Darren's Dare

A Story by Tamara

Darren's Dare

Darren's heart thumped in his chest at the thought of what he was about to do. He had two options at this point:(1)Go through with it and be known as "Fearless'' to his friends, or (2) Embarrass himself completely, topple over or slip and fall, while breaking a couple of bones(if he was so lucky) then having to face the wrath of his mother when he got home. "Perfect," he muttered under his breath with a roll of his eyes.

Darren stood tall atop the rusty, creaking galvanise roof of the old, wooden house and surveyed the sight down below. He uncomfortably shifted his weight from foot to foot, the roof slowly concaving under him. There wasn't a sound to be heard except for the occasional whine of the roof, the gentle sway of the palm trees behind him, cooling the little beads of sweat which dotted his forehead and cascaded down the back of his neck. The only upside to being this high above the ground was the fantastic sight of the sun setting over the horizon of crystal blue. However, not even this could calm his nerves.

Daren was so caught up in his own world that he didn't even realize his friend, Aaron, had come up beside him, He then dusted his hands on his pants after climbing the ladder leaned up against the side of the house and fished his phone out of one of his pockets with a mischievous smirk thrown Darren's way. He deadpanned with a cold stare.

Aaron held up his phone, ready to record. "Ready?" Darren's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, fright evident in his eyes. All he had to do was tight-rope on the clothesline to get to the adjoining wall, then backflip into a lake at least five meters away. Easy right? Right?
"You're going to hell for this," said Darren. Aaron's smirk curved into a full- blown smile. "I know."

Darren made a quick sign of the cross, awaiting the 'Go.' "Okaaaayy..." Aaron drawled out, "Go!" and pressed Record.

Darren was off. He cautiously stepped onto the terrifyingly thin clothesline. He wobbled momentarily and immediately shot his arms out to regain his balance and let out a relieved sigh. He decided now was as good a time as any to pray.

"Hail Mary," he began out loud, ingnoring Aaron's failed attempts at hiding his laughter. He continued moving, turning sideways this time and shimmied across, pacing himself every few steps. "Full of Grace." He neared the middle and misstepped. He shrieked as he almost fell off and somehow managed to get back on it again. "Phew. Thank you Jesus," he said gratefully. "You alright?" Aron peeked from beindhis phone, curiously. "Yeah," Darren replied over his shoulder and kept going, while saying his Hail Mary.

Darren neared the end. "It's almost over," he thought to himself, a smile slowly forming on his face. He balanced himself atop the wall. shut his eyes and broke out into a backflip