My Dark Scientist

26 | Below the exotic cliff

E L L O R A

He stands at the edge, his hands buried in his pockets, staring down at me with a face void of expression, as I fall down the cliff, further and further away from him. He becomes smaller and smaller with each passing second.

I don't shout or scream.
I am too shocked to.
The wind whips at my clothes and the air howls in my ears. My heart pounds so fast, it almost hurts. The falling sensation burns deep at the pit of my stomache.

My eyes however, remain fixed on professor Langdon. His calm face. His indifferent posture. Until, the fog covers him completely.

For a few seconds I only see fog. And darkness.

Then, I hit something. It gives way beneath me and cradles my body. The impact knocks the wind right out of me.

I wait for my vision to clear.

And I cannot breath.

Is this how it feels to be dead?

Then slowly my vision clears and my numb body starts feeling again.

A net.
There is a huge net at the bottom of the cliff.

As I stare up motionless, from the net, all I see is a mass of impenetrable fog. Nothing beyond is visible.
I stare up, trying to breath, feeling the blood pound in my ear.

A pair of hands reaches out for me through the edge of the net. After a minute, I scrawl my way through the net towards the edge with a lot of difficulty considering my breathing is still not stable and I feel too shaken to even think. I latch on to the hands.

I am pulled down the net, rather forcibly. I would have fallen headfirst if it weren't for the hands balancing me with a firm hold on my body.

Red hair and deep blue eyes stare back at me. "You are shorter than I expected." Her words takes a minute to register. She is taller than me, and a fresh wave of beauty. This woman is clearly older. Late twenties maybe? Her beauty isn't like Isabella's done up girl beauty. Hers is natural, effortless like a woman who knows her worth.

I don't reply. Instead I take in my surrounding. An open space underground. The roof above, which is basically the rock solid ground which I should've hit and cracked my head against, is cleared through right above the net. Clearly an arrangement made for a jumper who would fall beneath the ground and hit the net instead of the ground.

A group of men, and women stands around, whom I don't recognise, except Luke, Sandro and Felix.

Luke walks up to us, "She can't walk," he says to the red haired woman, taking me from her hold. His gaze lands on me slowly. "Hey, babydoll." He greets, pulling me by my arms towards himself.

Damn my leg!

"I can take care of myself, thank you." I say, trying to wriggle out of his hold, which is impossible due to his iron grip on my arms. The way Luke's eyes scan my body makes me uncomfortable.

"Where is professor Langdon?" I don't know why I ask this question inspite of knowing he is probably on his way back home already, after throwing me from a God-knows-how-many-feet high cliff.

"Profesor who?" Red hair asks. "By any chance do you mean Abraham?"

"Yeah, she does." Says Felix. "Girl's been calling him Professor all the time."

Red hair sneers. "Sorry to inform you Ellora Davis, but Abraham is no professor."

"How do you know my name?" I snap at her.

Before anyone could answer, a thud brings our attention back to the net.

Professor Langdon's body hits the net. Like an angel falling down the sky. A fallen angel. Except, he didn't fall- he of course, jumped.