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Julie Seagle
Am flipping stuck in an elevator. Alone. Miserable. Help is on the way supposedly, but I am not enjoying this experience. Starting to seriously panic. Sweating, shakes, visions of brutal death.
This wasn’t good. Julie could not be in good shape. Matt had seen what the escalator ride had done to her, and the idea that she was dangling in a steel box however many stories up was probably not going over well. And there was no one there to catch her this time. A little humor seemed in order.
Fi
What??? Oh, no! Do not panic. Have you forgotten that I am a superhero?
Julie Seagle
I had forgotten! Feel totally safe now. Okay, you fly under the elevator and lift me up to safety. Ready? Go!
Fi
Unfortunately my flying powers were deactivated because I abused my superhero status. Apologies. I have other powers, though, that will get you through this.
Julie Seagle
Give it your best shot. Convince me that I’m not a million feet in the air.
Matt thought back to the first time that he stood at the edge of an open door as an airplane held him thousands of feet in the air, poised above certain death. Terror didn’t quite capture it. The safety of his training and the emergency backup chute did little to reassure him. There were a few minutes when Matt was so frozen with fear that he couldn’t even back out of jumping. Yet he wanted to jump more than anything. And Fi
Fi
You can’t pretend you are not up high, because you are.
Julie Seagle
These are delightful powers you have. Thank you so much. I feel a million times better.
Fi
Accept that you’re up high and embrace it. Take control. It’s like when I go skydiving. I don’t actually love heights. It scares the hell out of me to be in that plane, looking down at the ground. But I jump through that fear and turn it into euphoria.
Julie Seagle
I would never in a million years go skydiving.
Matt hesitated before typing.
Fi
What if I took you?
Julie Seagle
I’d still be jumping out of a plane alone, just like I’m alone in this stupid elevator.
Fi
You wouldn’t be alone. I’d take you tandem, so you’d be strapped to me. We’d jump together.
Julie Seagle
How would that work?
Now that he had raised this idea, he realized describing it might carry a certain co
Fi
You’d be in front of me, your back pressed into my chest.
He waited. Matt looked away from the screen for a minute, listening to the music that was filling his room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the image on the screen move.
Julie Seagle
That part doesn’t sound so awful.
The tension that he was holding rushed from his body.
Fi
No. It doesn’t sound so awful, does it?
Julie Seagle
So then tell me more.
Fi
Okay. Pretend we’re going right now. Ready?
Julie Seagle
Ready.
Fi
We’re in the plane, and it’s loud and cold. You see duct tape over parts of the interior of the plane and wonder if jumping is the worst idea you’ve ever had, but I tell you you’ll be fine. We both have on the full skydiving suits, helmets, goggles, chutes. The suit is tight, and it gives you the illusion of being safe, secure. You’re full of mixed emotions. Pride, anxiety, exuberance, terror.
Julie Seagle
Nausea?
Matt smiled. Even when Julie was scared, she was cute.
Fi
That’s not an emotion! But, yes, nausea.
Julie Seagle
Then what?
Matt had started this without thinking, and without understanding what he was doing, but she was responding. So the only thing to do was continue.
Fi
Your mind is racing. Did you remember to turn off the oven at home? Your car needs an oil change. You’re out of shampoo. Why do washing machines eat socks? Do they taste good? Should you try eating socks? You wonder if you should back out, if this was a mistake. You didn’t tell anyone that you were jumping today, and now what if you die? You worry that you’ll forget what to do, that you won’t remember when to pull the chute. I show you the altimeter. The plane is only halfway up to where we need to be, and it already feels so high. But you’re not in any danger.
Julie Seagle
Fi
Matt didn’t like this. Elevators got jammed all the time, especially in older apartment buildings, which is likely where Seth lived. The elevator was probably shaking because the fire department was there banging around, and he bet that the vibrations and the metallic noise were increasing Julie’s panic, but that she was not actually in any true danger. Rational thinking, however, wasn’t erasing his concern for how she must be feeling. He wanted her to feel safe.
Fi
I know you are, but I’ve got you. You’re not in the elevator. You’re with me. I stand you up and try to push your body away from mine, reminding you that you are tightly strapped to me and that I won’t let anything happen. It’s my job to control our jump and my job to pull the chute if you don’t. You’re safe. Tell me that you trust me.
Julie Seagle
I trust you.
Matt took a deep breath. Something just happened between them. Julie felt something for him. She did. He could tell even through this online world. Whether it was him or Fi
Fi
We’re high enough now, and one of the instructors opens the door, sending a powerful rush of air into the cabin. Your heart nearly stops when I start to walk you to the edge. As much as you’re terrified, you’re also starting to feel the rush, the thrill you get from being on the brink.
Matt ran both hands through his hair and bit his lip. God, what was he doing? She was his friend. They were just friends, right?