Kelly's Quest Ch. 01

There was a painful tugging on my legs and the beams that made up the ramp slowly slid away from the wall. I continued to be pulled upward and out into the darkness. I was afraid that if the beams were dragged out the opening and fell from the loft I would be pulled in half. Then I finally stopped moving. I had no idea what had happened, but I was now hanging about two feet outside the barn.

The beams from the ramp were still tied to my ankles, and they had been pulled partially out the opening. Only about a foot or so of them extended beyond the floor of the loft. I was able to almost stand on the beams, but I had to keep some of my weight on the cuffs because every time I put my full weight on the beams, they rocked slightly like they were going to tip. I didn't know what was going to happen when the release mechanism on the ropes to the bales finally let go, but I was afraid that when my full weight was dropped onto the beams, they would fall to the ground below.

I kept trying to remember exactly what was beneath me. I think the barn yard was clear. I wouldn't be falling on any sharp equipment or fences. There was a double row of hay bales stacked against the side of the barn and then in a curve at a right angle for a little ways out from the wall so that it formed a wind break for horses or whatever. Maybe I could drop onto those if I had to, but since it was dark I couldn't see where they were. Up until now, I was hoping the ropes would release. Now I was hoping nothing let go until after sunrise.

The pain in my arms was tremendous, but the pain that I would feel if I fell twenty feet to the ground with the beams following me all the way down would be even greater. I kept imagining myself like that coyote who is always chasing the road runner- falling into the bottom of the canyon only to have the safe and the anvil and everything else land on top of me.

For the rest of the night, each sound, each little movement of the barn, each gust of wind made me think that my drop to the ground was at hand. Finally the sun came up. I could see below me, but in the gray shadows of dawn, nothing made sense. The ground seemed to be too close and it didn't look level. As it got lighter I could see that there was a huge pile of hay bales beneath me. I was only four or five feet from the top bale. I looked in amazement and suddenly I knew what had happened. When the bales fell from the loft, either they hit the stacked bales or maybe swung into the bales alongside the wall. In any case, the entire thin stack of bales fell in a pile in the barnyard burying the two bales I had used for weights. They were also pressing on the ropes and trapping it so it couldn't release. When the pulley released from the wall, the pile of bales must have finished their collapse and pulled the rest of the rope downward, dragging me along with it.

I let my weight down totally on the two beams beneath my feet. I now knew that if I fell, it would only be a couple of feet and it would be onto hay bales. The beams teetered and tottered, but they didn't fall. I began to relax. Everything would be OK once Uncle Jack got home.

And then it happened. I could feel it start down at my toes and at the top of my head at the same time. It is almost impossible to describe to anyone else. It is like being wrapped in a soft warm blanket, only more so. It is like floating on warm water - no warm oil, only more so. It is like being enclosed in beautiful, safe, warm cocoon. It wasn't near as intense as I remembered, but I had found it.

I was standing with my eyes closed trying to wrap myself up in my own special warmth when I suddenly heard from beneath me, "Kelly Lynn, what in the hell have you been up to?" Uncle Jack was home early. I guess it was time for me to talk to him about the quest for my cocoon.

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END OF PART ONE OF FOUR

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