Breathe, swallow, breathe. I walked to mom's car after school on Friday. Avae straddled her motorbike, twirling her helmet on her middle finger. She nodded to me and I gave her a timid wave, sneaking a look at my mom to make sure she didn't see. Luckily Mom was looking the other way. I helped Mom with dinner(pasta puttanesca) and went to bed as early as I dared. I heard Mom go into her room and the door shut. She'd drunk two glasses of wine at dinner, and she seemed super sleepy, so I got up, locked the door and put a bolster under my comforter, then changed into a pair of leggings and a t-shirt, then lowered myself out the window.
After arriving at the warehouse, I raced up to the meeting room. I was just on time. The girls got up when they saw me, and Hayley stepped forward.
"The first challenge," she read slowly. "Is bungee jumping. Go to Mummy Terror at the abandoned Mouse Carnival. Ropes are on the tallest track. Good luck." We all looked at each other. Even Avae's face was a little pale. Finally she stood up.
"What's the address?"
Fifteen minutes later, Emma and I climbed off Avae's motorbike, a little stiff from the cramped conditions. Emma was breathing shakily. I guess she wasn't used to wild motorbike rides in the middle of the night to a scary abandoned amusement park. Hayley led the way into the silent, dark carnival, us trailing behind. She stood before a towering, sloped roller coaster. I couldn't see the top. We all gathered behind her.
"We're climbing." Hayley said, a little uncertainly. She climbed up onto the track and we followed. The climb was hard and splintery, but we reached the top of a small hill and began to carefully ascend up to the highest swell. Sure enough, a pile of ropes and some cables sat in a little pile on the track. I didn't try to look over the side of the track. Emma examined one of the frayed ropes.
"This isn't very stable."
"Gotta finish the challenge, smarty-pants," growled Avae. "So be useful and help." There were six ropes. Six cables. Six harnesses. One for each of us. Hayley was already fastening the first one to the top of the track. Avae stepped into the first harness.
"Are we seriously doing this?" Thea whispered. She looked a little ill. Avae glared at her and looked at Hayley.
"Am I secure?"
"Yep. Go for it!" Hayley stepped back as Avae walked to the side of the track.
"Let's do this." Avae leapt off the side, the rope coiling down into the darkness. We soon lost sight of her. Then, with a slight jerk that shook the track under our feet(Leilani shrieked), the rope tightened. It jerked a few times, then we heard Avae from down below.
"Completely safe! I made it. Whoever's next, you can go!" I stepped forward.
"I guess I'll go now." I said. "I mean, it's now or never, right?"
"True." Hayley agreed, motioning for me to step into the next harness. I stepped into it and Hayley strapped it onto me, then made sure the rope was tightly fastened to the track.
"I'm holding on to it just in case," she reassured me. "Anyway, you're so light it'll be pretty easy for you to be hauled back up."
"Thanks." I said, stepping to the side of the track. The darkness looked unending. I glanced one more time back at the girls, who smiled at me, then I stepped off the side of the track.
I was falling. My stomach was coming up. My screams were the only thing I heard besides the rushing of air past my ears. I kept falling, for a really long time. I wondered if I was going to splatter all over the pavement. Maybe Hayley had untied the rope. But the rope jerked and I jolted in the air. I bounced lightly a few times, then stopped.
"Avae! Help unharness Addy!" I heard Hayley call. Avae came trekking over and untied me from my harness. I breathed a shaky giggle sigh of relief.
"Who's coming down next?" I called up.
"Thea's coming down!" Hayley answered. Avae grabbed my arm and led me a safe distance away from the track.
"I'm jumping!" Thea shrieked, and the next thing we saw was her come flying down, her long blonde hair flying in the wind. She bounced a few times, the Avae rushed over and took off Thea's harness.
"Who's next?" Thea called up, looking happily relieved.
"Leilani!" Hayley called back.
"Go on!" I called up. "You can do it!"
"I don't think I can!" I heard a faint squeak. A pale outline of Leilani's head appeared over the top of the track.
"Come on!" Avae called. With a scream, Leilani flung herself- or was pushed- from the side of the track. She fell, coming closer and closer, before the rope caught her. She untied herself after bouncing a few times and staggered, trembling, over to us.
"I'm coming down next!" Hayley called. "Emma says she can operate the bungee." Without hesitation, Hayley leapt off the side of the track and came flying down, her ponytail flying up, her face calm.
"I'm done!" Hayley called up. Emma's outline appeared at the top of the coaster. She rocked back and forth on her toes, then jumped off the side, howling. The harness caught her and I breathed a sigh of relief. We'd all made it. Suddenly a crack pierced through the night air. The crack of a rope. Emma fell, not bounced, right toward the pavement. She landed with a sickening thud. We all stood frozen for a moment, then ran to her side.
"Was this supposed to happen?" Thea hissed, assessing the damage done. Blood oozed from her cheek and her arm was at an odd angle.
"My arm," she whimpered. "I think it's broken."
"Shh," Leilani soothed. "You guys, we should get her to a hospital.
"I drove here with my car," Hayley said. "I'll go get it and drive her to the hospital."
Supporting Emma's body between the five of us, we carried her to Hayley's car and loaded her into the back seat. The rest of us crammed in, and put Avae's bike in the trunk. Hayley drove off, pretty fast, but there were no other cars.
"We need to think up an alibi," I spoke up. "Like, what'll we tell the nurse? She fell off a roller coaster while bungee jumping for a stupid challenge in a secret society?"
"Shut up, Addy." Hayley gritted her teeth.
"We'll keep it simple," Thea decided. "We'll say she fell in the shower."
"Yeah, and scraped up her cheek on all the concrete in the shower," Avae added sarcastically.
"How about this: she went for a joyride with a boy and fell off his motorcycle?" Leilani put in.
"That's the best, I guess." Hayley agreed. We soon reached the white hospital and wheeled out a wheelchair for Emma. Avae, Thea and I stayed in the car and Leilani and Hayley explained what happened. Hayley came out, followed by Leilani, and they climbed into the car.
"Girls." Leilani said. "We shouldn't do this anymore. It's really, really dangerous." we all remained quiet, and we all went home when we got to our street. I climbed back through the window and took a quiet shower, then climbed into bed. Just before I dropped off to sleep, I realized... nobody had made any promises about stopping the challenges.