going to prison.
This was enough for Jason’s dad to think his son was too soft
and needed to be toughened up.
It wasn’t until two years later that Jason’s dad told
him that he was actually the one who stole the neighbor’s
car and that he did it to teach him a lesson. Jason was
pissed at the time and wouldn’t speak to his dad for weeks
after that, but he eventually forgave him. Looking back on
it, Jason is happy to have had the experience. It had made
him a stronger person, even though he fell far behind in
school because of it.
Jason thinks of nothing but his father as he climbs
dozens of feet down the ladder. Once he is at level with the
tops of the trees, he realizes that the rope doesn’t reach all
the way to the ground. He climbs as far down as he can until
he gets to the end of the rope, but he’s still about twenty feet
off of the ground.
It is a consolation to him that the clouds are moving
away from the moon, so at least he has some of his sight
back. He looks down and sees the rest of the rope in the dirt.
It must have broke a long time ago, while somebody else
was climbing down. He wonders how long ago the ladder
snapped. Probably years ago. If the rope was weak enough
to break so long ago, he wonders why it is able to hold him
up now. He wonders if he should jump down from here or
climb back up. He’s not sure which would be safer. If the
rope is weak he would be better dropping twenty feet now,
rather than falling forty or sixty feet if the rope breaks on his
climb back up. If he was just a few more feet to his right he
probably could climb down the side of the cliff. He wonders
if he could jump for the cliff face and try to catch a handhold,
but decides he would likely just rip himself to pieces against
the rocks on the fall down.
Before he gets a chance to make up his mind, the rung
holding up his feet snaps and he falls backwards, thrashing
his limbs in the air as he tumbles. He looks down and tries
to aim his fall so that he can land on his feet, but it’s too dark
to see the ground clearly.
Stephanie wraps her arms around Kevin’s neck and
slides her hands down his shirt. Kevin doesn’t know what’s
going on as the bloody girl kisses him on the neck and whis-
pers “I want you” into his ear like a drunken college slut
with a busted tongue.
“What the hell?” Kevin yells.
He looks back at Stephanie. Her head is rolling from side-
to-side. Her eyes flickering. She doesn’t seem completely
conscious.
She slithers her tongue down his neck towards his
chest and rubs her open wound against the side of his face.
He winces and tries to push her off of him.
“I’ve always wanted you,” she says as she attempts
to crawl over the seat to get to him.
Crystal yel s at him from outside, asking him what the
heck is happening, as the van gets closer to the edge of the cliff.
Stephanie pulls Kevin’s penis out of his pants as he
struggles to return her to the backseat. She rolls into his lap
and drops all of her weight onto his right leg, forcing him to
slam on the gas.
Crystal jumps out of the way as the van roars down
the hill. Kevin slams on the breaks and lifts Stephanie’s
weight with all of his strength to get his foot off of the gas,
but it’s too late. The van’s front wheels go over the edge and
by the time the van comes to a stop, they are already hanging
halfway off of the cliff.
The delirious girl puts his penis into her mouth and
begins to give him a blowjob, as Kevin puts the van in re-
verse and tries to go back up the hill. The front wheels spin
in midair. The van doesn’t move. Kevin looks out of the
front window to see nothing but a starlit sky.
Crystal opens the side door and calls out to Kevin.
“Hand her over to me, slowly,” Crystal says.
Kevin looks down. His penis is going through the
bullet hole in the top of Stephanie’s mouth as she blows him.
He imagines that if she didn’t
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