“Don’t climb too high.”

It was a constant refrain that Carlos hated hearing. He never thought he was climbing too high, but then suddenly there would be adults down below calling for him to come down.

“Didn’t we say not to climb too high?”

How high was too high? He’d been on playgrounds that were higher than some of the trees he’d climbed and yet adults still freaked out. The inconsistency was annoying to say the least.

Trees weren’t the only things he liked to climb. In fact, if it looked like he could climb it, Carlos would give it a try. Waiting outside the restaurant and there’s a cool looking sculptural sign? Climb it. Interesting brickwork on the corner of the elementary school he went to? Climb it. Neighbor puts up a new fence? Climb it. He got in trouble on each of those occasions but it didn’t stop him from doing it. Carlos just learned to climb when no one was watching.

He begged both Santa and his parents for climbing gear last Christmas but none had appeared. There was even a climbing gym nearby but he was too young to go there alone and no one else in his family had the time or inclination to take him. That and it cost a fair amount of money which he clearly didn’t have. So, he made due with what he could find.

The park near his house used to have some excellent climbing trees but after last year the good ones had been trimmed so there weren’t any more branches down low. It was as if the entire world was against him climbing things. Well, there was an excellent tree that he passed on his way to and from school and he’d been waiting for his chance to climb it. Most days there were too many people around but today on his walk home the stars had aligned.

The tree stood in an empty lot between two houses. On most days, the kids who lived there would walk home with Carlos but they were all sick today. They knew Carlos wanted to climb the tree and took glee from preventing him. They were too busy throwing to stop him now. He knew his time was short since his mom would know something was up if he wasn’t home on time. He’d have to hurry if he wanted to climb the tree properly.

First he tossed off his backpack to get rid of the extra weight, followed by his shoes so he could have optimal grip for his climbing. The lowest branches were just within reach and Carlos pulled himself up and onto the tree. His face was split into a wide grin. He couldn’t help it. He was always happiest when he was climbing. Branch after branch he climbed ever higher.

The sturdy branches at the base gave way to bouncier branches in the middle of the tree. They swayed ever so slightly in the breeze and he took a moment to bounce a little here and there while looking out at the view. He wasn’t higher than the houses yes but if he kept climbing he would be. That would definitely be too high, but who was here to tell him that? No one, that was who. His grin grew even wider, if that was possible, and Carlos climbed ever higher.

His first peek over the top of the roofs thrilled him in ways he didn’t know he could experience. If it weren’t for the fear of being caught he would have whooped and shouted. As it was, he stayed silent but excited. He’d never seen the top of a roof before. Not like this, anyway. Someday he’d like to climb onto a roof. In fact, with a bit of a running jump, he thought he could leap from this tree onto the house. Today wasn’t the day for that, he knew, but he filed it away in his mind for the future. Right now, he had this tree to climb.

The bouncy branches of the middle thinned even further the higher up Carlos climbed until he was having to stand right next to the trunk of the tree where the branches first grew out of it so they wouldn’t bend too far. They’d either break or he’d slip off if he stood much farther out on the limbs. It was slower going now since he had to be more selective with what branches he chose to climb with. More than one branch snapped off in his hand or under foot but he was always careful not to fully commit to a new branch until he was sure it could support him.

The view from up here was beyond anything he’d ever experienced before. He was higher up than even the largest playgrounds he’d been on. It seemed as though he could see forever. Then he made the mistake of looking down. He really was high up, and somehow he’d never been afraid of being up high, but this time was a bit different. Carlos wasn’t afraid, but he wasn’t all that comfortable with how high up he was. His ankles were tired from supporting his weight on such small footholds and they started to shake.

There wasn’t much more of the tree above him to climb but that seemed like the only direction he could go in since climbing down required him to look down and he didn’t want to do that. The problem was, to go any higher required him to rely on truly thin branches and they were breaking off far too often for his comfort.

Carlos finally found a solid branch and pulled himself up. He stepped onto the next branch and just as he shifted his weight fully, it snapped. At the same time, the branch in his hand slipped out of his grasp as the thin bark stripped away. He tried to grab another branch but his hands were too slick and they slipped through his fingers.

Like slow motion, Carlos tipped backwards while he fell. The first few branches that slapped against him didn’t hurt but he knew that wouldn’t last long. Panic clouded his mind and the next couple of seconds were a blur of pain, crying out, and fear.

How long he lay on the ground before his mind returned to him he wasn’t sure but it couldn’t have been that long. He was winded from the fall and drawing in any breath was all but impossible. He gasped and struggled to breathe, eventually getting his first lungful of air. Then the real pain hit. Everything hurt, but especially his left side and arm. He tried to move and pain like electricity short through him and he screamed.

He tasted blood and felt loose teeth in his mouth.

“Help!” Carlos called out though his voice sounded weak to him and he doubted anyone would hear him.

He tried to move again, this time more carefully. His left arm refused to work and as he finally looked down at it he understood why. Blood covered much of his arm but the unmistakable bone sticking out of his elbow was all he needed to see. His right arm, while still hurting, moved a little better though his shoulder hurt too badly to be of any use. At least his legs didn’t hurt. He could maybe push himself to one of the houses and get help that way.

His legs didn’t move. He looked down again at his body and was horrified to also see bones sticking out of his pant legs, blood staining them, and yet there was no pain. It made no sense. He tried to move them again and again it was as though they weren’t there. It was different than his arms. He could feel them and felt their refusal to move. With his legs it was just…

He knew what had happened. One of the assemblies the school had put on last year had a speaker come who was in a wheelchair. They spoke about a car accident they’d been in. Carlos couldn’t remember the reason for their coming to the school other than that, but that was enough. They’d broken their back in the car accident and lost the ability to move their legs. The same thing must have happened to Carlos when he’d fallen out of the tree.

That was when the tears came. He was in pain and afraid but that hadn’t been enough to make him cry. Only the realization that he wouldn’t be able to climb anymore broke through. Without his legs, climbing would be impossible. Broken bones could be fixed but not a broken back. He didn’t know why that was the case, but he remembered the speaker saying that.

“Help,” he tried again but it was even weaker than the first time.

Why’d he climbed so high? Why didn’t he climb back down when he had the chance? He knew the answers to those questions but he refused to acknowledge them. This wasn’t his fault. That branch broke and it wasn’t his fault.

It was his fault.

The tears continued to flow. A few sobs made his chest hurt and he tried to limit how much he moved in general. Experience told him it wouldn’t take too much longer for his mom to come looking for him. She did that if he wasn’t home on time. She’d pass by here and see him and, well, he’d be in trouble. That trouble paled in comparison to the damage to his body. No amount of grounding could compare to what he’d have to live with for the rest of his life.

Accepting his fate was comforting in many ways. Knowing he’d be in trouble, that he was paralyzed, and that there was nothing he could do about it, washed away the fear of it. His mom would scream and maybe shout, probably cry a bit too. She’d ask him what he thought he was doing. There would be all of that and Carlos would just let it all happen. What else could he do?

Sure enough, after what felt like an eternity of pain and tears, he looked down the street and saw his mom walking up. She hadn’t seen him yet but he could tell she was worried. Her arms were crossed in front of her like she was giving herself a hug and she was calling out his name from time to time as she looked around for him. It had never dawned on him before that she was often quite worried about him. Turns out her worries were well founded.

“Mom,” Carlos called out when she was close enough to hear him.

She turned and for a moment it was clear she didn’t recognize what she was looking at. Then the horror struck and she screamed, falling to her knees. It was worse than if she’d shouted at him. He had never seen his mom like that before. She crawled forward to where he lay. Her hands quivered as she clearly wanted to hold him but at the same time didn’t dare touch him for fear of making his injuries worse.

“I’m sorry, mom,” Carlos said. “I climbed too high.”