DropZone

The man nodded.

During his first few crazy days at FreeFall, Ethan had seen plenty of people from all walks of life sign up to jump out of a plane, but never a man of God.

The vicar winked at him. ‘At least I know where I’m headed if something goes wrong.’

It was lunch time before Ethan had a break. He sat down on a tired picnic bench and pulled a magazine he’d found in the FreeFall shop out of his pocket. The cover showed a skydiver upside down and smiling.

He flicked through, staring, between mouthfuls of bacon and bread, at the pictures. OK, so he didn’t really understand everything that was in the mag, but he was still fascinated by it. And with all the time he’d spent at FreeFall, he was begi

‘I’ve still not made the front cover,’ came a voice from behind Ethan. He looked round to see Joh

‘Bit far from the sea, aren’t you?’ said Ethan.

‘I do freestyle,’ said Joh

‘I’ll take your word for it.’

Behind Joh

‘I need to get some binoculars,’ he said as the minibus disappeared. ‘I want to see what it’s like when people actually leave the plane.’

‘Only way to really see that is to do it,’ said Joh

‘Busy,’ said Ethan, lifting a can of drink to his mouth and taking a swig. ‘But fun. This morning I had a vicar in to do a tandem. Nuts or what?’

Joh

‘Sod all,’ said Ethan. ‘You’ve seen where I live. Jumping off the roof seems like a good idea more often than you’d think.’

Joh

‘Worse.’

Joh

Joh

‘You know… Can’t help feeding you or commenting on what you’re wearing.’

Joh

‘But my dad’s a tosser.’ Ethan’s voice was angry. ‘The sooner I leave home the better, to be honest. Either that or I kill him.’

He fell silent for a moment. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his dad; have him ruin what he was doing now, here, away from the flat. Wasn’t that part of the reason he had come to FreeFall anyway? To get away from his dad – to be somewhere he couldn’t be affected by him? So he focused on finishing what was left of his lunch – which wasn’t much, thanks to Joh

The sound of the plane taking off thrummed through the air. Ethan turned with Joh

Joh

‘How do you mean?’ said Ethan.

‘You know, travelling or uni or whatever.’

Ethan shook his head. ‘Finishing my A-levels will keep Mum happy, and after that, well, I’ve thought about the Royal Marines.’

‘Seriously?’

‘Yeah,’ said Ethan. ‘I just can’t stand the idea of an ordinary life in a shop or an office. And I don’t want to end up like my dad. He’s the best reason you could ever meet for mindless violence. Steals from Mum… never has a job for more than a few months… drinks.’

‘Nice,’ said Joh

‘What about you?’ asked Ethan. ‘You’re no longer at school now, so what next?’

‘I forget the plans and just get on with living. It’s more fun that way.’

Ethan shrugged. ‘Maybe for you. But I wouldn’t mind at least having some idea of where I’m going.’

Joh

‘Why’s that then?’

‘He just thinks people should have a purpose,’ said Joh

‘He’s quite a scary bloke,’ said Ethan, thinking back to his interview. ‘Seems nice enough, but he looks bloody hard.’

‘Ex forces,’ said Joh

‘Really?’ said Ethan.

Joh

‘Does he teach you?’

‘Me and a few others,’ said Joh

Ethan looked up, trying to see if the plane was over the DZ yet.

‘Listen out for a drop in the sound of the plane’s engines,’ said Joh

Immediately after he spoke, Ethan heard the change in the sound of the plane. A few seconds later, tiny dots dropped into the sky like erratic flies. Straining his eyes, he followed the dots as they grew larger. He soon realized that one of them was actually made up of a number of dots; a group doing a formation dive. The dot exploded. Parachutes burst into life and drifted down like confetti.

‘Check these guys out,’ said Joh

Ethan didn’t have a chance to ask what swooping was: in quick succession, the skydivers turned into the DZ at an impossible speed. He watched as they sped through the air, only inches from the ground, then pulled into a perfect landing.

As they touched down, he noticed their parachutes; they were the smallest he’d seen – more like power kites.

‘Cool, eh?’ said Joh

Ethan ignored Joh

‘They’re Raiders,’ said Joh

‘You tried one?’

Joh

Ethan saw the challenge on Joh

‘But anyone can skydive,’ said Joh

Ethan did just that. Like every other day he’d been at FreeFall, he was amazed at the variety of people who had all signed up to jump: pensioners, teenagers, mothers… even vicars.

‘Statistically it’s safer than driving or crossing a road,’ Joh

Ethan rested his can on the table and looked directly at Joh

‘OK, so some of that may not be strictly true.’

‘That is a surprise.’

‘But you’ve just got to try it!’ said Joh

‘Yeah,’ said Ethan, getting up from the table to head back inside, ‘and so’s the money I’d need to do it.’

At the end of the day Ethan was just making for his bike when a voice called, ‘Ethan? Got a minute?’

He turned to find Sam striding towards him.

‘How’s your first week been?’

Ethan started to reply and found he couldn’t stop. All he could do was spill out everything he’d done that week – how much he’d enjoyed it, the people he’d met, how he was still amazed by the whole skydiving scene, loved watching people jumping, coming in to land, their faces carrying the biggest smiles. He couldn’t remember being so enthusiastic about anything in his life. It felt good.