Windswept

 

When he opened his eyes all he could see was a clear, blue sky. He was facing upwards, but he was lying on nothing. The wind roared in his ears, and he had no recollection as to how he got to this place. There was no memory before this very instant. The situation in which he found himself was a strange combination of excitement, peace, and confusion. The wind was loud but was also a comforting embrace. At the same time, he felt extremely bothered by the lack of memory.

“Unless something unexpected happens in the next few moments, I don’t think that this is going to end well,” he thought to himself. Or maybe he said it out loud. He wasn’t sure, for the wind was deafening. Nothing above or around him gave him any sense of perspective or height. “The clouds could be anywhere,” he thought. He had no watch to judge his time and the sun stood directly overhead. Every time he rolled to his stomach, the ground appeared too far away to calculate a distance.

He was comfortable, and he felt more alive than he could ever remember feeling but that wasn’t saying much as he couldn’t remember anything other than this moment. He squinted his eyes and scanned over the ocean of blue above him, hoping to see something, anything that would give him a clue about his whereabouts.

After several minutes of this, a tiny black dot appeared far above him and very slowly grew larger. “Whatever that is, it looks like it's heading directly toward me,” he thought. “I really don’t want something running into me. I’m thinking that would be less than advantageous.”

He maintained his focus on the dot and eventually realized that it was a person. Their approach slowed as they drew closer. “Phew, I guess that’s a good thing.” The person slightly shifted to the right, and he realized that they had been in a head down position, seemingly trying to catch up to him. As they approached, they flattened out and matched his speed, placing themselves immediately next to him.

The man smiled and waved at him. He waved back, realizing that the man was not young but not old either, somewhere in the middle. He moved in close to his ear and shouted, “Hook yourself on. I can get you to safety, but you need to act quickly. We can do this together.”

He felt over himself to try to figure out what the man meant. “What do I hook onto and with what?” he wondered. The man, seemingly able to read his thoughts, held up two carabiners that were strapped to his skydiving suit. He continued to feel all across the front of his shirt and found multiple fabric loops. He pulled himself close to the man and latched onto the hooks.

As soon as he attached, the man pulled on two straps that snugged the two of them together. Their faces immediately slid across one another’s shoulders. The two of them began to slightly roll and he looked down as the ground now seemed to be much closer than he ever thought possible.

“Look down,” he shouted. “Look down. You need to do something.”

“It’s all good,” the man answered. “I know what I’m doing. We have plenty of time. Just hold on and don’t look at the ground. The landing might be a little rough but be ready to bend your legs when we land. Trust me, you’ll be fine.”

As he spoke, he looked straight across into the open air as another person shot past them with no parachute and seemingly no concern. “That guy better flatten out or he’s going to hit the ground headfirst. Not that it really matters at this point. He’s going to stop really quick when he reaches ground level.”

He closed his eyes and wrapped the man in a full bear hug.

“Okay, good job,” he said. “Here we go. I’ve got you.”

In what felt like a sudden jerk upward, the sudden deployment of the parachute shot past his face and the roaring of the wind immediately decreased. It wasn’t silence, mind you, but it was far, far quieter than before.

“Five, four, three, two, one,” the man shouted, “bend your legs.”

As soon as the word legs came from his mouth, he felt his feet touch solid ground. “And here we are,” the man said. “This is where we are supposed to be. Don’t look at the others that ignored my offer of help. They chose their own ending. There is nothing we can do for them now. They chose their path and as you can see, it didn’t end well.”

Like driving past a car crash, he couldn’t help but briefly glance at the many bodies lying around them. He breathed through his nose to try to keep the feeling of vomiting to a minimum. “Are they… are they all dead?” he asked.

“Yes, in a sense,” the man answered. “When anyone lands, no one actually dies. Their abrupt stop when they reached the ground is the last consequence of all the decisions they made during their descent. You, on the other hand, chose wisely by entrusting my wisdom and experience to help you reach the ground in a gentle manner. It is not unreasonable to feel bad for them,” he said. “But they made their choices.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said. “You would think that common sense would overrule the feeling of independence and selfishness. They certainly saw the end coming but… wow… did nothing about it.”

“I am so glad that we got to spend these few minutes together,” he said. “Your descent is complete, and you are free to roam around and visit wherever you like. There is so much to see now that you are here with us.”
              “Us?” he repeated.

“Yes, us…” he answered. “There are many, many others who made the same wise choice as you. Walk around. Introduce yourself. I know you will find many wonderful people to connect with. It only gets better from here on out.”