Jeremiah Kenzi

Fragment, Prologue – “A Lifetime Ago”

Oh shit!

The branch gave way beneath me… my eyes widened first in shock then fear and then damning resignation before my feet fell out and I plummeted towards the ground.

Clawing and grasping for anything that would stop my fall, I hurtled downwards. Jagged branches raked my face, tearing through my skin. I felt something gouge into my face, leaving a fiery trail of pain from my right cheek to my eye. Pain welled up in my throat and I thought I was going to pass out. Screaming in silence, I instinctively threw my hands to my face, but I knew it was too late. The agony was like nothing I had experienced before.

Still twisting and turning, trying to keep the pain and panic down, I continued falling, until suddenly, I hit my back hard against a large branch, and my entire body curled in pain, nerves screaming. The branch was large enough to break my fall momentarily. For a few seconds, I just hung there, willing myself to focus. I could feel something warm and sticky oozing into my right eye.

Shit.

I needed to stop my fall, dammit! I reached out in the murky darkness and felt my hand close around a branch.

Saved!

I felt myself loosing balance, beginning to fall again as my body’s weight shifted. Throwing caution to the wind, ignoring the pain, I grabbed at the branch. My fingers tightened around
it, and I swung my body over the branch I’d hit with my back. The weight was too much. The branch was too wet. My hand started slipping. In desperation, I dug my fingernails into the bark of the tree…

It worked.

I hung there in the darkness, fingers and nails keeping me from certain death, adrenaline pumping fiercely through my veins. Shaking my head to clear the blood, sweat and heaven-knows-what-else that had welled up in my eyes, I tried looking around, peering into the darkness. It was futile. I couldn’t see a thing. I knew I had to pull myself up to safety.

I started swinging my other hand upwards, hoping to grab another branch and work my way up. I could barely lift my hand, my body was just beginning to realize how much damage it just taken. I continued swinging, once, twice, nothing. In the darkness, I couldn’t tell if I was close to another branch or not and my other hand was beginning to slip. Panicking, I considered just letting go and dropping down, but I didn’t know how far the ground was. Besides…

Wait.Something was wrong…

Oh God no!

Two hands grabbed my bare feet, and yanked me down hard. My fingernails, still stuck in the tree, were brutally torn off my two middle fingers before I could let go. Screaming in agony, I was slammed hard into the ground.

The first kick cracked my ribs. I curled up instinctively, screaming, veins sticking out the sides of my neck. The second kick broke my arm.

The third kick was from a brand new gumboot, and it split my cheek open…

And then the darkness took me.