Yeein' On That 'Haw

Nah, It Doesn't Count As Terrorism

 I quickly learned that I was not good at concocting plans. My mind kept wandering to what exactly could have been happening outside of this room– Norm could have already been dead and I wouldn't have known because I had been unconscious for who knows how long. For some reason, that thought scared me more than anything; the fact that I could have done something about it but I had been stupid enough to confide in God of all people, which got me kidnapped.

Somehow, I managed to shake off my unfounded paranoia for long enough to make up some sort of idea of what I was going to do. There were plenty of windows in here, and it didn't seem like an unsurvivable drop to the ground from the second story. I could probably jump out of the window and try to track down Norm to... apologize, save his ass, or both. Actually, probably just the former. I wasn't sure if I was capable of saving him from anything, let alone Mayor Mingus. But if I couldn't find him, I would definitely try to go through with our assassination plot. I didn't come all this way for nothing.

What concerned me was that my blurry vision hadn't begun to fade. There was still static on the edges of my vision, which made my periphery and depth perception far different than what they usually were. I knew that if I was going to have a chance at saving Norm from an untimely death at the hands of a rabid cat, then I would have to act quick before the glitches got worse. We could figure out their source later.

I took a few breaths to steady my frantically beating heart and approached one of the arched windows along the exterior wall. I never noticed how garish the wallpaper was until now. My hands traced the window's frame until they found the latch, which I promptly pressed my thumb against to unlock it. Then I lifted the window. I was immediately bombarded with the sounds and smells of Dialtown once again– a strangely welcome sensation. I didn't look down. I knew that if I did, I would hesitate, and I didn't have time to hesitate.

With that in mind, I braced my hands against the window sill and lifted my body from the ground before slinging my legs out of the window. My shoes made contact with the thin, decorative accents that lined the exterior walls of Town Hall, offering me a half-decent foothold to keep myself steady. The wind whipped through my clothes, which made it considerably more difficult to keep balance.

I made the mistake of looking down to gauge how far I would be falling. The ground seemed a million feet away, infinitely stretching outward despite only being a maximum of fifteen feet up. I did spot a small pile of empty garbage bags that could potentially act as a landing pad, though. My gaze shot back up to stare at the wall ahead of me. Bad idea. I gave myself a brief pep-talk before counting down from five and loosing my grip on the windowsill.

The fall was over before I even fully realized it was happening. All I felt was a brief sinking feeling in my stomach before my back hit the pile of empty trash bags, forcing a rush of air from my throat. I sat up before I got the chance to relax and stood, only stumbling a little bit before regaining my footing.

I looked around the area and found that I was behind Town Hall, in an alley between the building and the one behind it. Okay, great. I'm not sure why Mingus didn't send a guard to ensure I stayed in the office, but hey, I'm not complaining. Her negligence gave me the chance to escape.

Readjusting my clothes, I approached the corner of the building and peered around it. Thankfully, there was nobody around to see me or take me back to where I was supposed to be. However, there were windows along the side of the wall that I was going to be walking past, so I had to stay low to avoid being seen. I awkwardly crouched down beneath the first-story windowsills and braced one hand on the wall so I wouldn't trip like an idiot, then began to move.

As I practically crawled under one of the windows, I got the bright idea to peek inside and see if I could spy anything useful to... maybe use as a weapon? Or I might have been able to overhear some useful information, maybe on the whereabouts of Norm or some sort of weakness of Mingus's that I could exploit.