Fabled

Chapter 9 - Trying To Reach The Unreachable

Sam's POV

Okay, I admit, his hair wasn't ice blonde. It had a little blonde in it, but still enough to make him a slightly blonder version of Elsa.

But back to where we're at in the story. 

(I am so gonna call him Elsa from now on)

We dashed after the sound of her voice, and when we found her she was standing in front of a huge cottage.

Despite expectations, (after all we were in a random forest) the structure had no hint of run-down at all. It was all made of the same dark pine wood, and it was made out of planks, not logs. The trees around the house seemed a little taller than the rest of the trees in the forest (and they were already taller than most trees you could find, so that was pretty impressive).

We all stood there for a second, Amerisa gasping in awe. It was pretty magnificent. (No it wasn't. I don't find an interest in houses at all. I hope she wasn't actually gasping in awe, but she was for sure gasping. I remember very distinctly.)

"Well, we going in or not?" I asked after a second. Amerisa and Kolston watched me for a second and so I went over to enter.

"Aren't you going to knock?" Amerisa asked.

"No, of course not. Then we might not be allowed entry," I said, my hand on the doorknob as I opened it wide. No one came to yell at me. "Come on guys." I stepped in. "No one's there. Who ya waiting for?"

They shared a glance I couldn't decipher between them then came to follow me nervously, though there was nothing to worry about. I had already made it halfway up the stairs when they entered. 

"There you guys are!" I exclaimed. "I've been waiting."

"Well, yeah, but-" Amerisa took a breath. "-We shouldn't be doing this. This isn't right."

"Oh come on, it's fine. No one's even here. And there's no furniture. My guess, no one even lives here. And there's been really good weather for a while. Come on!"

They shared the glance again, then followed, finally. It was about time. This place was starting to freak me out. First of all, if I touched my elbow, it didn't hurt-at all-even if I pushed really, really hard. And when I was complaining? Geez. It didn't even feel satisfying. Like- what is wrong with here!?!

We looked up in the second story, where there was also no furniture, though we didn't check in any of the bedrooms. This place really did seem abandoned. 

This would make a good place for our stay here- in this land, I mean, I had to think. I mean, who wouldn't? I'm not sleeping in the woods!

Maybe I could've actually considered it.

Except for the fact that it started to swing open again with a creeeeaaak as another being entered. I looked behind me with the same panic as Kolston and Amerisa had in their eyes.

I bolted across the room to a wall-the furthest I could get from the stairs. Kolston and Amerisa rushed to stand next to me. Then, Kolston looked up and pointed to something on-or rather in- the ceiling.

"Guys, look!" he said in his quiet voice. Except this time, I mirrored it. 

"An attic!" I exclaimed quietly. "Nice!"

Amerisa, being the tallest out of all of us (we were all average height, but she was still an inch or so taller than me), reached up on her tiptoes to grab the string that would release the ladder if we pulled on it. Just as she stretched so high on them that she was wobbling and I thought she was going to fall, her hand flailed but grabbed it, and she tugged on it, hard. But part of me thinks that was just so she could keep her balance and not fall into my arms.

Dang. I coulda teased her so much if that happened. 

The attic opened quietly (surprisingly), but also really, really slowly. Or at least it seemed that way. Not sure with the pressure of the situation weighing on me Some sort of hinge slowed it down so it'd be quiet, I supposed.

I expected a ladder, but instead of that a rope with a loop at the bottom lowered, also incredibly slowly. I could hear voices, there were multiple people down there. I held my breath, then released it when my throat began feeling constricted, causing me to realize I was doing so.

As soon as the rope was down, I took the opportunity and put my right foot in the loop, holding onto the rope for dear life, despite the fact that the ceiling above our heads where the attic lay was not far from the floor at all, and I probably couldn't even sprain my ankle falling from this height.

Once I was nearly up the slow-climbing rope and getting pretty accostumed to this position I looked down and saw Amerisa and Kolston arguing with their eyes about who should go up next. Not like, "I should go" arguing, but instead "you should go and be safer." I then felt bad-I hadn't even considered them. I had just got on. 

I reached the attic, climbed up, and got to a position where my legs were away from the square hole leading up into the attic, and that's where my head and fingers were sticking out of. It wasn't very dusty, but i didn't have enough time to think more on that, and I felt a pang of regret again as I watched them try to make the other safer, but it wasn't as strong as I expected it to be.

The rope started lowering again, but I realized it wasn't going to be fast enough. The conversation downstairs was getting louder. I found something sharp-I couldn't quite tell what it was in the darkness, maybe a piece of metal of some sort. Anyway, I found what was mechanically lowering the rope, and hit it with several clangs! until it broke and I grabbed hold of the rope, throwing it the rest of the way down, and I probably threw a little too much of it.

Then, finally, Amerisa agreed and got on the rope.

Then the voices downstairs started coming upstairs. 

Then, realizing they had no time left, Kolston jumped on the rope too, next to Amerisa.

My breath caught when I realized what fate I had doomed them to.

Oh crap, I thought.

I have to pull two of them up. Twice my body weight. Before someone finds us breaking and entering.

A/N

When a birthday party says semi-formal to formal:

Dress with sweat pants. Activated.