Breathless

"What do you mean he's dangerous? He's just a childhood friend! You're jealous of him!" Jenny yelled at me.

Again?

Jenny stared at me, just as furious as she had been when I told her to stop talking to her childhood friend. Just like… now?

"I don't how you can be this stupid… Fine, I'll stop talking to him."

What was I thinking? It wasn't fair. I didn't have any right to stain her life because of a feeling I had. Jealousy. By doing that, I was just pulling her into a dark corner along with me.

"With one condition. I'll smoke again—"

"I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me," I apologized.

"What?"

"Ignore what I said and keep talking to him."

She stared at me before slapping me harder than ever before. Then she smiled and embraced me. I hugged her back.

"Why did you change your mind?" she asked.

"Because I'm stupid."

It was fixed. Our relationship returned to the right track and our lives grew brighter together. There was no such dangerous friend and nothing interfered with our growth.

Leaves began to grow from every branch and the brown had almost covered the entire tree. But something at its top halted its recovery. A bird was building a nest.

With nothing to throw at it, the only option was to climb up to get rid of it. Fortunately, the branches were arranged in an easily climbable way. Unluckily, they barely supported my weight.

Carefully, I climbed while distributing my weight among the upper and the lower branches. Just like climbing a cargo net in the old days.

It only took me two minutes to reach the almost finished nest and I pushed it off the tree as soon as I could. The bird flew away and the empty nest glided down to the ground.

The brown began growing again. There was nothing else to do, so it was time to climb down. But, as soon as I lifted my foot from the branch, an extreme wind suddenly arose, making me lose the balance I had with my remaining foot. Unable to support my weight, the branch soon cracked and I fell out of the tree.

Awaiting my impending doom, I landed on my back, probably shattering my ribs in the process. My breath was gone and I couldn't move. I could only stare up at the tree whose leaves were being ripped apart from its branches by the wind. Much like a tornado.

I couldn't die. Not yet. I had things to do.