Chapter 4: Hanging Around

During ideal circumstances, you can be idle, but it’s only during times of desperation that you find out what you are really made of.

Ryan broke through the trees just in time to see Éclair step off the face of a cliff. It was a straight shot down at least a hundred feet. She screamed in fright and started to fall just as Ryan made a very athletic, and quite heroic, dive towards her. Éclair’s hand was only inches from his.

Time seemed to slow down as Ryan focused on his target and reached out as far as his little arm could stretch. He didn’t have time to think about what position he would take if he caught her, he didn’t have time to wonder if he even had the strength to hold on. His mind just focused on what needed to be done and his body seemed to do the rest, almost on its own accord. By the best of luck, he grabbed hold of her hand just in the nick of time.

As their fingers interlocked, he had to use his left hand to hold himself in place on his precarious perch on the side of the cliff. Éclair looked down to the hundred-foot drop that had almost become her final destination, and then back to Ryan. Tears of gratitude and fear slid down her cheeks.

Despite the fact that Éclair stood at least a head taller than Ryan, she was very light. More than light, Ryan found that he could easily hold her with one arm. Maybe that legendary Saurian strength had come in at last. With not nearly as much strain as he’d imagined, Ryan slowly began to lift Éclair up toward the ledge.

Just as things started looking up, they took a turn for the worst. The rock under Ryan suddenly gave way, and he found himself plummeting down the cliff with Éclair. As the forces of gravity turned against him, Ryan realized that there was nothing quite as terrifying as freefalling. Of course, he had heard of thrill seekers who jumped thousands of feet from a transport for fun, but they all always carried jetpacks with them.

Who would want to do this? There’s nothing fun about it!

As Ryan fell still clutching Éclair with his right hand, his left hand seemed to inherit all the brains in his body as it reached out, grabbing madly for anything in range. With a numb sense of weightlessness, Ryan’s left hand caught some vines that hung down the cliff from the trees above.

I’ll never make fun of lefties again!

Despite his left hand’s success, this time without the leverage of the cliff, Ryan felt the full weight of Éclair’s body, and his joints made an audible pop! Whatever just popped, it hurt worse than anything Ryan had felt before. He didn’t think his shoulder was broken, but it was probably out of place. If only he’d paid more attention in anatomy. Despite the pain, they were relatively secure in place. Then he heard a snapping noise. The vine that had saved both him and Éclair was slowly becoming undone.

I’ve got to think of something fast! But what? I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but even I can tell that things are bad!

From his awkward position of holding Éclair with one hand and holding the vine with the other, he had neither the strength nor the leverage to pull the both of them up to safety. Besides that, he and Éclair were running out of time as every snap from the vine marked another second to their death.

No! Never give in to defeat! Dad taught you better than that! When life gets rough, you get rougher! If I can just think for a minute, there has gotta be something I can-

“Ryan,” squeaked Éclair, cutting into Ryan’s thoughts. “You should be able to pull yourself up if you let me go. You don’t have to feel guilty ... you’ve done everything possi-”

Ryan cut her off. “I will not let you fall! I made you a promise, and I intend to keep it!” Éclair went silent, and Ryan gripped her tighter in case she tried to let go.

Ryan raked his brain for something, any kind of solution. He felt so tired and so sore. Nothing had ever been this scary in his whole life, not even the time his dad chased off those off-worlder thugs. Just as he was on the brink of giving up, a thought came to him. It was like a voice whispering in his ear. The voice sounded like a kindly old man, but it still seemed to originate from Ryan’s own thoughts.

Swing Éclair to the left and let her go, said the voice. There’s a ledge there. She will be safe.

For reasons he couldn’t possibly comprehend, Ryan believed the voice. Whether it was adrenaline or simply his own desperation, he knew that this so-called ledge was their only chance.

Ryan turned to Éclair, and despite the circumstances, she looked up at him with timid hope. “Listen, I’m going to let you go!”

Hope suddenly faded from Éclair’s face. “What?”

“It’s not what you think,” explained Ryan quickly. “I’m not going to let you fall! There’s a ledge just below you! I just gotta swing you a little to the left so you don’t miss it.”

Éclair scanned the fall below her. “Ryan, I can’t see anything!”

“It’s there! Trust me!”

“Ryan ... are you sure?”

“I said I wouldn’t trick you again, or let you die! I promised on my life. Please believe me.”

Éclair searched Ryan’s features for any trace of doubt. Then slowly, she said, “I do believe you.”

Nodding his encouragement, as well as his gratitude for her faith in him, Ryan made the calculations in his head; that is, if he knew what calculations were. “Alright, I’m gonna swing you on the count of three, and then you let go!”

Éclair nodded as she squeezed his hand even tighter than before. They were both sweating now, and Ryan neared the limits of his endurance. The pain became excruciating, and he was sure that his right arm might fall off at any moment. With the last reserves of his stamina, he began to swing Éclair as they counted together.

First swing. “One!”

Second swing. “Two!”

Third swing. “THREE!!”

Ryan let go of Éclair, and she soon vanished behind the cliff face. He silently prayed with all his might to whatever God might listen that she’d be safe. For a brief moment, Ryan thought that he had gotten it wrong, that he had just sent Éclair to her death. That is, until he heard a strange noise that wasn’t a thunk, like a body hitting the ground, but more like a boing, like a bouncy ball, or maybe jello.

When he didn’t hear anything else, panic took over as he cried, “Éclair! Please tell me you’re alright!”

When she didn’t respond immediately, despair sunk its fangs into his heart and Ryan thought about letting go of the vine, but then he heard it. “I’m fine, Ryan! You were right! There’s a ledge here just out of view from that rock that’s sticking out! This grass is weird and bouncy, too!”

Ryan couldn’t believe his ears. Bouncy grass on a cliff! He might’ve started laughing if the vine didn’t give out with one last snap! Ryan had only a second to register his situation and kick off from the rock in an attempt to reach the ledge with the soft, bouncy grass. Then he saw her sitting on a ledge that seemed to be the entrance to a cave on the side of the cliff.

Ryan instinctively reached towards Éclair, hoping beyond hope that she’d do the same for him. And fortunately, she did. Éclair caught Ryan in a death grip and yanked him within reach of the ledge. Ryan’s weight nearly pulled Éclair over the side, so just as he caught her, he grabbed hold of the ledge with his other hand. Ryan’s ribcage slammed into the side of the cliff, and Éclair teetered, but she still maintained her hold. Pulling himself up, and breathing more rapidly by the minute, Ryan crawled onto the ledge with Éclair’s help and sat next to her. They just stared at each other for a few minutes, panting from both exhaustion and fright from their ordeal.

Then Éclair did the strangest thing in the world. She hugged him tightly and started sobbing uncontrollably into his shoulder. It felt a little uncomfortable for Ryan, to say the least. The only thing he could think to do was put his arms around her and lightly pat her on the back, as if that would help. After what seemed to be hours of endless tears, Éclair finally came to her senses and broke the contact. It couldn’t have happened at a better time since Ryan was on the verge of turning purple again. Éclair put on a professional visage and addressed Ryan in a business-like manner with her hands folded on her knees. She acted as if the whole crying thing had never happened.