Page 69 of Wilder Ever After

I loved it.

“I’m flying!” I screamed back, opening my arms as the wind whipped my face. “I’m flying!”

“Whoooo! You’re flying!” Marge shouted. “This is amazing!”

And it was. With the fear completely obliterated by the excitement, I could finally appreciate the beautiful scenery around me. The trees. The flowers below. The blue sky stretched out in front of me. I lifted my eyes to it, stretching my arms out as I imagined flying up and away into it, and at that moment, I truly felt like I was.

“This is crazy!” Alice screamed, but laughter peppered her words.

I glanced to my left and smiled at my widows, all flying beside me, matching grins stretching their faces.

In a million years, I never imagined I’d be soaring through the jungle canopy. We flew between the tall trees and glided over the foliage below, each squealing and laughing as we continued descending.

“We get to do this four more times!” Sylvie shouted.

Four more times. I doubted that would be enough. I felt so free up here in the air that I wanted to stay floating forever.

“Hey! A monkey!” Marge shouted, and my gaze followed her finger.

Monkeys started swinging across the divide we careened down, their long arms stretching as they swung over the lines, suspended for what seemed like an eternity, then landing safely on the other side.

Sylvie’s face lit up. “So cool! Miguel said they liked racing the zipliners.”

One by one, they started swinging faster, now swinging along our sides and keeping pace with our descent. A monkey on my right swung fastest, passing up the several struggling to catch him.

“Look at that one go!” Sylvie shouted. “He’s gonna beat us!”

“Zip girls, zip! Let’s give that monkey a run for its money!” Marge pressed her arms to her side in an effort to speed up.

While they zipped faster to race it for fun, I tried to zip faster to get away from it, visions of it flinging poop at me detracting me from the beautiful views all around. The monkey got up just ahead of us, then swung his body, launching across the ziplines toward the other side.

But much to my horror, he mistimed his swing. I watched helplessly as I sped straight at him, then screamed when he collided with my head.

“Ahhhhhhhh!” My screams echoed into the jungle as the monkey grabbed my helmet, clinging tight to my face and covering my eyes. “Help! Help! Someone help!”

It shrieked and screamed along with me, gripping tighter with its little hands that I remembered likely had feces on them. My whole body shuddered as I tried to suck my head back into my neck like a turtle to get away from it, but the little creature just gripped me tighter, its shrieks getting the other monkeys in the trees to join him. Soon the screams of monkeys seemed to come from everywhere around us ... though none were as loud as the one screaming into my ear.

“Help! Help! It’s on me! I’m under attack!” I screamed as best I could with its furry belly muffling my words.

“Holy shit!” Marge shouted. “There’s a monkey on Doris’s head!”

“What?” I heard Alice ask before she screamed. “Oh, no! Doris!”

“Get it off! Get it off!” I screeched, my arms flailing wildly as I blindly flew, the monkey like a blindfold blocking out my entire view.

“Stay calm, Doris! He’s not trying to hurt you! Just stay calm, and he won’t bite!”

Bite? Oh, good Lord. I was only worried about it touching me with its poopy hands, but now it’s going to bite me, and I’m going to die of some newfound jungle disease.

I tossed up a barrage of prayers as I flew down the zipline, the monkey fixed to my face like Velcro.

“Get off of me!” I hollered again, and this time I felt it move. The monkey screeched and screamed, scrambling on my helmet and finally jumping onto my back. I felt its tiny hands running all over me before it stopped, and I was too scared to turn back and look, worried it’d bite my face.

“What’s happening? Where is it?” I screamed.

“It’s crouching on your back! Just stay calm!” Sylvie called. “It’s trying to find a way off. Hold tight, Doris! Just hold tight!”

“This is awesome!” Marge howled with laughter.

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