THE DROP-OFF BOX

My Second Story Window

The lawn looked greener than usual today; its grass had recently been cut, and the glaring sun brought out its natural vibrant green. This left the smell of an earthly aroma wandering about our noses along with pieces of grass on our heels and ankles. My house seamed to bend about from the malicious rays of light left by the sun, but we delighted ourselves in its warmth. The cool splashes of pool water would revitalize us after enough running and playing anyhow.
“Steven! Don’t do it! You’re gonna hit your head!” I yelled at my cousin from across the pool.
“Haha,” He laughed. Then came sprinting from the other side of the deck and dive bombed into the pool headfirst, this shot a giant splash of water upwards into the sky. The cool mists of water kissed our skin.
“You’re turn now Sean,” My little brother Cody said.
“Na, I think I would rather just swim with Chris,” I said.
Cody didn’t say anything. He just looked at me with this funny grin on his face, and then took off at full speed towards the pool just like Steven had. Except this time Cody jumped for the purple boogie board.
“Cowabunga!” He yelled, sliding across half the distance of the pool atop his boogie board.
“Let’s see how deep we can go,” Chris said to me. His newly tanned skin glistened under the sunlight.
“Alright, come on. Follow me!” I said. I kicked hard at the water and swung my body down deep into the depths of the pool. Nearing the bottom, I felt the oddest sensation in my ears. They were ringing from some kind of pressure. I tried to go down further but the pain would not let me.
“Did you feel that,” I said to Chris.
“Ya my ears hurt, let’s not try that again,” Chris said.
“Hey guys I have got an idea!” Steven yelled at us from across the pool.
“Oh great another one of his stupid ideas,” I whispered to Chris.
“Let’s just go,” Chris said back to me.
“Alright,” I yelled. “What is it?”
“Just follow me!” Steven yelled. At that Steven turned and ran towards the house. We all came running after him. Good thing mom isn’t paying attention I thought as we dripped dirt, water, and remnants of grass all about the house as we made our way up the stairs.
“Do you see this?” Steven said.
“Yah, it’s the only second floor window in the house, so what?” I said back.
“I bet none of you guys would jump out,” Steven opened the window then climbed on to its ledge. Cody and Chris’s eye seemed to bulge out of their sockets at the idea of that. It was not long before the two were running as far away as they could from Steven and I back into the pool. But curiosity kept me.
“Well Sean are you gonna do it,” Steven said.
I poked my head out of the window, the drop was far, at least several times my body length. I stood around four and a half feet tall and Steven was maybe a little taller. The way down had to have been at least 25 feet. The idea of actually jumping that high made my ankles cringe. The highest I had jumped before was Grandma’s old oak tree in North Carolina and that was only half as high up as this. But then I got the strangest idea. Not out of anger or jealousy or any other negative emotion I could think of, but out of out sheer curiosity.
“Sean? Are you gonna jump out this window or what?” Steven said.
I cranked my neck towards Steven and then walked up close to him.
“What?” He said.
I pushed him in the back.
“Ahhhhhh!” He yelled all the way down and splattered on the grass near the side of my house. I looked down and wondered why in God’s name I did what I just did. Steven was crying relentlessly.
“Why?” He yelled back up at me. “Why did you do that?” I kept staring at him for a moment. His favorite Star Wars board shorts had been shredded and one of his legs looked like it may have been broken.
“I’m sorry,” I yelled at Steven.
“What is going on out here,” My mother came racing from out of her room. By the look on her face I thought she had just seen a ghost. “What happened out here?” My mother yelled at me, then peered out the window to see the wreckage that was my cousin sprawled out on the ground. “What did you do to him?” She yelled at me.
“I’m sorry mom,” I said.
“Well sorry is not good enough,” She snapped back at me, then raced down the stairs to attend to Steven.
We all met up around the pool later. Steven jumped about happily, his leg was okay.
“So why did you do that to me Sean?” He said.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I just wanted to for some reason, I’m sorry Steven.”
Steven stared at me for a minute, as if he was unsure of what to say next. After what felt like a century, he finally spoke, “it’s okay cuz.” Then he grabbed me and we hugged.
“I’ll never do that again,” I said.
“I know cuz,” he said back.