Like Falling Through A Cloud

To save up for my wife’s expensive asthma medication, I worked the dangerous high-rise job around our apartment complex, even on a day with winds strong enough to knock someone off their feet. However, that was when I accidentally witnessed my wife cheating on me with her ex-boyfriend, and to entertain him, she picked up a fruit knife and slowly cut through my safety rope. My body slammed into the ground so hard that the impact shattered the bones in my leg. Only later did I learn the truth: the one with asthma wasn’t my wife at all—it was her first love. All the money I’d been saving for her? She had been giving him every cent. Eventually, the same cold, proud woman I once married ended up on her knees in front of me, begging for help. I called the building security over and had them drag her out. “Get that filth out of here,” I said. “It’s hurting my eyes.”

Hikari Raine Davis is a college student studying Architecture. She always plans everything but something she didn't plan, happened. She fell in love. She met a guy named Raui. He's mysterious, he never told her his surname and it seems like he's hiding something from her. But she didn't care, she loves him. He shows up only when it rains. He never called nor show up when the rain isn't pouring. She didn't know why and she didn't want to intrude. But when she found out everything accidentally, her heart teared into pieces. Everything became a mess, Raui's secret ended their relationship. After years of moving on, she's finally back and she didn't expect what happened while she was gone. Will there be a second chance for their love? Or everything they've been through will just stay in their memories forever?

Amanda is a biracial Nigerian teenager who's still struggling to come to terms with her new life mother's death years prior after a traumatic accident that almost claimed both their lives. Upon relocation to Port-harcourt she meets Chideziri, another teen who helps her make peace with her life. Chideziri is an unlikely teen from a dysfunctional family and an abusive father. He is constantly on the run from reality, but when he meets Amanda he begins find reasons to pick the fragments even if it means facing off his demons. She belongs to the sky is a brutally honest coming of age story set in contemporary Nigerian society. It trails two teens who in trying to find themselves find each other, and discover that their spark may not be fate's design alone.

While packing Ethan's flight bag, I found a custom solo wings pin. The engraving on the back read: For Lark, to celebrate your first solo. Beneath the box sat the receipt for Skyler's flight school tuition, paid in full by Ethan, along with a photograph. In the photo, she was sitting in the pilot's seat. Ethan's gloved hand rested over hers on the control yoke. Seven years ago, I had sat in that same seat. Back then, I was one step away from my first solo flight, but Ethan talked me out of it again and again, always claiming it was "for my own good." He said flying was dangerous, that someone had to stay home and take care of things. I put down my logbook, pressed the wrinkles out of every one of his captain's uniforms, and spent seven years living by his flight schedule. Only now did I finally understand. It wasn't that he didn't want to take anyone flying. He just didn't want to take me. What made it even more absurd was that the night Skyler first flew through the clouds, I was alone in a hospital, losing our baby. I called him over a dozen times. At three in the morning, he finally called back, his voice flat and indifferent. "I just took Lark through the clouds. Next time something comes up, give me a heads-up." I put the wings pin back exactly where I found it, then pulled the crumpled ultrasound printout from the bottom of the drawer and tucked it inside the logbook that had been gathering dust for seven years. This time, I wasn't going to wait for him to look back. He convinced me to leave the pilot's seat, then turned around and put another woman in the sky. So I would leave him and take back the sky that had always been mine.

What if you are invited in a falling game? Where your heart is in contingency. You need to act like a real couple in one whole month with activities you need to do together. What's the percentage of you not falling in love? Can you distinguish if he/she shows genuine gesture or is it a trap to make you fall? The prices are immersive, hard to nod off. Will you chose money or love? Or are you dictate your heart for the sake of money? Are you going to fall for uncertain love and vague love? Putting your heart at stake? Or you will play smartly, making your partner fall and ensure your winning place. This is the falling game and everything is fake. Once you fall, you lose. Good day Oxians! You are one of a lucky student to participate in the FALLING GAME. Golden rule: ONCE YOU FALL, YOU LOSE. 1. Exclusive for students of Oxford International School only. Any transferee or exchange students need to sign contracts to avoid problems. 2. Don't kill other participants. You are allowed to harm everyone in the game but killing is a crime. 3. No to inactive. Two absents mean a punishment plus removing to the game. 4. Can do activities and attendances. Failure to comply means a punishment. 5. Act like a real couple. Play your cards well and don't let your heart dictates your mind. We have eyes everywhere. If you are interested, please see us in FG house anytime. For further information and knowledge regarding this game, you may send an email to FGhouse@gmail.com

Fake it 'til you make it has been the motto I live by since my mother died. I'm also doing a really bad job at the making it part. The night we met, I was at my lowest. But you gave me a reason to feel happy again. For the first time in over a year, I was optimistic. You and I? We're the same. Don't form attachments. Follow the rules. Don't dream of a future. Too bad our hearts wouldn't listen. And this storm we're going through? The one that threatens to rip us apart? It doesn't care that I'm falling for you. Falling for You is created by Jennifer Van Wyk, an eGlobal Creative Publishing author.