How long had we been falling?

I couldn’t answer that. Time seemed irrelevant as the wind whipped and lashed my ears in a roaring rage. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t hear, I couldn’t feel anything other than the chilling cold that clawed away at any semblance of simmering heat, but even though it was like being suspended in the loudest silence, I knew I couldn’t let go of her.

If we make this jump, we live. If we don’t, we die. Simple stakes, simple odds to weigh out when you have the privilege of time on your side, but when time rolls in it’s tanks and its soldiers are breathing down your neck, it’s nothing but a reminder of your inability to control the situation.

This was one of those moments.

I could feel my sister mouthing something at me, but I couldn’t see her face nor could I hear the words that wandered out only to be beat out of the air within a second of it leaving her mouth.

Suddenly, after what felt like years of falling through space, I could smell it; freshwater.

I squeezed my sister’s hand, giving her the signal to curl up like we had planned in the precious seconds before the jump.

This is going to hurt, but I would rather hurt than dead.