Abseiling

I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t. I was dangling over the edge of a cliff about to walk my way down. It was my worst nightmare! How did I get there? Well...

We were strolling down the road, nervous and excited. As we neared the turn in the road where the mudslide was positioned, we peered up the the hill and waved frantically to the children waiting at the top by the long wire fence. the wind was swirling around and wrapping around me like a cold, uncomfortable blanket. The sun was shining down and coating the ground in a golden light. We approached a tall grey wall and as we made our way around it I spotted a CAUTION! DO NOT ENTER! sign.
‘WHAT?!’ I thought ‘Please tell me we’re not going in there.’
I was wearing a flowered skirt and a purple T-Shirt with bright, bold writing-NOT appropriate abseiling gear-and I began to feel cold as we stepped into the shadows.

I hardly listened as Michael, oner and abseiling instructor, explained to us what we would be doing that day. That’s why, while we were sitting on the old worn tires under the rusty shelter, I absent-mindedly raised my hand when they asked for volunteers to be first.
“Alright then, you three, Amy, Ella and Wilson. You’ll be first.”
As soon as Martin said that, I snapped out of my day dream.

I tried to look casual as I clambered up the steep, leaf covered stairs. But as David hooked me onto the rope that reached from one end of the cliff to the other, I looked down and almost threw up. We were so high! Slowly, one by one , each of the people in front of me went down. As I watched the last person get unbuckled, the terrible truth dawned upon me. It was my turn.

So that’s how I got there. Stop. No. Wait. I couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to. I stood silently as I was clipped into my harness. Michael began chatting to me about books, and although I was feeling dizzy, I was able to think hard enough to develop a suspicion that he was talking to hear the sound of his own voice. It was as I was just hanging, as if I was on a swing, with the wind whistling past, that I realised what I was doing.
“No,” I mumbled “I don’t won’t to do it.”
“What have you got yourself into this time?!” I mumbled to myself “You’re hanging over the edge of a cliff!”

Believe it or not, somehow I made it.
Slowly but surely, I walked my way down the jagged rock face, calmly chatting to Michael the whole time.I even managed a few jumps. I was attempting my biggest jump yet when my feet landed softly on the ground. Disappointed, I waited impatiently while Martin unclipped the ropes from my harness and they began snaking up the wall. As soon as I was free, I twirled across the ground, dried leaves crunching and crackling beneath my feet.
I had done it!