A Leap Of Faith

                              The blazing heat from the sun was strong, I quickly moved to a shady spot ; a bench under a tree. Laughter and shouts of delights filled my ears as I ate my cotton candy. I looked around, people were having fun and were all around the theme park.

                    

                    I glanced at my watch, "They should be here by now," I mumbled to myself. Just then I heard giggles and looked up. The group of girls walked towards me, they were full of energy.

                    " Oh Feline, you should have been there, it was so fun!" Penelope exclaimed.

    

                    The girls nodded in agreement. My friends, Penelope, Lily,Samantha and Marila had just went on 'The Rush', a new ride.

As my friends all chattered, I sighed. I would join them but... I have a fear of heights and rides that makes an adrenaline rush. But I never told any of them about my fears. I was too afraid of their reactions if I did tell them. So whenever they ask why i don't ride, I tell them that's it's because I had a stomach ache.

                     "You coming Feline?" Penelope asked. 

   

                     "Huh? Oh yeah," I replied as i shook out of my thoughts.

                               "Finally, we are going home," I whispered. As most people would call theme parks 'fun', I call it a nightmare. All my friends would go on rides without me and I would feel left out, but I also wanted to come so I can at least squeeze in some quality time with them.

                              The next weekend, I looked eagerly at the clock. My friends and I would have a call together, so it was like spending time together without the rides and thrills.When the call started, I eagerly video chatted with them, but one look told me there's something wrong. 

            

                   " I'm sorry guys, I know we planned to call and hang, but I need to study for the upcoming exam, sorry..."

                   " Yeah I have to study too..."

          

                   " So do I, sorry..."

                   One by one, they hung up. It was only me and Penelope left at the line. We had both studied together earlier than the rest. We had nothing to do. Somehow, I was kinda happy. It was just me and my best friend of the group, Penelope. I was sure that the two of us could do something together that is less, scary...

                 As a good friend, I let her choose what to do. To my horror, she chose...BUNGEE JUMPING! I had no choice but to follow.

                 We reached the jumping station and Penelope ecstatically fastened the harness and rope to her body. I told her that I was feeling dizzy and that I would just watch. With no hesitation she jumped of the station. I gasped, ' how could she have the courage to do such things?' I questioned in my mind.

                 As the staff went down to the staff room, I sat and watched Penelope screaming with delight.That's when I noticed the rope, the really thick rope, was starting to unravel. At first, I didn't really care as bungee ropes usually were really hard to snap. But of course, my paranoia got the better of me. 

                       I yelled down to Penelope, informing her about the rope. At that moment, the rope snapped! Penelope was falling!!Luckily, Penelope  was an amazing gymnast so she quickly managed to back-flip and got hold of the edge of a cliff. I breathed out a sigh of relief which later turned to panic when Penelope yelled to me, " I'm SLIPPING!"

               I wanted to get someone to help but the staff were too busy having a discussion and I was the only one there. I knew what I had to do but I was too scared to do it. My mind whirled as I tried to think of another way but I just couldn't. It was a blank.

                  However,  I couldn't just let my friend die, so I ran to the edge of the station and fastened my harness and rope. I checked the quality of rope and made sure I would not fall to my death as well. After countless checks, I realized that Penelope had not much time left. As she screamed I slowly scuffled to the end.

             " This is it... I need to save her... I need to take... a leap of faith. "

      

            I took a deep breath and ( with a bit of hesitation) took a big jump. I felt the wind rushed behind me as I plunged to the bottom and as I got pulled back up I leaned to the side and reached out for Penelope. She got hold and I pulled her back to the station.

           When we were there and did some checks to ensure that we were fine, Penelope hugged me causing us to fall to the ground.

                 "You saved me!And You conquered your fear of heights!!! I'm so proud of you Feline!" she exclaimed.

           As I basked in her praise, I realized something.

          " You knew?! You knew about my fear?!" I asked in surprise, I had thought she didn't.

               "Of course we knew, it was so obvious. I mean, who gets a stomach ache every time we want to go on a ride?" Marila, said as she and the others appeared at the entrance of the bungee jumping station. They had just went to join us and entered the scene.

           " But...then...Why did you kept this knowledge from me?" I asked, still shock from the fact that I just bungee jumped a thousand kilometres below (I think). 

         " 'Cause, you are our friend and we respect your wish to not go on rides." Penelope replied with a warm smile on her face.

        Just then, the staff people came in and I immediately yelled at them. I bellowed at how Penelope nearly died and that they were irresponsible as they were supposed to keep an eye on the equipment. Of course, I was only a kid and they thought that it was a prank despite the numerous support from my friends. The staff  even thought that I sabotaged the rope and said that I had to pay for it!

         I looked up, frustrated, and that's when I spotted a  surveillance camera. To prove that I'm innocent, I convinced them to watch the incident from the camera. After watching the clip a couple of times, they were convinced and thank me for saving the day, they even gave 100 dollars to Penelope as a way of saying sorry.

          After that, me and my friends walked down the high slope from the bungee station. As we walked down the slope, Lily turned to me,
       
       " You probably had a lot to go through just now and you probably want a break after that. Why don't we go for lunch instead?" She suggested hoping to make me feel better.

           " Are you kidding?! After that ride, I am so ready to try new ones!! I can't wait it was so fun!!!" I exclaimed.

                My friends looked at me, pleased that I had conquered my fears.  Without hesitation, we immediately dashed to the theme park to have fun. Fun I never had.