Page 8 of Intrepid
His lips stretched into a crooked smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “This ain’t my first time. The masonry inside is shit. The mortar sticks out from the brick, so you can climb down. Easy. Like climbing stairs.”
“Then drop two stories.”
“Drop and roll. S’all you gotta do.”
“What are you? One of those parkour freaks?”
The distant sounds of sirens from the south side of the building filled my chest with warm and fuzzy blossoms of hope. “Police are here. We’ll be fine. No need to fall to our deaths.”
“Yeah. Because anyone’s permitted to break into a building and set it on fire. This is breaking and entering. And destruction of property.”
“We didn’t break in. We climbed through a window.”
“This building was recently purchased by some bigwig investor. Don’t think the new owner’s going to give a shit whether you broke in, or climbed in.” He raised a brow and spun toward the chimney, where he hoisted himself up over the bricks.
I rushed forward, peering into the dark tunnel closing in around him. His flashlight bounced off the walls, while he scooted his way down the brick. His movements were slow and tedious, but in seconds, I stared down at the top of his head, already about ten feet below me.
Tight pangs hit my chest, bullets of panic that mirrored my panting breaths, and a cold, nauseous sensation tickled my ribs. A sharp ping zapped my skull, and I relaxed my clenched jaw. I can’t get caught here. My father would yank my tuition money so fast, it’d make my head spin.
I pushed up to the chimney, just as he had, choking back the acids at the back of my throat as I stared down over the edge to the drop below.
“Don’t look down, just climb in, and keep your eyes focused on the bricks below your feet.” The guy called up from another twenty feet down, putting him thirty feet closer than I was to the ground.
Taking a few deep breaths, I clasped my eyes shut to center my head, and slid off the edge of the brick. My shoes skidded along the surface, and the darkness slipped in my periphery as I dropped, letting out a shriek. “Fuck!” Stomach balled into a knot, I caught my fall on a brick and hung from the edge, one foot against one wall, the other against the one behind me.
“Fuck!” I breathed out a second time, trembling to pull myself up. My arms wobbled like jelly, my muscles weak.
“It’s all right. You’re all right now. Just scoot yourself down slowly.”
“I can’t!” A sob broke in my chest, and a dry scratch in my throat burned as I pushed past the lump there. “I’m …. I’m afraid of tight spaces!”
“You’re gonna be okay. Bend your knees and push against the bricks.”
I shook my head, clutching onto the edge of the chimney, and closed my eyes, praying for those seconds just before I’d agreed to come to this shithole to return.
Never again. Please, God, I’ll never do anything stupid again.
“Let go. Just let go. You’re not going to fall. And if you do, I’ll catch your fall. C’mon.”
“Catch my fall?” The incredulous tone of my voice bounced off the soot-stained wall in front of me. “As we both tumble to our death, you mean?”
“Your alternative is sitting there all night. ‘S’at what you want?”
No. Hell, no. I wanted a nice warm bath with Epsom salts, and two ibuprofens to steal away the monster headache I’d worked up in all of my panic. Hand trembling, I let go and slapped my palm against the wall behind me, then pressed the other into the wall in front of me.
“Now walk down. Slowly.”
The confidence and command in his voice seemed to speak to my muscles more than my own, so I did as he instructed. Walking down the wall. Little steps at a time. Hoping not to die.
A sweat broke over my skin, my heart racing with every shift of my hands. My breaths arrived fast and broken. I didn’t even know how far down I’d climbed before the anxiety settled over me.
Rope biting into my wrists. Gasoline burning my nose. So cold, I can’t get warm.
“I can’t.” The words seeped past my clenched teeth, my jaw tight and aching. “I can’t do this.”
“You’re almost there, keep going.”
“You don’t …. You don’t understand. I can’t do this.”
