The Writers Voice
The World's
Favourite Literary Website
Tumble
by
Emily Lain
Alexia was terribly afraid. She couldn't believe her friends had actually talked her into skiing with them. They were all so good at it, but Alexia had never gone before, let alone taken lessons. This was her first time on a ski hill and she didn't know what to do.
Her best friend told her the basics of stopping, turning and slowing down, but she didn't know how that would help her now. Her hands quivered, making her ski poles wobble helplessly. Her friends had taken a turn on a double hill to take them to a bunny hill so they could teach Alexia more. However, Alexia had missed that turn, now sending her straight down a much harder cliff, a diamond one to be exact.
Alexia knew that if she made it down this hill with a broken leg, she would sue Mount Fairday for making the bunny hill harder to get into then the other one. She wondered how many other beginners like her had missed the turn too. She wondered if they too had sued. She knew they didn't, and she knew she wouldn't either. It was just a topic to get her mind off the fact that she was going down this hill, no possible way to know what to do next except pray.
And then she saw the sign: Caution! Railing being fixed. Bail out if you must quickly! Alexia didn't know what it meant. Bail was a word she was never taught before when skiing. She began to panic. The turn was sharp and she didn't know what to do. She figured that maybe bail meant to hug the inside of the track so that you didn't hit this railing. She tried to do that, but it didn't seem to work. She tried to turn, but she couldn't seem to turn her skis. She now saw what was being fixed. It was the railing all right. There was a long line of caution tape at least ten feet in front of what seemed to be the edge, now guarded with only an unsafe, short, metal fence.
Alexia was frozen on this mindset. She realized where she was headed, and swiftly tried to make a tight turn to avoid it, but it sent her going sideways through the caution tape. She tried to swerve to miss the fence, but ended up hitting it straight on. Luckily, her left ski tangled into the mesh of the fence. She didn't fall, but she was now forced to look over the edge of a very, very steep and high cliff. If her ski broke loose, she would be thrusted forward, falling down this large gap to her death. She pulled her right leg, which was dangling by her head as if she were doing the splits standing up, to try and turn it for more balance. She was horrified, almost too afraid to move it. But she knew that if she didn't get it down to where her left was, she would have too much weight pulling her over the mountain.
Alexia tried hard to put it down. Despite the cold, frigid weather, sweat trickled down her face. A drop fell and she watched it go until she could see it no more. And then, her left feet began to come out of the ski. Alexia twisted to try and get her balance back, but instead her leg turned around so now her back hung over the side. Her leg was twisted badly, and then broke from the pressure. If it wasn't for the ski, she would have fallen, but the pain was enough for her to scream out.
Tears fell from her eyes and she tried desperately to close them so she wouldn't see her fate. Her head bent back with gravity and hit hard against the side, making her pass out. Her foot was hanging on by a tread. In a matter of seconds, she would plummet. Five, four, three, two and then one, her foot slipped. But instead of her falling, a hand grabbed it. Two hours later, Alexia woke up as if it had been minutes. She was confused, in a cabin instead of dangling from the cliff. She looked around. Her leg hurt, her head ached and a person sat in front of her.
"You almost fell." He said bluntly.
"I was hoping that was a dream." Alexia said, lying back down.
"They were in the process of building a better fence, but they didn't want to close the hill. You know, some people come to Mount Fairday just to see the view from that hill. They didn't want to lose money, but now they're going to lose more then they would have."
"What?" Alexia asked, confused once again.
"You are going to sue, right? I'm a lawyer. At the least you're bound to make a couple million off this case."
He said. Alexia was in shock. If she hadn't gone down this hill, she wouldn't be rich. But something didn't feel right. Her head felt funny and she began to hear voices screaming a loud, chilling no. Slowly, this world faded from her view and she then opened her eyes quickly.
The cabin was gone, the cliff was back. She hadn't been saved; it was all a dream from hitting her head. It was what would have happened if the lawyer hadn't slowed to see the caution sign, if Alexia had screamed sooner to draw attention to herself instead of in pain. It was what would have happened if the lawyer got to her foot one second faster, but that didn't happen. Alexia wouldn't be rich and the lawyer screamed a fierce no.
When Alexia hit her head, it sent her to this vision, which felt like minutes, but really it had been mere seconds. She now woke from her passed out state to find herself falling, faster and faster until she was no more.
Critique this work
Click on the book to leave a comment about this work
