I tightened my fingers around the metal wire and hoisted myself up. I used my feet and arms to climb up the twenty feet. Once at the top, I swung my legs over to the other side and began trying to shimmy down the other side. Jonathan watched me curiously from the opposite side of the fence. When I tried to move my leg away from the top, something held me back. I looked down to my foot; my jean leg had caught in a rusty piece of fence. That wasn’t good. I tried to pull my jean from the stern wire, but I was lost for results. Stubbornly, I pulled it one more time, rougher than necessary, and nothing worked.

Jonathan had been watching me curiously, but now he looked like he was thinking deep thoughts. Next, I tightened my grip on one hand of the fence and let go with the other one, trying to untangle my jean. That didn’t work, either. Without thinking, I tried to reposition the hand that was holding me to the fence by letting go. The next second I heard my jean ripping and I was falling.

The ground seemed to be moving towards me rather than me towards it. I closed my eyes, bracing for impact. The ground that seemed to moving towards me so quickly never came. Within the time that I should’ve hit the ground, I felt nothing. I opened my eyes cautiously. Jonathan had me in his arms, the way a bridegroom would carry his new wife over the threshold. My mouth opened to form the perfect O.

“Are you okay?” He asked, looking down on me thoughtfully.

“I-yeah…how… you were…” I shook my head at him, my eyes disbelieving. Jonathan set me back down in the dirt and motioned for me to continue through the forest. “Wha-?” I asked stupidly. “How did you do that?” Jonathan simply shrugged and turned to keep walking. I ran after him and held him by the shoulder, turning him to me. “How…-?” I trailed off, again at a loss for words.

“What?” he asked, smiling at me.

“Jonathan, you were on the other side of the darn fence, don’t ask me ‘what’ ” He shrugged and turned around for a second time.

“Hey!” I yelled. “Excuse me!” he stopped again and turned around slowly.

“What Sam?” he asked, seemingly annoyed.

“How did you do that?” I asked quietly, but forcefully.

“Do what-?”

“Oh my God, Jonathan! Everything! You sucked the air from the classroom when you walked in, you unlocked the chain on my door from the inside, you made me tell you anything I was thinking, you just went through a friggin’ fence!” I yelled. “How are you doing this?”

Jonathan sighed and rolled his eyes. “Sam, think” he told me. “I did not suck the air from a classroom. That’s illogical. You’re the one who told me everything. And I was climbing the fence right behind you. You forgot to lock the deadbolt. It was open.”

“I know I didn’t forget to lock the deadbolt.” I promised with a stubborn glare. “You could just admit I’m right about everything and something is just very, very wrong with you.” I tried. He rolled his eyes again and turned to walk away. I went after him for what I hoped to be the last time that day, but a blinding pain in my calf made me stop and double over. I took in air through my teeth, which made a seething noise. Jonathan turned to see me bent over and he was beside me in a second flat.

“What happened?” He asked urgently. I held my hand over my leg where the pain was most severe.

“I don’t know,” I looked down and removed my hand from my calf. Surprisingly bright red blood stained my hand, my torn jean, my white sneaker, and formed a small pool under my foot. “Holy sh**,” I couldn’t believe that I could produce so much blood. I wiped my hand in the dirt and moved the jean away from my leg. A deep, deep gash sat in place of what used to skin and three more layers of muscle. I bit my lip to distract the pain. Jonathan’s eyes bulged “Crap, look at my pants. And my shoes. Crap, crap, crap,”

“I think you have more to worry about than your clothes,” he laughed lightly after seeing that I wasn’t about to cry. “Come on, let’s go back,” he suggested, holding out a hand to me. I took it graciously, letting him pull me up.

“No, we’re already over halfway there. Let’s just go to a doctor in town or something,” I suggested, trying to walk towards the town. After two steps, however, my leg gave out in pain and I was about to fall over. Jonathan was there, though, supporting most of my weight on his shoulder.