“It certainly is! It’s good to see you, brother! Thank you!”
“My pleasure, Bear!” he yelled. Bear helped me buckle my seat belt and I sat there shaking in my boots. I’d never been on a helicopter before and all I could think about was every time I’d ever seen one before on television.
They either didn’t have doors or someone was jumping out of them, or both. That is, if they weren’t crashing into the side of a mountain in a fiery collision of death. I was grateful to see that this one did indeed have doors that were firmly closed by the guy outside. But then I remembered that I wasn’t wearing any panties, and my Mother would be horrified if I was found dead without them. I spent a good five seconds contemplating if would be better to be found dead with dirty underwear or no underwear at all.
Bear slipped a pair of headphones over my ears and within seconds, the helicopter rose, shifting slightly to the side and sending my heart plunging straight into my throat. I grabbed Bear’s hand as fear spread through my veins.
He patted my hand reassuringly and smiled at me.
“Alex is the best pilot in town. Don’t worry, Chloe. Look at the city—it’s amazing!”
And indeed it was. The helicopter whisked us up and around the building, weaving through the skyline of Manhattan like a slithering snake, the lights sparkling below us getting smaller and smaller as we rose higher into the star-studded sky.
“You can see the everything up here,” I marveled. Bear nodded, his eyes reflecting the lights from the buildings. I squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for this.”
“My pleasure, Beauty, my pleasure,” he replied.
The ride lasted for about an hour, the city falling away behind us as we headed north. Soon, the cityscape turned to open fields, the hills covered in lush dark blue forests that bordered perfectly lined crops and from up there, the horizon seemed to stretch endlessly. I found myself wishing it wasn’t so dark now that we were out of the city, because I knew there was so much I was missing, but mostly because I couldn’t stop thinking about how the darkness increased the chances of the helicopter crashing into a hidden mountain and here I was panty-less.
By the time we started to descend, we were submerged in darkness and I was gripping Bear’s hand like a vice. My heart hadn’t stopped racing the entire trip and when Bear pointed to a light up above and told me that was his cabin, I finally exhaled with relief that this would be over soon.
Of course, I hadn’t even thought about the landing.
It looks so easy and smooth on television, doesn’t it? It hovers neatly over a big X on the ground and gently glides back down to the Earth like a graceful crow, right?
Wrong!
If only that were the case in this situation.
Unfortunately, I had no idea about the adventure that was in store for me.
The cabin was nestled high on the edge of a cliff, a log cabin only in the sense that it was made of logs. It was not a cabin. It was a palace, cut from logs. It was lit up from the inside, a warm glow pouring from the windows like a beacon in the night. I scanned the landscape around it, but in the dark I could only see trees surrounding three sides of it and the side that we were approaching faced the edge of a very steep, very tall cliff, with only darkness plunging below it.
“Bear,” Alex yelled over his shoulder, as he approached the cabin, “do you need help with the ladder?”
“Nope, I’ve got it,” Bear replied.
“Ladder?” I asked, confusion filling my head. We’d jumped in easily without needing any ladder.
“I’ll just hover over the edge, as usual, alright?” Alex called.
“Hover?” I squeaked.
“That’s great, Alex,” Bear said, before turning to me. “Don’t worry. It’s only scary the first time.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my hands beginning to tremble.
“You’ll see,” he said, as he unbuckled his seat belt and scooted around me. He shuffled around in the corner and pulled out a collapsible ladder and put it next to the door.
“Alex, I’m ready when you are,” he said.
“Ready for what?” I cried.
“Coming right up on it,” Alex replied. I looked out the window and saw the cabin quickly coming closer. Alex slowed the helicopter down until we were right next to the cliff, the house only yards away.
“I’ll drop the bags down first,” Bear said, pushing a button. The door opened and I gasped at the force of the air that hit me. He pulled off his ear protection, grabbed my bag and threw it out the door.
“Bear!” I cried, my mouth open in shock. His bag went next and I shook my head, straining to look down for them. I was still buckled in my seat and paralyzed with fear.
“You go first,” Bear said, before leaning down and attaching the ladder to some hooks on the edge of the bottom of the helicopter. The ladder fell, cascading down the side of the helicopter and dangling wildly in the air to the ground below.
My head began shaking, my mouth unable to form any words. This was fucking insane. Go first? Was he out of his mind? My ass was staying right here in this seat!
“Chloe,” Bear said, his voice turning stern and serious. “This only looks dangerous. It’s perfectly safe and I do it all the time.”
“You’re filthy rich, why don’t you have somewhere to park this fucking thing?” I screamed.
“Because I would have had to cut down a bunch of old-growth forest to do so and I care about the Earth more than a minor inconvenience like this.”
My mouth dropped open in disbelief. Minor inconvenience?!
“How is staying alive a minor inconvenience?” I yelled.
“I told you I’d never hurt you,” he said, reaching out a hand to me, his dark blue eyes peering into mine deeply. I tried to drink in his courage, his faith in me, his strength. I was certain I didn’t have enough on my own to get down that ladder. “You have to go. It’s the only way.”
“This is fucking nuts!” I yelled.
“I know,” he said, shrugging. “Now come on!”
“Goddammit,” I muttered, taking a deep breath and unbuckling my seat belt. I grabbed his hand with my shaking fingers and let him lead me to the edge. I looked down and took a step back. It was so far! The ladder was so loose, too—just hanging there flapping in the wind like a loose thread on the edge of a ragged coat.
“I don’t think I can do this,” I said, bile rising up in the back of my throat.
“Yes, you can,” Bear said. “As soon as you get started, the ladder will tighten up with eac
h step you take and the ground is right there below you. It will take ten seconds tops and then your feet will be on solid ground. I’ll be right behind you, I promise.” He squeezed my hand and I tried again.
Deep breath. Step forward. Don’t look down. Try not to puke.
I shook my head and let the chant repeat over and over in my head.
Deep breath. Step forward. Don’t look down. Try not to puke.
“Grab my hands and get on your knees, then lower your foot down to the first rung,” Bear instructed. I looked at him, sure that his face would be the last one I was ever going to see. Forget dying in a fiery crash on the side of the mountain, I was going to fall into the abyss below.
At least it’s him, I thought. If I was never going to see another human face, it might as well be one as stunning as his.
He kissed me and smiled down at me.
“Seriously, don’t worry, babe, you’ll be fine,” he said. “But you need to wear this, just in case.”
He held up a harness and a helmet and my eyes widened.
“Jesus, Bear,” I said, my first complaint. I couldn’t help it. “Do you have something against normal transportation?”
“Helicopters are fast,” he shrugged.
“Fast, right,” I murmured, as I stepped into the harness that fit around my pelvis and hooked onto the helicopter. The helmet was a little too big and when Bear tightened the chin strap, I felt like a scared little kid being pushed out of the plane by her dad.
I watched as he put his own harness on and fitted his helmet to his head before he motioned to the edge.
“It’s go time,” he said. “Alex can’t hover here forever.”
“Right,” I replied, sliding my feet to the edge and looking down again.
Deep breath. Step forward. Don’t look down. Try not to puke.
The cabin below looked so warm, so damned inviting. Unfortunately, I felt like I had to fight through a pit of snakes or something to get to it. I groaned and sank to my knees. Bear grabbed my hands and I turned around, sliding a foot out into the air. When I lowered it, I felt the rung and pressed down.
“Good girl, that’s it,” Bear murmured encouragingly. “Keep holding my hands, that’s it. Now, put your other foot down.”