Highfall by Ani Alexander Read Free Book Online Page B

really strange.  He sounded weird and seemed to be too emotional for a programmer.
     
    They talked for a few hours.  With each typed word Annika felt closer to him.  There was a certain warmth, innocence and purity in Saviour that she felt intuitively and liked a lot.  It is always easy to be open with a stranger whom you do not know and most probably will not meet.  You end up saying things you would most probably not tell others.  Annika felt as if she were talking to herself while she was sharing her thoughts and views with him.
     
    “I have nothing to lose at this moment - neither wealth, nor a boyfriend.  I don't have any ideas either, so I'm a perfect candidate for a bungee jumper.  No will required,” Annika felt sad as she posted this message and realised how true it was.
     
    “You know what?  Why don't you come to our city the day after tomorrow and join us?  We can jump together.”
     
    “Why not?”
     
    The answer came naturally and Annika did not even need time to think it over.
     
    After three hours of chat conversation, they agreed on the time and place for a meeting and logged off.  Annika’s room felt empty with the dark screen and the empty chat room.

 
    14
     
    Annika was very excited in the morning.  She stood under the shower and thought that she was going to do a very risky thing later in the day.  And it was not only about the bungee jumping.  It was about going to a city she did not know, to meet a guy she did not know and to jump from who knew how high a bridge.
     
    At the same time she felt something positive inside.  There was something akin to a small hope of being reborn.  A hope that things would be better, that days would become lighter and that it would be time to stop living in the past and time to give a chance to something new.  Her pain was still there, but it had calmed down and was partly suppressed.  She did not want to cry over it any longer.  She was starting to heal... slowly; taking very small steps, she was walking away from all the bitterness, the questions, the pain and the tears.
     
    Annika put on her jeans and a T-shirt, took her backpack and went out.  It was a bright, sunny day and she smiled to herself, anticipating the biggest jump of her life.
     
    The journey took two hours by bus and what there was to see was nothing special.  She spent the time listening to music on her CD player and daydreaming.  She dreamed of the day when her thoughts and feelings would be free of Stefan, when she would not go back to him in her thoughts a thousand times a day, and when she would finally be able to live her own life and not his.
     
    When she got out of the bus, looked around and did not see anyone, she slightly panicked.  After all, how could she know that the guy had not been lying, that he really intended to meet her and that he lived in the city?
     
    Cyberspace is a tricky place and theoretically he might be anyone – a middle-aged man, a maniac, a woman... anyone.  Who was to say that what he said was true?  He might not be jumping today at all and maybe that was just a way to attract her attention.  She was becoming more disillusioned with each passing minute.
     
    Then finally Annika saw two guys walking towards her.  She immediately recognized the one she spoke to on the net.  He had the widest, brightest, most genuine smile in the world.  His smile made Annika forget all the negative thoughts of a few minutes before, and she regained her certainty that she had done the right thing by taking a risk and coming.
     
    “Hi,” said the guy who she surmised was Saviour.
     
    “Hi,” Annika smiled back, “Annika.”
     
    “Vasko,” they both shook hands.
     
    “And this is Angel,” Vasko looked at his friend and Annika shook his hand too.
     
    They were university friends and although pretty close, they did not have too much in common.  The three of them walked to the place, where they were supposed to meet the rest of the crazy