I saw a woman waiting but didn’t recognize her at first. I walked over to her and asked: “Are you Sonja?”. She turned and looked at me. “Adrian. Man, you look a mess!” I wasn’t feeling too good and I told her I was scared to death. “Some plan here to help us get out of the country!” Sonja told me how it all came about. How she got stuck in all this. A little while later Paul came back with Rosanne. We were ready to go.

When we arrived at the apartment building I looked up. It was terribly high. “I’m not up for this, but I’ll have to do it.” Paul took the stuff he needed from a locker in the hall and we got into an elevator. There was a strong wind on the roof. I put the parachute pack on my back and secured the straps around my legs as tight as I could. I wanted to be very sure that everything was in place. Rosanne noticed I was scared and said I didn’t have to do this, but I knew better. “We are in this together” was the only thing I could blurt out. And I purposely concealed the fact that I was jumping for Kodjiro’s sake. When all the preparations were made and everything was checked again we walked to the edge of the roof and grabbed Rosanne’s hand. I was scared to death. Paul and Sonja took the elevator back to the ground floor.

When we saw them standing there I looked at Rosanne (for the last time maybe). We nodded at each other and without saying a word we made the jump. The first pull wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t stop. I kept on falling and wished I hadn’t done it now. I wanted to go back to the safety of the roof. The ground moved towards me at a terrible speed. The wind tore at my limbs and clothes. “This has to stop, I’m falling to my death. The parachute isn’t working. This is the end.”

find out how it was for Sonja

find out how it was for Rosanne