cristina shrugs as they continue down the path.
"Okay. Prove it."
"Prove it?"
"Yes! Prove it."
"How?"
"I don't know, be spontaneous. Do something unexpected."
Preston ponders this for a moment.
"All right. I'll take on that challenge."
That afternoon Preston and Cristina picnic under the trees. The green leafs protect them from the sunlight and birds provide them with cheery background music.
"I love you, Cristina," Preston suddenly exclaims and frees the plaid from their lunch to launch himself on top of Cristina and kiss her passionately. Their love is deep and they let themselves get lost in one another.
"Am I more fun today?" Preston asks, referring to Cristina's accusation of last night as they take a moment to catch their breath.
"Definitely," Cristina quickly replies and presses her lips against his. Soon after they have ridded each other from their clothes and the wind blows softly over their entangled bodies.
"So how's that for being spontaneous?" Preston asks when they have rolled off of each other and stare at the tree branches above them.
"You proved your point," Cristina answers dryly and rolls over to rest her head on Preston's chest. They lie like that and enjoy the warmth of the sun and the feel of the soft wind on their bodies until Cristina decides it's time to move on. They get dressed and pack their stuff in their backpacks before they continue.
"We shouldn't be far from our tent now," Preston says after awhile.
Suddenly Cristina stops.
"Are you all right?"
"Look!" Cristina points in the direction of a few trees.
"Where?"
"Follow me," is the simple answer Cristina gives him and runs through bushes and jumps over logs.
"Ha!" she says when she's stopped and bends forward to look at something a little closer.
"What is it?" Preston asks as he joins her.
"It looks like a cave!"
"A cave. No. It's probably just some animal's hole."
"Yeah, well, I want to go inside. My spontaneity beats yours," she says triumphantly and steps inside.
"You're very competitive, Cristina. Even outside the hospital," Preston calls after her as he steps inside the cave, too.
"Wow, look at this place!" Cristina ignores his question and gets a flashlight out of her backpack as she continues further inside the cave. Preston follows her closely.
"Ouch!" he exclaims when they've taken a couple of turns and are not able to see the daylight anymore.
"You okay?" Cristina is still walking ahead of him. Preston feels his head with his fingertips.
"I think so, but I cut my head on a rock. You got the first-aid kit with you?"
"Yeah," Cristina answers as she walks back to him and shrugs off the backpack.
"Crap, Preston," she says as she has him sit down and examines the wound using a flashlight to see better, "it's pretty deep."
"Does it need stitches?"
"I think so...," Cristina looks at his skin more closely, "Yeah. Yes. Definitely. About five."
She bends down to retrieve gauze and presses it against Preston's cut.
"Let's get out of here first," she says as she puts the first-aid kit in her backpack.
"All right. Which way?"
"That way."
"You sure?"
"I'm always sure. Let's go."
Wind
After a night so peaceful that it is only appropriate to sleep like a rose George is rudely awoken by his girlfriend.
"George! George, wake up," she pokes him in the shoulder.
"What? What?" George gives in and frowns.
"I had a nightmare," Callie starts to explain her actions, "A horrible, horrible nightmare."
George sits upstraight and looks at her confusedly.
"About what?" he asks as he blinks his eyes a few times to get them to open.
"I'm telling you, it was dreadful. You remember that lady behind the desk downstairs?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, she was following me. She was hunting me down with that terrifying grin of hers. I ran for miles through the most horrible places. Fields of fresh, green grass and flowers and smiling people and clouds and rainbows and..."
"So, if that's horrible to you, what do you usually dream about?"
"That's none of your business."
"I was just asking-"
"No. I've just snapped out of it. Thanks." Callie gets out of the bed and fumbles through her luggage to find some clothes.
"How did you sleep, by the way?"
"Well. I slept well. Very well," George says as he nods his head in agreement with himself.
He watches one of the small planes and feels anger well up inside of him.
"Skydiving? Of all the other things in the world we could do, we go skydiving?"
"Why, it's the only thing to do around here," Callie replies apologetically.
"I hate vacations," George mutters and strolls off to the building.
Callie follows on his heels and tries to reassure him and convince him it'll be fun, but George seems adamant although he doesn't run back to the car.
A half an hour later they're fully equipped and meet the pilot. He seems to be in his sixties and shakes their hands firmly. He introduces himself as 'Pete'.
"So... so who will be jumping with me? I've never done this before," George inquires curiously.
Callie clears her throat.
"Uhm, George..."
"Yeah?"
"You will be skydiving with me."
An awkward silence follows her announcement.
"Oh."
"You okay with that? It's not my first jump!" Callie quickly adds noticing his apprehension.
"No... I guess that's okay. Yeah. Yeah, that's fine I mean, you've done this before, right? Many times."
Callie's eyes brighten up.
"Yes! I have. Great, George. I promise you it'll be fun," she says happily as she flings an arm around his shoulder and presses him against her.
Pete stretches his neck and rubs it with his right hand.
"Probably been sleeping in the wrong position," he explains.
"Are you sure you're all right?" George asks with concern.
"George, relax. People fly planes all the time," Callie reassures him.
"I know," he answers as casually as he can.
"There's a better chance of winning the lottery than your plane crashing."
"I said I'm not scared!"
"I know," Callie replies, imitating his voice.
They resume their flight in silence as George and Callie look down on the world.
Suddenly the plane tilts to the left and George is so shocked that he feels he's having a heart-attack.
"Sorry, guys," Pete apologizes. "It's weird. My left arm became really heavy all the sudden." He shakes his head in confusion. "And my neck is killing me. But don't worry, I've got everything under control!"
George exchanges a meaningful look with Callie.
"Uhm, Pete, listen," Callie says and the nerves are present in her voice. "You wouldn't happen to have any chest pains as well, would you?"
George shoots her a terrified look. Callie awaits Pete's answer with anxiety.
"Funny you should mention that-" Pete starts to say but before he is able to finish his sentence he brings his right hand to his chest and moans in pain.
"Oh my god, he's having a-"
"Heart-attack!" George exclaims and unbuckles his seatbelt to crawl to the front of the plane.