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Falling to earth should terrify a normal person. The wind ripping through your hair, pulling tears from your eyes and the feeling of utter weightlessness. People say that if you speak the sound is lost to the rush of wind, taking away your speech, your way to communicate.
I don’t need to hear. Instead, I feel. The rumble of the air pressure as I descend towards earth is a feeling that makes me feel alive and as crazy as it sounds, almost normal. Freefalling didn’t require me to try to figure out what someone was trying to tell me, it didn’t ask if they could write it down for me instead of taking time to work with me.
The sky didn’t care that I was deaf.
It had taken many years and a birthday gift to myself to finally find this safe space. I had completed over a hundred jumps, and even got my instructor license after my twenty-first birthday.
Turns out you don’t really need to be hearing to push people out of a plane.
My quirk was also a bonus, I could glide from any height or distance. I just couldn’t fly up. Which, due to the nature of my job, worked great as an 'in case of emergency course of action.' I have only had to rescue one person in the seven years I have been an instructor.
I have also traveled all over the world, jumped from mountains, cliffs, across chasms, canyons and bays. Plenty of people like to watch the bird’s eye view of places that were untouched by humans and remained beautiful. It was quite the lucrative side hustle.
Today was like any other, I prepped the chutes, and all the other gear while my partner did all the talking to the clients. I had read the file on the bachelor party group. A few of them have done this before, which was how they talked the groom into this adrenaline ride. I would have preferred to be partnered with one of the first timers, I love seeing the look of pure amazement, the same excitement that I feel. Although, sometimes they just keep their eyes closed the whole time.
I put the packs up in the plane before I climbed in to set everything up neatly. I was getting my own pack ready when I felt the tap on the outside of the plane. I turned quickly and smiled at my partner. He spoke slowly and signed as he introduced the group. Sighing, I look down at my watch, the reservation for the jump was an hour from now which means I would now have to entertain these guys while I get ready. Great.
I shot my partner a look which he returned sheepishly. He signed sorry and started the tour of the plane which gave me a moment to finish setting my gear up. By the time I started to check the straps my partner was back and the guys were already reaching for the gear I set up earlier.
My partner came over as I scowled, “I’m sorry! There was a last-minute change with air traffic due to the weather this afternoon. We have to take off in twenty minutes.” His sign was still a little rough to read, but he had learned so much over the years to make our work easier for me. It was sweet.
Sadly, not everyone was like him. Case in point, as I put on my gear one of the guys had been talking to me for a while. I hadn’t noticed, so I let out a sound of surprise as he roughly tapped me on the shoulder. He spoke quickly, trying to dazzle me with his overly bleached teeth, he kept turning to look at his friend in the middle of the sentence making me totally miss half of what he was saying. It was an immediate ick. I kept the frown that wanted to form off my face and instead gave him an apologetic smile. I was hoping this would be enough for him to leave me alone.
The groom looked at me and said sorry slowly, and smacked the other guy and I could see him say, “She’s deaf.”
There was the look I couldn’t stand. The look of pity was always followed by the bumbling of movements and exaggerated slow speaking as if that would help me hear them better. I kept the smile in place as the man tried to ask me for my number. I shook my head and motioned to his buckle to get his pack secured.
I move to the next person and check everyone’s gear. My partner started the plane, and began doing his preflight checks to ready for take-off. I could feel the rumble of the plane engine through my boots. I let out a sigh of relief that I wouldn’t have to try to talk anymore and soon we would be in the air. There were a few other instructors that hopped on to help with the newbies. They helped fill the spaces allowing me to be by myself.
I bit my lip as they paired off and left me with the guy from before that asked for my number. I kept my eyes mostly on the floor except to ask if he was okay. I took up my position by the door, I watched the light up front as the plane taxied down the runway and into the air. I could feel the vibration of the headset as my partner explained the procedure and what the group should do while we were in the air and then for the jump.
I waved at the man I was in charge of and motioned him to be next to me and then returned my attention to the light. As soon as it turned green I flung open the side door and the wind instantly tried to pull my hair out of the tight braids. The first set stepped up to the edge. I held my fingers up and counted down from three before I pushed them out.
I repeated this until we were the last ones, I clipped myself to the man’s harness and got us to the edge. I looked over to my partner in the cock pit and gave him a salute before pushing us out into the nothing.
The rush was always welcome, the bite of the wind on my cheeks and the clouds floating right by us. I laugh, not worried about the distorted sound as it wouldn’t be heard by anyone as the wind whisked it away. I held my arms out and enjoyed the pull of gravity. My ears popped as we continued to fall. I took us into a nose dive to join the rest of the group and as we approached, I felt the man beneath me put his hand in between us.
I didn’t have a moment as he unclipped himself from me and pulled his parachute. I yelled in anger but closed my mouth knowing it was useless anyway, the asshole couldn’t hear me anyway.
He did a few tricks with his chute, showing off for the rest of the bros. I let my disgust show on my face and waited for a few more seconds before tugging on the cord. Only to find it jammed.
God damn it.
...
Keigo Takami liked to watch planes. The art of the flight was something that he enjoyed. That was just simple enough that no one ever questioned why he spent so much time watching the sky. He had recently found a small airport that took people and groups out on skydiving adventures. Just far enough out of the city that fans usually didn't spot him. He had been hiding from some over zealous fans when he found this place.
It was amusing to watch the people scream as they plummet towards the ground; to get to watch what he experienced every day. To have that small unfettered joy that he felt. So, he sat and watched the people circle down with their brightly colored parachutes before awkwardly landing in the fields off to the side of the airport.
Today was no different, he came out to the airport on one of his rare breaks from patrols. He could feel the storm moving in, and heard the lone plane taxi and then take off. He followed the plane as it made its ascent, keeping a good distance as to not alert the people to his presence.
This was his time to decompress, not do fanservice.
He found a spot to hide within the trees and watch the colors dance down to the ground. His eyes lazily followed them, but a sharp cry grabbed his attention. It was only for a second, but he had already shifted into hero mode, eyes narrowing in focus he scanned the sky for signs of trouble.
There. A lone person higher up the sky, above the colorful parachutes was trying to engage the chute without success. The person looked like they were getting frustrated and he felt his heart drop as they shed the chute pack and let it go, lost in the wind.
The ground was getting closer and now with no way to stop colliding with the ground. He began to move, maneuvering out of the tree and trying desperately to reach the person before they met their demise.
He felt panic begin to rise in his chest as the distance between him and them was too great. He would not make it time.
Hawks pushed himself to go faster and felt his heart in his throat. The person went into a forward dive and he reached out to grab their arm when all of a sudden, they stopped in the air. The momentum was lost as they flipped forward to land feet first; he couldn’t stop himself however and barreled right into them.
The impact was breathtaking, Hawks almost lost control as they torpedoed out of harms way and the other skydivers. He turned to take the brunt of the impact, and closed his eyes as he braced however it never came. His back gently touched the ground and he instantly opened his eyes. “How did we stop?” He said out loud in wonder.
The person in his arms shoved away and stood. She tore her helmet off and shot him a glare that would have knocked him off his feet if he hadn’t already been on the ground. She used her hands to send him a few rude gestures before stomping off to the group.
“Hey, look I’m sorry. I happened to be in the area-” He followed her, feeling bad about the impact, he knew that hurt and it seemed like she did have it handled, but how could he have known that?
One of the guys that paid for the jump stepped in front of him, blocking his path. “Oh, wow you’re the number two hero!”
“Yes, sorry I was trying to speak to the lady over there. If you’ll excuse me-” He tried to sidestep the man only to be blocked by another one.
“Yeah, I wouldn't try too hard unless you can sign. She can’t hear anything. She’s deaf.” The other guy said, and then followed up by asking for a picture.
Keigo watched as she grabbed the man that he assumed she had been attached to by the ear and dragged him off the field and back towards the hanger. He lingered a little gathering information about what happened from the remaining people and kept one eye on the retreating figures.
He looked at his phone, noting the time was gone otherwise he would have stayed longer. He excused himself from the group and took flight, enjoying the freedom from small talk. Thoughts of the girl who fell from the sky plagued the rest of his day, stuck in his office as the weather took a turn for the worst.
Keigo made a decision and took off at a quick pace to the airport, hoping that she might still be there and he might have a chance to talk to her.
The journey there wasn’t a long one but by the time he arrived he was drenched from head to toe. He walked into the open hanger where the plane from today’s jump was being reloaded and refueled. Keigo wasn’t sure where to look until he spotted her sitting on the bench inside the plane.
She wasn’t paying any attention to her surroundings but trying fix her chute from the jump. When the plane dipped under his weight, she finally looked up at him, her hair was loose from its tight braids and fell in waves around her face. Her eyebrows scrunched in question and she started to reach for her phone when he stopped her.
“Hi sorry I ruined your landing earlier. I wanted to check on you.” Keigo slowly finger spelled the words out, he had watched many videos this afternoon on the subject and was able to get the alphabet down before coming over. “To make sure you weren’t hurt.”
She slowly smiled and spelled back to him slowly. “Thank you.”
He hesitated for a moment and then picked up his hands again and began to spell once more.
“Would you like to fly with me?”
She watched his face as he concentrated on his letters. Her face softened as he looked back up to her eyes.
“I would like to fall with you.”