Jeff - Cliff fall

Suddenly, the ground disappeared from under his feet! The air lifted his glasses off of his face as it whooshed by, and when he reached up to catch them, Jeff's body slipped out of the hyper-wheelchair! Without realizing it, he had been chased right off a cliff!
	While the cavegirls laughed and screeched victoriously, Jeff spun through the air, falling down, and down, until he got stuck in a tree branch. A little bird who had been sitting on her eggs protested in a feisty voice, then flew away. “Pheww... I'm safe–......whoa, wh-wh-wh-whoa, WAH!” Just as he sighed in relief...with a creak and a crack, the branch snapped under his weight, and he was falling again. This time, through all the greenery. “Oof......ahh! Ouch......owww!” There was the strong scent of freshly cut vegetation as hundreds of leaves were torn off around him, and Jeff crashed through the trees, falling down...down......struck by tree branches, thrown against rocks...his entire body was being scratched and scraped, and his clothes and skin were severely torn. His mind was going hazy, and he could no longer feel his arms and legs. But at the very least, he managed to keep a firm hold on his glasses.
	<Ohh...damn it all, I can't believe it turned out like this...>
	<I'm sorry, Tony. I'm sorry, Maxwell. I'm sorry, friends I hadn't met yet......but I can't...go any further...>
	Wham! Jeff's body bounced off an exceptionally large rock. He became very still, like some lifeless object......


	At the top of a certain, somewhat tall hill......there was silence, as if the hill were waiting motionlessly for something to happen, or as if it were holding its breath......
	This was a place that anyone with an interest in the mysterious Seven Wonders of the World would know from just a glance. It was known as Stonehenge. A place it is believed that ancient people may have once used to observe the constellations and for religious celebrations. It is one of a few places like it scattered throughout the world.
	These twelve pillars, which create a perfect circle even so far apart from one another, are all, strangely, the same height, despite retaining their naturally rugged shapes. In the very center, on top of red clay earth which was so flat and even that it seemed as if it had been swept clean, there were six large men with strong-looking physiques wearing crude fur coats, all sitting in a circle facing one another. Their legs were crossed, and their eyes were closed. They were quietly meditating.
	Conforming to the flow of time, the shadows of both the stones and the men moved soundlessly, gradually stretching longer and longer. The sun sank behind a mountain to the west, and the entire landscape burned a fiery red.
	And then...one of the men silently opened his eyes and stood up. Considering his size, his movements were surprisingly elegant and majestic.
	Then, the next man got up. Then the next.
	The six large men formed a line, and walked down the hill. Even as they walked over dead leaves, they didn't make a sound. Even in places thick with twigs and brush, they didn't snap or rustle a single thing. Nothing hindered their solemn, reverent procession.
	Before long, the men came to the foot of a steep cliff. Caught in the branches of a bush, there was a small, torn, crumpled flag bearing the emblem of a rising sun. The man at the front of the group gently took it between his fingers, and then he moved on. There was a tire. There was a pipe. There were the crushed, flattened remains of a wheelchair. And across from this, there was something white sticking up from the grass.
	It was a hand. A youthful hand, its fingers crooked as if trying to grasp the air, reaching out feebly. Nearby, there was a pair of fallen glasses, with broken lenses.
	The men remained silent, and gathered around the fallen boy. Motionlessly, they looked down at him.
	His skin seemed very sickly and pale. His expression was distorted with pain. His body was very frail. And there were metal and leather devices strapped to his thin legs.
	The men all looked around at one another, and they silently nodded.
	One of the men leaned down and picked him up. He held the young boy's body in his arms as if he weighed nothing at all. As he went to walk away, another of the men held up his hand to stop him. He picked the broken glasses up out of the grass, and laid them on the young boy's chest. As if he knew what the man had done, the young boy's long eyelashes fluttered very slightly. And the fossil-like faces of those large men became calm and peaceful once more.

***

Mother 2, Chapter 4