The Drop by Jeff Ross

Author:Jeff Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV032080
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2011-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

chapter twelve

I considered what my parents would think if they knew what I was doing. I thought about how they would feel if the drop was four hundred feet and they never saw me again. I thought about how much I loved snowboarding and how much it meant to me and how it was all I ever wanted to do. If I were to fall forever, at least I would fall strapped to my board. But I didn’t have time to think of anything else, because the drop wasn’t any more than five or six feet.

The snow swirled around me as I was in the air, but once I’d landed, it was as clear a day as it had been on the other side.

But different.

The snow was still deep powder, but it seemed lighter. I turned hard back uphill and came to a stop. Looking back at the drop, I could see where the wave of snow came from. There was a long gash in the mountain. In some places, it could have been, as Sam had said, two or three hundred feet down. The gap was never more than ten feet across. In most spots, it was an easy jump. But in others, it really could have been deadly. The wind cut through the drop and pushed straight back up out of it. It was like the wind was riding a half-pipe and just shooting off the lip everywhere it could.

I looked around for Hope but couldn’t see her anywhere. It would be easy enough to find out where she was though. Her trail cut deeply through the snow. I took one last look at the drop and turned back down the hill to follow her trail.

It was more wooded on this side. Hope’s trail moved in and out of the trees. I wondered why she hadn’t waited for me. I hadn’t taken that long to get over the drop. Then I came around the side of a tree and noticed that the single trail had suddenly doubled. The trails weaved in and out of each other, making giant figure eights in the snow. Two snowboard trails. It didn’t make sense. I slowed down and stopped beside a tree. Without the noise of my heavy breathing and the swoosh of snow beneath my board, I was able to hear voices in the distance. It sounded like one person yelling and another responding from farther away. I looked downhill around the edge of the tree. I hefted my backpack tightly onto my back and, going as low as possible, made my way down through the trees.

The two trails split at the edge of the woods. I looked closely at them. One was long and lean—the other more jumpy. The long, clean turns went to the left. The jumpy trail went straight down into the trees. I guessed that Hope had heard the same voices I had and decided to go into the woods to hide. I ducked down as low as I could and followed the jumpy trail into the woods.

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