“Laurie!” He was shouting from above me, his voice raw as if he had been shouting for a long time. I groaned and opened my eyes. What was going in? The balloon had gone up, I had cheered, then the anchor- and blackness- I touched my head. There was blood all over it, emenating from a sticky spot over my right temple.
“Laurie! Laurie, oh my god, are you ok?” I looked up. It was Jack-in the balloon, which was still anchored! What? I shook my head- I was having trouble thinking straight. “I’m ok, Jack, what’s going on? What happened?” He was leaning out of the cabin window, shouting.
“Laurie! The anchor! It’s stuck!” I looked around and spotted the the anchor hooked through a steel bar near me. I ran over and managed to wrangle it out of the bar, my hand slipping in the blood my blood! all over it.
“Great! Yes!” we cheered.
This, of course, was right before the engines failed, smoke started pouring out of the cabin, and the fabric of the balloon made a horrendous ripping sound.