Sky Jump

The view from the top of the Auckland sky tower is amazing. As I have previously stated, I instinctively seek the high ground, and invariably love the view when I get there. Despite this, as a rule, I’m generally afraid of heights. Not enough to truly panic, but enough to get my adrenaline pumping. I like the view of being up high, but the thought of falling from that height makes me very, very afraid.

So for the life of me I can’t figure out why I’m dangling off the edge of the Auckland Skytower  like an idiot with a death wish.

“You ready?” the woman who is maybe three years younger than me asks. She is directly behind me, holding onto the clip and release mechanism that is the only thing keeping me from dropping into hundreds of meters of empty space.

“Yeah?” I lie, probably not convincingly.

 

“Okay! THREETWOONEGO!” her rapid fire counting leaves me no time to object, or really think about anything. The hook releases and all of a sudden I’m falling into nothing.

I gasp, sucking air into my lungs and forcing oxygen into my brain. Adrenaline, which has been slowly leaking into my system for the last five minutes is released in a torrent which floods my synapses and makes me hyper aware of everything around me.  I can feel momentum start to build as I begin to hurtle downwards.

Harshly, abruptly, I stop maybe five meters below the landing I just dropped off.

Knowing the script, I look up, where the young woman is leaning out with a camera.
 

“Say cheese!”

 

I grin weakly.

“Good!” she makes some pithy remark like “Bye now!” or “See ya!” which doesn’t register in my thumping brain and once again I fall like a stone.

The wind rushes in my ears. The ground rushes up to met me. My heart thuds like a machine gun and my breath comes in short shallow gasps. I am about to die. I am falling, falling falling. Words come out of my mouth, hardly registering consciously. An idiot’s grin is plastered on my face, as it always is when I fall.

The ground now, faster and faster. I brace myself for the impact, knowing that if this was to be The End  it would be right here.

Friction kicks in. My fall slows and the harness I’m wearing digs into my body as it defies gravity, that cold, reliable mistress, and my speed slows.

The pads beneath me rush up at what still seems like unreasonable speed and as I land, I flex my knees, while the harness pulls me up short. A tall man with brown hair and eyes wearing the blue uniform of the Sky Jump staff steadies me and unhooks me.

I am saved. Science, math, courage, and a boatload of crazy have allowed me to fall from a 192 meter tall building and survive.

 

-Doug