A Reason to Exist

Chapter 1

Even in the beginning, I panicked. This was the moment my mother had always warned me about - acts of stupidity end in certain death.

It was mid-morning. I was at St Kilda skate park with my friend Zuri. A group of people had been drawn towards the lawn to watch a guy attempt a trick off the roof of a shipping container. Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd, so Zuri and I found ourselves standing there watching.

The guy standing on top of the shipping container took his cap off and brushed his blonde hair down with his fingers and returned his cap to his head backwards. He smiled, excitedly. Port Phillip Bay and the rollercoaster at Luna Park were cinematic in the background.

'That's Tucker King. I've seen him on YouTube,' Zuri whispered.

'What's he doing?' I asked.

'A skate trick, obviously,' Zuri said.

'From up there?'

It was an epic fail. Tucker launched off the shipping container and tried to flip his skateboard in the jump. Instead of landing the trick, his body slammed onto the ground, crash-test-dummy-style. He lay there absolutely still, wearing heavy-duty gardening gloves on his hands and black Vans on his feet.

'Should someone call an ambulance?' I wanted to know. 'Give me your phone,' I urged Zuri, as no one else in the crowd seemed to be doing anything but gawking. 'I'm calling 000.'

This was definitely an emergency. I'd been warned: If you play with fire, you get burned. If you skate on thin ice, you'll fall through. If you do something risky, you'll die. This was a life and death situation for sure. The guy wasn't moving.

'I need your phone,' I repeated, feeling sick in my stomach.

Just as Zuri was rummaging through her backpack, the guy opened his eyes, rolled onto his stomach and yelled 'Butthole' into the ground. Everyone laughed. He pulled his knees towards him and stood, holding his gloved hands up to his audience.

'Bloody legend, Tucker!' someone called out.

'Hanging it up, dude,' another guy yelled.

A guy with a video camera stepped forward to film a close-up. Tucker threw double shakas at the camera, grinning like a gold medallist.

'What an idiot,' I mumbled, grabbing my skateboard. 'I've got to go, I'm getting my ombre done.'

'This morning?'

'Yep.'

'You still want it green?'

'Yes.'

Zuri whistled. 'Does your mum know?'

'No way. Don't even mention her. It's my hair ...'

Zuri joined in, 'It's my hair, I can do what I want.' But we both knew I was kidding myself.

I strapped my helmet onto my head and gave Zuri a kiss in the air, before taking off on my skateboard.

'Good luck!' she called after me.