There were six of us

All standing on the back of a deck

That overlooked a gully

Very steep with mounds of earth and rocks

The world was ending

And we made a pact

Two of the younger women were crying

One man was silent

Another was talking us through it

Not really a leader

But he was guiding us

Six people

From different backgrounds

Shared this moment

A final moment

As the world began to fall around us

We could hear loud ruptures

Others screaming

At one point I heard menacing laughter

It felt like it was coming from below

Like at the bottom of the steep ravine

But then further sounding

The person who was now our guide

Suggested we break off into groups of two

And share a bit of ourselves to each other

Who we were

What we were thinking

And how we felt before our jump

One by one in groups of twos

We knew we couldn’t listen to everyone

We knew that that there wasn’t enough time

The two younger girls paired up together

They could have been sisters

Or best friends

And after their moment of sharing

Held on to each other like they were

Our guide and the other woman

Talked about their families and spouses

They cried a lot

The silent man and I just stood there

His clothes were torn and aged

His hair was unkempt

I felt as if we had met before

In a previous time gone by

However, the plan could not be completed

Until we each had our turn

I looked at the man and said

“I’ve been dreaming a lot lately”

And that was it

He nodded and smiled at me

He looked over his shoulder

And passed the gully

He spoke

“I’m going home”

Then there was silence

The world had offered our quiet cue

We had each felt alone

Before exchanging our thoughts with each other

But not anymore

We were at peace

We hadn’t a clue if it would work

Our pact was made

A final jump to conclusion

Our reluctance were plenty

Yet we held each other’s hands

As the world began to crumble

At the last minute, I shouted out

“What if someone rolls outward and falls passed everyone else?”

The eldest woman looked outward

“It will probably be you” she said

And for some reason I laughed

Then we all did

With my luck, she was probably right

One

Two

Three

We lept

I could hear us tumble down the side of this hill

It felt like it was everlasting

The crescendo of thumping and bumps

I couldn’t recall seeing any trees

But could hear the crackling of limbs

We made no sound as our bodies rolled down the gully

And then I hit an upturned patch of earth

And sure enough, my fear came into fruition

My body took flight forward

Over the steep hill

My new friends continued to roll down it

And I could hear the woman’s soft voice in my ear

“I told you so”

I feared the impact

I felt like I was flying

Until finally I wasn’t

And slammed into the earth below

I woke up and looked around

The air hadn’t escaped my lungs

The pain wasn’t as pronounced

I saw the others were getting up as well

We looked at our landings and at each other

And we began to laugh

Cackles and giggles that meshed into one

The same sound I heard from before

But not as menacing as it was now far gone

We looked up at the embankment

And we began to climb upwards

One of the girls looked at me and asked

“Did you see the kitty? There was a grey kitty. I almost rolled over him”

I smiled and shook my head

“Oh well, I hope he’s alright”

We scrambled up to the top

Helping each other along the way

As the earth began to die

We didn’t care anymore

And as we pulled each other over the top

The place we each lept off a moment ago

We were greeted by a small furry face

A grey kitten gave us a gentle ‘meow’

Perplexed as we stared at this little creature

As it rubbed up against the leg of the girl who noticed it in our tumble

We began to play and pet the feline

Until I looked over my shoulder and down the gully

And there we were

Laying peacefully at the bottom