Free FRAGILE: Part 1 by Kimberly Malone

again.
    “Jason!” I shout.
    “Shit!” Martha shouts, still on the phone.
    Eli drops the slack he had remaining. I cling to the rope as it goes taut, thrumming against the fence. Jason manages to find another catch in the rocks, enough to slow him, and Eli grabs his other arm. There’s a collective cheer, and I smile, exhaling in relief. I glance back, checking the knot on the tree, but it looks fine.
    “No, no, he’s okay, the man got the boy,” Martha says into her phone.
    The fence we’re all leaning on suddenly gives out, dropping over the edge. Everyone gives a scream and scrambles back. Except for me. The rope’s hooked through the fence, and I’m afraid that it’ll hurt Eli and Jason when it falls. I grab the fence, groaning as I try to hold it up.
    “Woman, you’re going to fall!” someone shouts at me.
    The fence continues to tilt over, just slowly now, and it’s pulling me along with it. It dawns on me, as I struggle with the fence, that this is probably it. I’m about to get pulled over. I’m literally about to be dragged off the edge of a cliff and fall to my death. After finally meeting a man that fascinates me to no end, a handsome man that I have strong feelings for, that I’m crushing on and hope desperately likes me as much as I like him, this might be my last breath. And his too, and Jason’s, if the fence or me falls on them.
    Shit , I think.
    ~~~