Freefall ✓

01 | calm

Storms they may come, but I'm here to stay

—bella ferraro

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AUDREY

THE TREE BRANCHES swayed back and forth rhythmically, their leaves rustling softly at the movement. The soothing smell of eucalyptus stroked my nostrils gently and warm sunlight tickled my skin, as I hung from a tree branch like a wild macaque, struggling to get the camera to focus.

"Are you quite done there?" I heard my best friend, Sydney, complain as she lay sprawled on the grass, in an overly-dramatic attempt to imitate a Vogue model pose.

"Excuse me, did you just complain? Who's the one hanging off a freaking tree branch here?" 

You see, those are the cons of having a talented-ass aspiring-photographer friend. The standards for a picture of herself were at the same level as her own photography skills. Which were sky-high. And I was the one who had to meet them. With no particular knack for photography at all. No pressure whatsover. 

I finally snapped the picture and jumped off the darned tree. Sydney disentwined herself from her "casual" posture and rose up.

She would normally be taller than me, but today the thick platform of my sneakers made me seem almost about her height. Head tilted and dark brown curls falling in the way of her black chocolate eyes, she studied the images.

I heard her sigh. This could have meant two things: either she was just tired of this photoshoot or genuinely satisfied with the photographs. I hoped for the latter.

"Alright, screw this shoot, let's go."

I snorted. Welp, reading minds certainly wasn't one of my hidden talents. "So you don't like them." 

"Not really." 

I gave her an offended look, intentionally exaggerated, as we started walking. 

"What? Nothing to do with you! The pose I chose just didn't favor my face." She thought, then smiled sardonically and added: "Not that any pose ever favors it anyway. . ."

"Hey, don't say that! You know you're an absolute bombshell," I flipped her hair, deliberately overdramatizing, as she chuckled. She was one and I was sure she knew it. 

"Sure thing, chicken wing."

"I'm absolutely serious—"

"Shh," she froze, eyes fixed on something ahead.

"What?"I whispered, confused as heck.

"Look," she pointed at the lake in front.

I gasped when I finally spotted it. Just a few feet away from us and nearing the lake, was a cute little fox cub. Its red fur glimmered in the sun gracefully. The tiny creature bent down for a drink.

"Aw, it's adorable!" I squeaked. I had a thing for furry little animals. Well, who didn't? They always managed to make my heart melt.

"Let's come closer," Sydney whispered. We discreetly approached the foxie, trying not to make a sound, until we were literally inches away. The foxie drank water nonchalantly, completely unaware of our presence.

"Foxie foxie," I risked, reaching out and stroking its silky fur. My face expression must have been beyond control as the fox stayed still and Sydney gave me an amused look. 

"Give me this for a second," she reached for the camera hanging off my neck and quickly snapped some pictures of the animal. It didn't seem to mind.

"I didn't know there were foxes around here," Sydney said, while busy on her photoshoot. "How are we gonna call him?"