Six Days: Book One in the SIX Series (14 page)

           
As usual, Griffin arrived promptly at eight-thirty a.m. I
elected to wear yoga capris and some sturdy shoes again, since Griffin’s
adventures seemed to take place in the great outdoors. This adventure was
proving to look the same as we drove higher up into the hills. The mountains
were thick with trees and I wondered where he was taking me.

           
“So you’re not going to tell me anything?” I mused,
wondering why Griffin had given me such few details about the day.

           
“So last night was the first time in a really
long
time I’ve played in front of a group of people,” Griffin began. “But it was
actually the first time I’ve played in front of a room full of people I knew.”

           
“Are you trying to change the subject?” I interrupted,
throwing up my hands and smiling.

           
“No, just trying to explain my motive for today. It was
never really a big deal for me to play in front of people I didn’t know, I
could do that anywhere. I really didn’t even get nervous about it,” Griffin
continued. “But last night, having to sing my songs in front of a bunch of
people that care about me, it completely freaked me out. But I knew it would be
a good thing to do, like character building as my mother would say, right?
Something that makes you nervous, but it’s good for you to get over your
nerves.”

           
I nodded, still unsure of where he was going with all of
this.

           
“So today, I know this adventure is going to be really
out there for you. But you can trust me Addie, I promise. Just say yes.”
Griffin looked at me with his deep eyes and long lashes, and I couldn’t imagine
any other response.

           
“Yes,” I replied softly. “I trust you.”

           
“Good. At least it’s not bungee jumping, right? I’ll
stick to my word on that,” Griffin said with a big grin. “Just promise me you
won’t be mad about this one, okay?”

           
“Griffin, you’re freaking me out now. What on earth do
you have planned?” I paused, thinking for a moment. “Shit, we’re not getting in
a plane, are we? These goggles, they aren’t little plane goggles, right? Like
John Denver-killing little plane goggles?” My voice sounded shaky. Griffin just
laughed.

           
“Oh how John Denver has ruined you, Addie,” Griffin said
laughing, pulling the car into a small gravel lot next to a dirt trail. “So
here’s the deal, we’re heading almost two miles up the path, but it isn’t too
steep. Are you ready?”

           
“So we’re just going for a hike?” I asked, stepping out
of the car. My nerves were calmed by the fact that we weren’t anywhere near a
place where a plane could land, so that must not be it.

           
“Something
like
that,” Griffin
said, leading me up the trail.

           
The hike was a little more exhausting than I would have
imagined, but I guess the last month or so that I had spent in a bakery five to
seven days a week wasn’t doing anything for my endurance. As we reached the top
of the trail, I gasped. Sitting on top of the hill rested two very large, very
fluorescent sails of some sort.

           
“Griffin, what is that? What are we…
”
I struggled to form a complete sentence, instinctively stepping back a few feet
out of fear.

           
“Have you ever been hang gliding before?” Griffin asked,
reaching for my hand.

           
“No, has
anyone
ever been hang gliding before?
Griffin, this is so much worse than bungee jumping!” I shrieked, starting to
panic.

           
“I’ve done it, twice actually. Addie, it is the most amazing
feeling,” Griffin said, taking another step towards me with his outstretched
hand. “This is a beginner course, I promise. Look.” Griffin led me to the edge
and pointed below, out in the distance, to a large pasture area. “It’s nothing
but a large, grassy field, right?” he asked softly. I didn’t know how to
respond. “And you’ll have an instructor with you who knows what he’s doing,”
Griffin added, motioning to one of the guys all strapped up with gear standing
next to one of the gliders. “It’s completely safe. You literally just glide
down onto the field. It’s only a few thousand feet.”

           
“Oh good, it’s
only
a few thousand feet. That
seems like a normal distance to plunge down to my imminent death, sure,” I said
sarcastically. I looked over at the man wearing all of the equipment and he
nodded, confirming everything Griffin was saying to me.
 

           
“Griffin,” I pleaded. “You said I got seven days of
adventure. Why are you trying to kill me on day five? This is a crazy thing to
do. How is this even on your radar of things to do in life?”

           
“I know
,
it’s a little crazy.
But I’m telling you Addie, it is the most exhilarating feeling you will ever
feel. There’s nothing else like it, nothing. I will promise you the whole world
that nothing will happen to you. You’ll be safe. There is no way I would let
you do this if I had any doubt whatsoever about that, Addie.” Griffin paused.
“Please?”

           
I stared at him. How could this man, so sensitive and so
sweet one moment, really be asking me to jump off a cliff with some nylon wings
attached to my back? It seemed absolutely crazy. You know how there is good
crazy, and then there’s bad crazy? Well this was some whole new kind of crazy.
Who just jumps off a mountain? Then, in that exact moment, my mind flashed back
to
Ardell
and the nine year old me.

           
“These wings will keep you safe, Adelaide,”
Ardell
had told me. “You have to know that everything
that’s happened to you is over. You are free. You will never again be tied to
this life. When you’re ready, you can just… fly.
Anywhere.
Be anything, do anything. You can now know that when life throws something at
you, you have two choices. Either you can’t move on from the life you’ve had
and that becomes you. Or, you jump.
Into a new life.
You just let go of the anger, and the hurt, and the abandonment, and you choose
freedom. A life free from everything you know. I truly believe that these wings
will follow you somewhere big, Adelaide. Somewhere where you can finally make
the choice to become what you were intended to be.”

           
My focus turned
back to Griffin. “Yes,” I said softly.

           
“Yes?” he repeated, sounding a little shocked. “You’ll do
it?”

           
“Yes. I’ve never done, well, really anything for myself.
I’ve just been
existing
. I watch you, and you’re so,
well, alive and carefree. I’ve been afraid of that my whole life. Granted, I’m
not saying I feel good about this decision per se. I think it’s absolutely
ridiculous to jump off a perfectly safe mountain. But I don’t know
,
you and all your friends talk about all of these
experiences you’ve had. All the places you’ve gone, the things you’ve done. My
story doesn’t have a lot to it.
Nothing good, anyway.
I finally get the point of you trying to encourage me to make more spontaneous
decisions. So, either I die jumping off a cliff and it’s the perfect dramatic
ending to my existence thus far, or, I actually live, literally and perhaps a
little bit figuratively. I’ll do it.”

           
Griffin nodded and squealed. He squeezed my hand and
motioned for the instructor to come and get us ready. He beamed with excitement,
but seemed in a hurry to get me strapped up to the equipment. I imagine
Griffin’s urgency was likely due to his fear of me changing my mind.

           
The instructor walked me through the drill. He explained
all of the equipment and told me what to expect. I was relieved to know he had
a backup parachute in case of any mishaps. Once everything was set up and ready
to go, the instructor looked at me for confirmation I was ready.

           
“You promised,
Ardell
,” I
muttered under my breath. I pulled on my pink goggles and gave the instructor
a thumbs
up.

           
Griffin blew me a kiss and flashed a sly smile. Somehow,
in that exact moment, jumping off a cliff actually felt right.

           
Seconds later, my feet left the ground. Nothing could
have prepared me for the feeling that followed. I never would have imagined the
serenity of soaring through the sky. The earth below seemed surprisingly more
beautiful than I ever recalled it to be, and the wind in my face felt like a
rebirth, as if I was shedding the ability to ever feel fear. It felt so pure,
as if soaring through the sky was a natural experience for a human.

           
Just as the instructor explained in the beginning, we
glided down onto the grassy field. It was a little rushed at first, until we
got our footing. Once we came to a stop the instructor began releasing me from
all the straps, and I thanked him profusely. I tipped my head back and raised
my arms to the sky. The world somehow felt different.

           
Within a few minutes Griffin had landed too, and the look
on his face mirrored mine. Once he was released he casually walked towards me,
sauntering, as if he needed to look even sexier than he already did.

           
“Griffin, I don’t even know what to say,” I gushed. “That
was incredible!”

           
Griffin grabbed my hand and squeezed it. He didn’t let it
go.

           
“The Jeep will take you back to your car. Thanks a lot,
Griffin,” one of the crew members in the field stated. “I hope you both enjoyed
your flight today.”

           
Griffin and I thanked everyone and climbed into the Jeep
they had waiting for us. He still didn’t release my hand, and I certainly
didn’t want him to. We rode back to Griffin’s car in silence, still reveling in
the exhilaration from our experience. Or, maybe it was the exhilaration of his
hand entwined with mine, I wasn’t sure.

           
Once we got back to Griffin’s car, we loaded in and
Griffin again grabbed my hand. We rode that way down the mountain, recounting
how amazing it was, and how big of a rush it was to jump. He spoke about it as
whimsically as I did, even though he had done it all before, which made me
smile. His phone rang a couple times as we drove down the mountain, but he
ignored it.

           
“So, your songs last night,” I said, changing the
subject, “you wrote all of those?” I was eager to know more about them.

           
“Yeah, I write a lot,” Griffin answered, looking a little
shy. I liked that about him. “It’s always been easier to write about what’s in
my head rather than talking about it, I guess.”

           
“So some of those songs, are they about a particular
person?
A girl maybe?”
I asked, trying to sound nonchalant
about it, though I was clearly prying for information.

           
“A few of them, yeah.
No one in
particular now though, I wrote some of those years ago. Some of them aren’t
even about a girl even though it may sound like it. A few of my songs are about
my father. Those ones are a little angrier if you can imagine that. Some are
about my grandfather too. It was rough on me after he passed, so I wrote a lot
after that. I suppose some of the themes sound the same even though they are
about different people. Leaving kind of sounds the same no matter who it is, I
guess.”

           
Griffin’s words resonated with me more than he probably
knew.

           
“Honestly I write about everything, life, sometimes even
about my friends. That kind of thing,” he said, shrugging.

           
“So you’re saying you could write a song for me
sometime?” I asked, amused at the thought.

           
“No, probably not,” he replied with a sly smile.

           
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked with a confused
expression on my face.

           
“Because most of my songs are sad, and I guess you just
don’t really make me feel that way,” he said nervously.

           
Griffin’s phone rang again for the fourth time in a row.

           
“I am so sorry, Addie, but it’s my dad. He keeps calling,
which is unlike him. It makes me think something is wrong. Do you mind?”
Griffin asked politely.

           
I shook my head no, smiling, knowing that nothing could
sour this day.

           
Within a minute of Griffin answering his phone, his mood
turned serious. It sounded like his father was doing most of the talking, and
his voice through the phone sounded angry. Griffin only uttered a few “
yeahs
” and “uh-
huhs
,” not saying
much else.