19. Keith #3
As lackadaisical and loose-limbed as they were, it seemed they all knew where they were going.
They never strayed too far from a set path.
However, after maybe half an hour or so, I was beginning to worry that we were getting too far out, so I stepped to the front of the group to ask if maybe it was time for us to head back and enjoy the celebration.
As much as I didn’t mind our athletic escapades and the cooldown break, I was worried about missing the bulk of the engagement party.
“Hey—”
And then the ground fell out from under me.
One moment I was addressing the young men, the next, my right leg was falling into the abyss, and I pitched to the side. My arms pinwheeled and a yelp punched out of my throat, but no hand grabbed me and no solid surface miraculously reappeared below me.
So I fell.
And I fell hard.
For a moment, I floated in nothingness, weightless in a way I wasn’t used to. It felt unnatural, like I was a feather suspended in a void, but even though that moment felt like it lasted impossibly long, all too soon I slammed into the cold earth. The impact drove every bit of air from my body.
I couldn’t even groan. My vision went black, and somewhere in the very depths of my mind, I wondered if I had crossed over the age gap that separated “falling” from “having a fall”.
Because I was supposed to be the former while my mother was at risk of being the latter, but it seemed I might have skipped a few steps and ended up right in her category.
“It worked! I can’t believe it worked!”
I couldn’t respond. My voice was only a faint wheeze that turned into something more similar to a train whistle than actual human speech. Slowly, I realized what the words being slurred above me meant.
“Dude! That’s crazy! I owe you a twenty!”
“You’re damn right you do!”
“Did you see how he fell?”
Finally, I managed to move my neck enough so I could look up out of the pit.
The blurry faces of the young men stared down at me.
None of them looked particularly angry or malicious.
In fact, they appeared downright gleeful, like what they had done was a harmless prank and I wasn’t mentally trying to take inventory of my ribs to make sure that I hadn’t cracked anything.
“You’re a good sport, grande umano! It’s been fun!” Vinnie said, tossing the bottle of liquor down to me. “Have a drink and relax, then meet us back at the party fully initiated!”
He said it like it was the easiest thing in the world, but as I looked around, still unable to fully speak, I saw that I was in a pitfall trap like something out of a movie, thankfully sans the deadly spikes at the bottom.
For a moment, I was truly bewildered that anyone would take the time to dig out so many feet of dirt to make sure the hole would be over my head.
As far as I could tell, nothing was broken, which seemed like a miracle.
I had some words I wanted to say to them, but it still felt like I couldn’t take in a full breath.
“They’re about to make the toast!” a feminine voice in the distance called. “Everyone better get their butts over here!”
“Shit! Gotta go! You can handle this, right?” Antonio slurred, the only one who seemed remotely concerned. However, not concerned enough to wait for an answer, because the lot of them sped off, leaving me completely alone.
I couldn’t believe what was happening, and part of me wondered if I’d hit my head in the fall and was hallucinating the betrayal. But as I lay there, slowly checking in with each of my limbs to make sure there was no major injury, I realized I was the victim of a cruel prank.
So much for being part of the family... Who the hell would ever possibly think that something so dangerous was funny?
Slowly, head still spinning, I looked to the bottle of homemade wine beside me and managed to lift one arm. Good, confirmation that wasn’t broken. I unscrewed the cap clumsily and took the smallest sip.
And nearly choked on it.
Olivia hadn’t been kidding. It was strong. Already, I could feel the edges of my pain softening.
It was that gentle mercy that allowed me to sit up, although with plenty of groaning, then get up onto my knees, and finally, my feet.
I was hoping that with my height, I wouldn’t be nearly as deep in the ground as I thought, but no, there was at least twelve inches above my reach, meaning I would have to jump higher than I had ever managed in my life to even catch the lip of the hole.
I was stuck in the middle of the woods, far from a house that was not my own, with a family would prefer if my fiancée had ended up with someone else entirely.
It wasn’t a good prognosis, and I nearly gave in to despair.
But then I thought of Olivia. How she’d notice my absence once everyone came back and how scared she would be when none of them could tell her where I was.
I thought of my mother joining in the search, anxious but determined to travel over uneven ground with her cane.
So, despite all the odds stacked against me, despite my body burning with pain underneath the pleasant buzz from that sip of overly strong wine, I stepped back until my back was against the wall of the hole, then prepared to jump higher than I ever had before.
One way or another, I was getting out.
I had far too much to live for.