Fall

12:01:34 a.m.

My name is Jack Levi and today is my birthday. My phone was vibrating endlessly with birthday texts and calls all night, but I ignored them and went back to sleep.

6:21:54 a.m.

Someone knocked on my door. It was Josh and Dave.
"Where's the birthday boy? Open the door sleepy head!" Josh screams.
They started singing 'happy birthday' as I opened the door.
Dave said "Get ready, we're going out".
"Where? Right now?" I asked.
"It's a surprise. You will lose your mind when you see it" Josh said. They seemed pretty excited about it. I hope It's not a horror house
like last time. I hated that.

6:58:02 a.m.

I get dressed up and then Josh ties a cloth over my eyes so that I couldn't see where we were going. I especially hated this part. We drove for about two hours. Dave pulled me out of the car and removed my blindfold. Josh was recording my reaction on his camera. It was a big field, I didn't understand where we were. Then I turned around and saw all kind of planes and helicopters. We were at an airfield, "SKYDIVING!" Dave shouted. I was scared of heights since I fell from a tree branch in 1st grade. I ran back to the car and locked myself in.

9:18:48 a.m.

After about twenty minutes I was convinced that skydiving was safe.
"If something goes wrong, I'll haunt you guys forever." I said in an annoyed tone. Josh and Dave looked at each other and laughed. We had to learn the basics before going on the actual plane. The skydiving would be 1 minute of free-fall and then 10-15 minutes under parachute.

10:32:11 a.m.

We wear our jackets, parachute and safety glasses and head out to the plane. The plane looked smaller as I got nearer to it. Inside it was just ten seats, parallel to the windows. The plane started escalating quickly into the sky. We looked at each other and laughed. Josh was wearing a camera on his helmet to record the journey. After fifteen minutes we reached 28,000 ft., which was the drop off point.

10:50:05 a.m. 28,351 ft.

The instructor opened the door of the plane and told us to jump off. I was the last one to go. I was nervous in the plane, but as soon as I looked outside I forgot about my fear. The sky was a beautiful navy blue colour. The sun was shining the brightest and the clouds which covered the whole planet were just below me. This was one of the best moments in my life.

10:50:11 a.m. 27,692 ft.

I was about to touch the clouds below me. For a second I thought I'd bounce back up, like they showed in the cartoons. I passed through the freezing cold clouds for 3-4 seconds and then I saw the most gorgeous view ever. I could see the curved earth from one end to another. The mountains on one side of the curve and the vast ocean on the other. Josh and Dave were still far away from me, so I dived down to reach them.

10:50:33 a.m. 26,102 ft.

I was near Josh and Dave, I screamed "Thank you", but they couldn't hear me. Josh understood what I was saying and smiled. We could see New York, Manhattan, Brooklyn and all the other cities. It was a stunning view.

10:51:10 a.m. 23,016 ft.

Dave signaled us to open our parachutes. We were still close to each other, so before opening the parachutes we went to different heights.

10:51:39 a.m. 22,242 ft.

We looked at each other and nodded. We pulled the parachute string simultaneously. I closed my eyes and prepared for the parachute to open.

10:51:44 a.m. 21,994 ft.

Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and saw that I was still falling at the same speed. I turned around and saw Josh and Dave Floating on their green and blue striped parachutes. They were signalling me to pull the rope. The distance between us was growing rapidly. I realized what was happening and came back to my senses. I started pulling the cord as hard as I could, but it would not budge at all. I took out the knife and cut off the primary parachute as they taught me in the tutorial.

10:52:17 a.m. 17,133 ft.

After cutting the parachute I put on my bag and pulled the string again. The secondary parachute had opened. A strong jerk pulled me back into the sky and then I started falling again. I realized what I had done. While cutting the primary parachute, I also severed some of the strings of the secondary one. When it opened the strings could not bear the force and ripped apart.

10:53:26 a.m. 10,001 ft.

I turned around to see Josh and Dave. They were just tiny dots in the sky now. I was crying and saw my tears float above me. They say before you die your mind replays old memories, but my mind was completely blank. All I could think was how I'd look after the fall.

10:55:19 a.m. 152 ft.

I can see the people, buildings, cars, planes everything just a few meters away from me. I can see where I'm about to land. I close my eyes, I'm still crying but my heart feels warm and I smile. I lived a good life. Goodbye.