Third Try_Gabriel

Chapter 4
Gabriel:

A small, cold finger pokes my nose. My eyes shoot open and I learch forward. The green around me unfamiliar. The growth beneith me is soft, but clings to my hands. It takes my mind a minute to ajust and my memory to return. My little sister Jumps in front of me, a small poof echoes about her as she lands. The air reverberates around her, leaving the wave of the Jump behind. It is sweet to see her smiling face. Any real smile is better than the havok and terror that has followed me around for the past year and a half. None stop blood.

"Oh, don't be sad again, Gabriel!" she says, her smile fading a little, before her balled fists land on her hips. "This is a happy place. My happy place. And there will be no sad places while you're here. That is the only rule. If you don't follow it. . ."

"You'll do what?" I ask, a smile dances behind my words, and I start getting to my feet.

She Jumped just above my head. Gravity pull her down and she lands, dress over my eyes and legs on either one of my shoulders. I sway at the sudden weight, but quickly stablize. The grass hugs onto my boots as if trying to help.

"I'll make you laugh," she giggles. "And as you can see,"--she moves the cloth from my face, allowing me to breathe--"I'm very good at what I do. This is my world and no one can stop me in my world. Not even you, big brother."

"You're world, little sister, is quiet beautiful."

And it really was. There was grass, of a kind, as far as the eye could see. Different shades of green flowed like a river, dancing, changing in the lightest whisp of a breeze. Not three paces away from where I stand with Della on my shoulders is a pool of crystal clear water. It shimmers and the large trees and few animals that I hadn't ever seen before drink from it. A trickling waterfall fed it by way of a little streem that ran on the other side of the oasis. Dusty mountains, a long ways off, encompassed us. The highest peek seemed to stop and flatten, still high above the rest. It almost seems to glow. . .

A deer like creature with black spots dotting his rusty coat and three massive horns walked to the bank and lapped up the refreshing liquid. A red, rabbit sized rodent with a larger tail than it knew what to do with, woddled over and slipped into it, followed quickly by three other much small animals of the same type.

"Oh, look, Gabriel. These are my friends. I've seen them once or twice here, but every time I try to get close enough to touch them, they run. Why do you think that is?"

"Probably because you scare them. You are rather frightening, you know." She start to retaliate, but I stop her with another question. "How did you find this place?"

She smiles above me and Jumps to stand before me. "I can't tell you. It's my secret. If I told you, you could tell other Jumpers. Then it wouldn't be my world."

"I won't tell, I promise. Have you ever known me to break a promise?"

Della thinks it over before shaking her head. "But I'm still not going to tell you." She grabs my arm and suddenly we're gone again. It's like being pulled through a wind tunnel then, without warning, the cord that holds you in place snaps and you fall for the briefest of moments the way Della Jumps. As you land, you land on your feet. When she Jumps with new comers, they tend to be groggy and dizzy, but I have Jumped with her more often than anyone else and I'm used to the thud of landing.

My eyes open again and we are home.