The Ocean’s City

My head collided with the ground, bouncing a few times before I ultimately landed. Another scream erupted, much higher pitched than the men shouting. At first, I thought it was a horse. I saw Fran sprinting towards me, but her tearied eyes were not focused on me. Then, I realized I had not fallen through the cracks of hell.

Jones’ face looked to be in excoriating pain as he struggled to climb over the ledge. The earth was still shaking, and the gap grew larger. Helplessly, I watched as Fran raced to the edge to save him. He tried to tell her to stay away from where it was safe, but it came out as grunts instead as he struggled with his injured body to survive.

Another clap of thunder equally as mighty as before erupted, and I lost sight of Jones as he fell through the crack. I closed my eyes at the last second, feeling the pain of loss swell through me.

“Oh, thank goodness! Thank goodness!” Fran cried between hysterical laughter.

My gut spoiled as I opened my eyes. I knew Fran hated Jones. I just didn’t think it was that deep that she would celebrate his death.

It took me a moment to process what was happening. Hutson managed to stay on his horse this whole time and was now struggling to wrap his lasso around his saddle horn. His horse was straining against the force and slowly backing up.

“Silvestia,” Dalton called, causing me to turn my gaze on him. With seriousness, he asked me, “Are you alright?”

The sky was blue again, and the earth stopped shaking. I gave a sudden nod before thinking about if I was okay. His eyes seemed to assess me, but before I could assess myself, I was turning to see the Jones being pulled from the gap in the ground.

Heat rose from it, but there were no signs of light. It just seemed to fall into the complete abyss. My heart pounded harder. I could have fallen into that. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it. It went as far as the east horizon as it did the west horizon, touching the pink and orange sunset.

“Fran, get Silvestia away from that!” Dalton scolded as he rushed to pull Jones over the edge.

Fran, who was still in hysterics, rushed to me and placed her shaking hands on my arm, gently guiding me away. She tried to calm her breathing as she whispered in my ear, “Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness.” Though I felt like it was mostly to herself.

The rest of the men were getting everything under control. The divide split Fran, the driver, and me away from the rest. The driver tried his best to single-handedly unhinge the horse from the wagon. The other horse seemed to be long gone.

I wrapped my arms around Fran to comfort her and eavesdropped on the guys. Jones was cursing and still lying on the floor as Hutson and Dalton stood over him. “We need to get to the girls.”

“How the hell are we going to do that? The gap is at least—”

“We rope them over,” Jones grunted out, erupting Hutson.

“What?” Hutson asked, as if he had heard wrong.

“Rope them over.”

“And you thought of this solution when… when I was saving your ass and pulling you in?”

“Great time as any,” Jones groaned as he rolled to his side to get up but mainly just laid there.

Hutson let out a gasp of disbelief.

“Absolutely fucking not…” Dalton finally spoke up.

“I mean, he has a point,” Huston argued.

There was silence. My head was tucked next to Frans, and I didn’t bother to read Dalton’s expression on his face. I already knew what it would say.

“Fucking Hell… alright, hop on, get the rope, let’s go.”

Fran hurriedly pushed herself from me. “What!”

“Sweetheart … Fran, there isn’t another way.”

“But…”

“Hell, I’m all for it,” cheered the driver as he unhinged the horse. It frantically danced about, causing the driver to shuffle his feet. “Shall I let this beauty free?”

Dalton nodded, and the man let the horse take off without a second thought.

“Need anything from the wagon?”

“We will have to do without.”

“Alrighty then… I guess I’ll go first and show the gals how it’s done.”

“Very well… are you ready to catch?” Hutson asked from his horse.

“Let me have it.”

Hutson threw the rope over, and the man quickly caught it and began to put it around his torso. “Oh… uh… one sec… ladies, could you hold this please?” he asked as he removed the rope. Fran went to take the lasso, but by the way, her hands shook. I was worried she would drop it, so I snatched it from her.

We watched as the driver ran up to the fallen-over wagon and dragged his knife through a few of the bags. Then he returned, replacing the rope in my hand with the empty woven bags. “It’s not much, but it will help cushion you from the rope some.” He explained, placing the fabric behind his back with the rope. Placed around it.

“Ready?” he asked as he sat on the ledge.

“As I will ever be,” Hutson called. The man then let himself fall into the earth’s crack, and a gush of hot air rushed behind him, hitting me in my face. He then, with an adrenaline lover’s laugh, was caught by the rope, swung to the other side with an umph, and then pulled up with a few grunts from Dalton and some other men who had made their way over to help.

“Easy,” he laughed it off and handed the rope back to Hutson.

“Fran, you next, hun,” Jones called in an unsuccessful, soothing voice.

Her whole body shook so severely that I was worried this was a bad idea. What if she messed up and fall to her death? But she shook her jitters away in one brave breath of air and raised her hands to catch the rope.

Hutson tossed the rope over, but it barely slipped through her fingers, and she went to chase it. “Fran!” Jones commanded ferociously. She immediately stopped and fell back to avoid falling into the crack. “Dammit! We can throw the damn thing again. Don’t be risking your life over it. Do you hear?”

Her body tensed, remembering who he was and his capabilities. She nibbled on her lip and gave a meek nod. Hutson tossed it again; this time, she caught it, working her shaking hands to place the bag around the rope comfortably on her back.

She got to the edge, sat down, and then froze.

“It’s okay, sweetheart… I got you. Now keep your hands on the top of the rope and gently slide off.”

Her breaths were as sharp as cries. She only allowed herself a moment before sliding off the ledge and into the abyss. She squealed, and the rope pulled tight. Jones was next to the edge chanting her on.

Pins and needles filled my body as I watched her jump and be pulled up to the other side. I was next…