• “So we jump. Roy, that’s a long way down, don’t you think I’ll break?” I stared at him, horrified of my outcome after I jumped.
    He paused to think, and then turned to me. “You want me to hold you as we fall?” he was teasing me, “Oh Roy, you’re such a gentleman,” he said, mocking my voice. “I wouldn’t hold you for the world my friend,” he laughed, “but I’m sure you wouldn’t die.”He sat on top of the railing, leaning down towards the green earth.
    Christian walked away from me, now sitting beside his brother.
    “Tai, just roll when you hit the ground, you won’t get hurt, trust me, now let’s go.”
    He jumped from the balcony and fell, seemingly floating down onto the ground. I knew my eyes were befooling me, Roy landed with a loud thump, and then I heard the sound of him rolling.
    Christian was next. I couldn’t believe him. Was he fooling me? He wasn’t depressed, shy, or angry. It was if his mood switched, which is something I’ve never witnessed before. He didn’t talk, he just switched. Before he jumped, he smiled a reassuring smile to me, and then fell.
    I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t want to be inspected by those strange policemen. I sighed; I had no choice but to do it. I walked toward the railing and lifted up onto it. I’d rather stand than sit, which was far worse to some people. I wanted to feel like I was diving into a pool, which, I guess, kind of helped. Before I jumped I closed my eyes and thought of that blue iridescent water, shimmering in the sunlight.
    I jumped.
    Instead, of being half way scared to death, I felt like I was drifting. Was the gravity around me changing? Or was I just hallucinating again? Roy told me to roll once I hit the ground. Was I close yet? Did I have to roll at certain time?
    I swear my shoulder broke before I started to roll. Once the tumbling had subsided, I was blurry-sighted, and the two figures before me seemed to have multiplied themselves a hundred times.
    “Gosh, did you drug her again, Christian?”
    “No, this was all her.”
    “You should have left her.”
    “But the Mahre, they may have taken her custody and threatened her.”
    “True. I guess we had no choice.”
    “How do we move her? Were still in sighting area.”
    “We’ll move through the woods behind us, then we’ll go to Aya’s house, easy as pie. To move her, well, that may be hard.”
    I slowly tried to sit up, but the pain in my shoulder fought back. It didn’t allow me to move my arm at all. “Roy,” I said slowly, “I think you were wrong. My arm feels like it’s broken.”
    As my vision cleared and the thousand garbled images morphed into two, my mind came with it. What was the Mahre? And Christian drugged me?
    “Before you ask any questions, can you tell me if you can stand?”
    I nodded.
    “Good, let’s go. I have the slight feeling that we’re being watched.”