Remembering This Summer

The night of Chelsea's Graduation party. She lives 45 minutes from our town so 13 of us spend the night. Because there are so many of us we decide to sleep in the bounce house. Boys are on one side, girls on the other. I'm between two couples who had been breaking the line to be cutesy, and I am across from Josh, my awesome gay friend. We both felt left out of the cutesy so decided to hold hand as we fell asleep. 3:00 in the morning we're all quiet.

This bounce house is cozy. It's a giant air mattress that doesn't deflate and keeps the air circulating. The "rrr"ing noise of the motor in the background becomes background noise, something to focus on, ridding the world of all other sounds.

I manage to drift off to sleep around 3:30. 10 minutes later, my arm begins to feel numb from being flailed above me, under my pillow and head. I careful turn over and switch hands, without waking Josh, and positioning myself comfortably. I then attempt to go back to sleep.

4:00 rolls around. I am nearly asleep when suddenly, everything is silent. The "rrr"ing had stopped. Instantly, I know something is wrong and I bolt upright. Chelsea (who is sleeping next to me) is sitting up as well and Josh has flung himself to the side of the bounce house. The three of use know we have to get out as the roof folds in on us.

Luckily, the "rrr"ing starts a few seconds later and we push the roof back up. A few of the other 10 had woken up, but we decide it was just a quirk and it'll be fine. We lay back down.

"Is it bad that the first thing I thought was 'We're going to die!'?" Chelsea asks.

I laugh, because the first thing I thought was 'The slit in this thing is not big enough for all of us to get through quickly...'

10 minutes later, the "rrr"ing stops again. Chelsea, Josh and I waste no time and announce we have to leave. The roof collapses almost instantly, but after about 10 seconds it turns back on again. No one else is as inclined to leave, asking "Where are we going to go?" But the three of us vacate the bounce house and Chelsea rushes inside, where her dad is still awake (luckily he's a cop who doesn't trust kids on a coed sleepover).

Josh is the most concerned as he cannot go inside the house due to his cat allergies, but decides to sleep on the trampoline. I squeeze his hand once more as a goodbye and his eyes get big.

"Kathleen, my glasses are on... They were in a case in my bag. I must have managed to put them on as I flung myself to the side. I'm a Ninja!" He declared with a smile.

By the time Chelsea got back the bounce house had collapsed twice more and everyone was sliding out into the yard. Nine of use followed Chelsea inside. Josh was on the trampoline, we discovered Austen sleeping on the swinging chair outside Chelsea's house.

Once inside we all collapsed on the floor.