Breaking Free (13 page)

Chapter 20
:  August 25

Marta pulls a
pepperoni
pizza out of the oven for lunch.  “What did JC and Chris say after you told them how you started cutting?”

“JC said Sheila really was a bitch.”  I can’t help but smile, remembering
how happy his comment made me.  “Chris asked if I thought she was weak.”

“
Do you?”

“No.  She has to be
the strongest girl I know.  She could probably beat most guys from my high school in an arm wrestling match.”  I pour soda into two glasses for us.  “Anyway, Chris said I shouldn’t believe Sheila.  Because she wasn’t weak and neither was I.  She said we both went through difficult things in our lives and found ways to cope.  The problem was we didn’t choose the best methods.  She asked if I’d let her teach me better ones.”

“What’d you say?”

Sitting down at the island, I answer, “I didn’t say anything.”  I remember being too focused on the frayed lace of my hiking boot, embarrassed by everything I had shared.  “But, I nodded.”

“
It sounds like your birthday ended nicely then.”  She lowers a slice of pizza in front of me.

“
Yes and no,” I say, picking up the steaming slice and blowing on it.

“How so?”

“Chris knew it was my birthday and had something special planned.  Unfortunately, JC had another accident.”  I take a bite of pizza and then tell her about the rest of that day.

Chapter 21
:  August 1 (Day 14 Continued)

After my therapy session
, Chris had a rock-climbing trip planned.  Jason usually led those trips, but while I was purging all my secrets to Chris and JC, he got a call on the satellite phone.  Apparently his wife was pregnant and not due for another month, but had gone into labor early.  So, he was rushing back to civilization and Chris was on her own with us until the next morning when a substitute Jason would arrive from Georgia.

Once we all said goodbye and wished him and his wife
well, we gathered up our gear and hiked a mile up the mountain to place a rope through the anchor system on top.

“We have two options from here,”
Chris said.  “We can either rappel down or hike back around.  What do you want to do?”

We all said rappel, except Bling who opted to hike.
  We weren’t surprised because he was never overly enthused about rock climbing.  I was pretty confident he was afraid of heights.

I leaned over the edge to see where we were going. 
It was beautiful and scary at the same time.  Chris had been gradually building up to harder and harder courses, but this one took the cake.  It was vertical.  Going down would be fine, but I don’t know how she thought we’d be able to climb it.

“This will be the most challenging course yet,” Chris said stepping in front of us and
untying a rope from her pack.  “You’re really going to have to search for hand and foot holds.  It will also be harder to rest because you’re never going to have a ledge to stand on.”

“I’ll just let my belayer hold me,” Mia said, nudging my arm.

“You still trust me as your belayer after you betrayed me this morning?” I asked with a wicked smile.

“Please, it was for your own good.”

“Okay,” Chris said. “Let’s get geared up.”

We all removed our harnesses from
Chris’ pack and then stepped into them.

“What the hell?” JC asked, when his wouldn’t get past his knees.

“Putting on a little weight there, Big Guy?” I tightened the leg straps on mine, pulling them extra hard so he saw how much room I had.

“
Either that or this isn’t mine.”

He stepped out of it and looked at the label.  “It’s a medium.  It must be Bling’s.”

“Can you loosen the straps enough to get it on?” Chris asked, coming over to help him.

They worked on it for a good five minutes.  The end product wasn’t
ideal, with the material still digging into his thighs a bit, but she said it was safe if JC could manage for the few minutes of the rappel.

Once we were ready, Chris said,
“Mal, you first.  We’ll use a Figure-Eight Descender.  Do you remember how to hook into that?”

I nodded and
took the piece of metal from her hands.  After weaving the rope through it, I used a carabiner to secure it to my harness.

“Excellent.
  Mia, you’re her partner.  Check everything to make sure it looks good.”

Mia knelt down in front of me and tugged on my harness, checking that all the straps were tight.  Then she focused on the carabiner, Figure-Eight, and rope.   “I think it’s good.”

Chris repeated the inspection and then it was time to go.  I stood on the edge of the cliff and looked over my shoulder.   The first step was always the hardest.

“Lean back,” Chris said.

I nodded and took a deep breath. Then, I put all my weight and faith into the equipment.

“Good job.  Let up on your brake hand a little.”

I did as she instructed and slowly walked my way down the rock face, letting out rope as needed.

“
Halfway, Mal!” Chris yelled from the top.  I looked below me at the trees that were getting bigger with each step.  There was something magical about being suspended above the world.  It was like I was a bird, seeing everything from overhead.  It was peaceful and quiet.  I was relaxed.  Despite hanging forty feet in the air from a piece of rope, my mind felt at ease.

“Is there a problem?” Chris yelled from the top.

“No, enjoying the view!”

She gave me a thumbs up and t
hen I started my descent again.

Once we were
all on the ground and reunited with Bling, he and JC exchanged harnesses.  Then it was my turn to climb up.

“Wear this,” Chris sai
d handing me a little day pack.

“Why?”

“You need experience climbing with it.  When you get to the top, make sure you climb all the way up, don’t just tap it with your hand,” she said, checking my gear once again.

“Why?”

“You need your feet on the top to say you made it.”

“You have a lot of confidence in me.  I think I’ll be lucky if I make it a quarter of the way.”

“You’ll make it to the top.”

As soon as I started, I knew it was going to b
e as difficult as I suspected.  My feet were still on the ground and I couldn’t figure out where to put them.

Chris walked up and helped.  “The best line is going to be along the left side.  There are deeper holds there.  Once you get about twenty feet up, there’s a nice place where you can try stemming.  See where the two sides jut out
forming that crevice?” she asked.

“Yes
.”

“Brace yourself on both sides
with your legs and shimmy up.  You’re good at stemming.  That will take you up to almost the end.  Then you just need to get over that one ledge jutting out.”

“
How do I do that?”

“Hold on tight,” she said with a smile and a pat on the shoulder.  “You can do it.”

I followed Chris’ recommendations and was surprised by how well I did.  In no time, I was already halfway up and still feeling good.  Stemming saved my arms, so I wasn’t as tired as I expected.  It also helped by not putting as much pressure on my cut palm.  I needed to be more selective in where I cut if I was going to continue climbing.

When I got to the overhang
, I was glad I had saved some strength because I needed every last bit of it.  I was practically laying on my back as I tried to crawl up.  My fingertips and calves burned.  I looked down and everyone was cheering for me.  I took a deep breath and tried moving my right hand to a new hold, but as soon as I did, my left hand gave way.  Between the pressure on my fingertips and rock rubbing against the cut on my palm, I couldn’t hold on.  I slipped off the wall and fell a couple feet before Mia caught me.

“Keep going!” Chris yelled.  “You’re almost there.”

“My fingers are done!”

“Try one more time!”

I grabbed the edge of the ledge and pulled myself in, ready to try again, but my fingers had no strength left.  I lay back and let go with my right hand, expecting to fall again, but nothing happened, even though I wasn’t holding myself up.  I looked to the ground and Chris was helping Mia with the rope.  They were holding my entire weight.  Chris never let us do that.  She said we needed to accomplish the climb on our own.

I shook my head and then found another hand hold, wondering what she was up to.  There was a tug on the rope and it pulled me up a good six-inches without me even having to climb.  With that, I was over the
ledge and able to get my feet in.  I felt the rope go slack when they gave control back to me.  From there it was a fairly easy two more minutes until I reached the top.

I climbed over the edge like a seal flopping on ice and was shocked by what
I saw.

There was a Little Debbie cake with a note from Chris, a bouquet of
wild daisies from JC, one of Mia’s rings I had admired, and an IOU from Neeky for personalized World of Warcraft lessons once we were out of the woods.

Tears welled up in my eyes
as I leaned over the edge.

“Happy birthda
y to you! Happy birthday to you …” they sang.  By the time they finished, I was crying.  I couldn’t believe they knew it was my birthday, let alone went to all the trouble of getting me gifts.  It made my heart melt.  That was something I hadn’t felt in a long time.  I wiped the happy tears and wondered if they knew how much I needed that, especially after the morning I had had.

After
placing the ring on my finger and adding the other gifts to the day pack, I rappelled back down. Everyone but Bling got a hug.

“Happy birthday,” JC said,
holding me longer than anyone else.  He kissed my forehead and added, “Welcome to the world of seventeen.”

“
I hope it’s better than sixteen.”

“The next year has to be better than the last, right?”

“It can’t be worse.”

“Okay, JC, you’re up,” Chris said, untying the rope from my harness.

He tied in and then analyzed the wall.  “Should I go the same way as Mal?” he asked.

“Stemming’s going to be hard for you in that crevice.  It’s pretty narrow.  I’d recommend going up along the midline.  I’
m not going to lie, though, it’ll be challenging.”

He nodded and then
searched for his first handhold as Neeky belayed him. After a slow start, he began picking up momentum when he was about fifteen feet off the ground.

“Good
job,” Chris said, watching him.

He wasn’t the most graceful rock-climber, but what he lacked in grace, he made up for in brute strength.  I re
lied mostly on my legs, but JC could hold on with both hands and pull himself into a new position.  I was admiring his technique when he unexpectedly jerked.  His body fell backwards and then he spun to the side, his head hitting the wall.

“
Grab the rope!” Chris yelled before I even figured out what happened.  She started scrambling up without any gear.

He reached up frantically, trying to get the rope, but his balance was off. 
He ended up flinging his arms into the rock.

“Grab on!” Chris yelled.

I’m not sure how he did it, but he somehow managed to hook his fingers into a crevice.  I could see blood along his cheek and right arm.

“Are you okay?” I yelled.  He either didn’t hear me or was too scared to answer.

Chris caught up to him.  I could see them talking, but they were too quiet for us to make out the words.  After a few moments, JC let go of the rock, one hand at a time and grabbed the rope.

“Lower him slowly, Neeky!” Chris yelled,
starting her descent.

Neeky followed her orders and
in a few minutes they were both on the ground.

I rushed to his side.  “Omigod.  Are you okay?”  I wiped the blood from his face.  There was an inch-long gash
on his right cheek.

He nodded, still shaken.

Chris helped him out of the harness and we soon figured out exactly what happened.  The support along his back had ripped into two.  He was being held by only the leg supports.

As soon as JC saw that, he made a beeline for Bling. “You
fucking asshole!  You’re Crew aren’t you?  Show me your tattoo!”

He shoved him in the chest, causing Bling to stumble backwards. “Show
me your fucking tattoo!”

Chris and I both
ran towards them.

“Stop JC, you’ll
get kicked out!” I yelled.

He ignored me
and reached for Bling’s shirt.  Chris caught his hand, swung it around his back, and pushed his body to the ground, kneeling on top of him.

The rest of us stared in amazement.  Chris was big for a girl, but JC had to have at least
sixty pounds on her.

“He sabotaged my harness,” JC said, hi
s lips rubbing against the dirt, as he flexed his legs, trying to stand up.

“No fighting.”

“He’s trying to kill me,” he said, still struggling against Chris.  “They killed Jalen!”

She continued to hold him down.  “No fighting.”

After another few minutes of bucking against Chris, he finally gave up and lay motionless on the ground.  I thought she’d let him up since he had calmed down, but she didn’t budge.

“Mia, Mal
, pack up the gear.  Travon, Neeky head back to camp.”

Once Bling was long gone, Chris
finally let JC up.  In that moment, I was nervous.  He looked at Chris with such fierce hatred, I had no trouble imagining he had aggressive tendencies.

“You’ll both be going home tomorrow,” she said.

He drew back his fist and slammed it into a tree.  Splinters shot out around his fingers and drifted to the ground.

“
Fuck me,” he said, hitting the tree again. Then, for good measure, he kicked it.  Five times.

“He could use a friend right n
ow,” Chris whispered in my ear.