Page 58 of Catching Camila

Camila

Thursday 11:47 p.m.

“So, you can fly?” Camila asked, her hand curling around John's arm. She couldn't stop touching him.

He nodded. “Like Superman.”

She pulled back a little. “Really?” Her eyes grew wide.

“Really.”

She hopped up excitedly. “Can you do it? Can you take me?” She'd seen the old Superman movie with her mother and how she'd envied Lois Lane. To be literally swept off your feet.

John stood, brushing off the back of his shorts. He shrugged sheepishly. “I'm not very good.”

“John, come on,” she said, smiling. “You are a bona-fide superhero. Don't be so damn humble.”

His cheeks flushed. “I don't feel like a superhero.”

“You are.” She took his hand and stared into his eyes. The moonlight on his face made him look like a Greek statue. She couldn't believe she was standing here. That he was real.

He hoisted her up in his arms like she was a child. God, he was so strong. Her pulse thudded through her veins as her eyes traced over his strong jawline, the stubble on his chin, the curve of his bottom lip.

He gave her one more questioning look as if to say, Are you sure?

She tightened her arms around his neck. “I'm ready.”

He took three huge steps and launched himself off the cliff.

As the wind whistled past and she felt them falling, she thought maybe it was all a mistake, that they'd fall to their death on the hillside below. She gasped and buried her face in his chest as the landscape streaked by. Her stomach lurched. She sucked in a ragged breath. Then they were rising.

They soared over the bubbling river, the waves flashing silver in the moonlight. A white-tailed deer bolted from the river's edge and into the dense crop of trees. They soared over the canopy, the leaves streaking along beneath them until it looked like a lush green carpet. Camila smelled the pine, the earthen swell of the land. They rose higher until the trees were just small circles. The river was gone, replaced with stretches of green, small brown rooftops, little cars that puttered after their headlights. Camila wanted to laugh, to scream, to burst this was so amazing. Flying! Dear God in Heaven if her mama could see her now.

They soared higher. The air that buffeted her was cold now, damp. A shiver ran through her and John looked down, concerned. He started to descend, but she shook her head. I'm fine, she mouthed as the wind sucked away her breath. He frowned. She shook her head. Go higher, she mouthed. He flashed a worried look, but did as she asked.

They flew through a streak of low-hanging clouds and moisture collected like dew on her skin. She tilted her head up and let the clouds kiss her face. Below, the dark landscape was surreal in its brilliance. Lights twinkled like stars below her feet. The river was a thin ribbon, carving its way through the dark.

She began to shiver, but she was enjoying herself too much to tell John to turn around. She gripped his neck and nuzzled into his warmth. The joy was making her lightheaded. But then the lightness turned to dizziness. Her throat began to constrict until it felt like she was breathing through a straw that someone was slowly squeezing.

The air,she thought as the world dimmed. I can't breathe.

Then the world was gone.

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