fear of falling | mystery gang

Post by umber vivuus 12b 🥀 [dars] on Jul 11, 2021 9:00:40 GMT -5

WILLA
COPELAND

Do you know that feeling you get when you turn the hallways light off, and then convince yourself that now, because there is no light, there is a monster right behind you? And the. you run down the hallway like an idiot, too afraid to look back because what if that minuscule amount of hesitation is all the creature needs before it snatches you into its gnarled and jagged claws? That comes from the fact that humans are not nocturnal al creatures. They cannot see as well at night or in the dark. And non nocturnal creatures who try to find their way through the darkness are meals for hunters who don’t fear what lies in shadowy wait.

Willa felt that same feeling now, though. That primal panic, that sense of survival we developed centuries ago that told us when something mean was looking at us. Willa’s desperate hand was locked around Nora’s reluctant one and they ran faster than Willa ever had. She had to make it to the canoes. She had to make it to the water so that they could escape, because the careers would’ve been idiots fo try and swim after them. And then there was this: she was fucking terrified of making it there, because what if that minuscule hesitation, that tony moment it took her to climb on and push off, was all they needed to catch up? What if Aspen or Reece had already been nabbed and subdued and the two of them were next? What if running had been a mistake and they should’ve stayed while they had the numbers?

For the first time, Willa could not blame her insecurity on her body’s inability to do properly what her mind was telling it to do. Because right then, in that moment, her mind had no fucking idea what to do. Her heart heaved and ached with her chest— she wanted to live, and her only coherent thought was go. So she went. She ran. She made it to the canoes, she didn’t bother trying to do anything gently or correctly, moreso threw herself into her own boat and frantically shoved off as quickly as she could.

Because that’s the thing about humans. We are meant to be hunted, but we survive because we are so good at being hunted. The fear of falling from a high place is the only thing that forces us to learn how to fly. In that moment, Willa felt like one of the birds she’d studied her entire life and, damn, she had to say it: as terrifying as the fear was, the relief that followed her success was… beautiful. She had to pinch her lips together to keep from crying, or laughing, or doing anything at all except continue to paddle out and away to a hopefully better tomorrow.