Love's Inferno

Chapter 12- Shi's Staircase

Lou 

"Come on kid." He said it in a way I would describe as being affectionate if I didn't know him. 

I followed him to the corner of the room and he placed his hand against the furthest window panel and pushed gently. It silently swept open to reveal a grand, wide organic spiral staircase and I froze. 

I hate heights. 

"Is there another way down?" I couldn't stop myself from asking. 

"Not that I know of." He smiled again and it looked easy until his eyes found my face. "Wha? Now you don't like staircases? Because you take the ones upstairs every day just fine." 

"I don't have an issue with staircases... I'm just afraid of heights." You could see down, like all the way, from the side of this particular one and I felt nauseous just looking at it. 

"You're afraid of heights?" he asked incredulously. "But you..." the pause was quick and not difficult to follow. 

"Yes, I tried to escape through the skylight okay? Not my best idea but it was a viable one if you ignore the fact that I now have three broken nails." It was sore. 

"I wasn't going to say that." he responded so earnestly I almost believed him. 

"Oh really?"

"Yes really. I was going to say that you hung all those plants from the ceiling in your apartment by yourself. Didn't you use a ladder?" The man was observant and gave me an out that I'd happily discuss over the alternative. He was an asshole but he was also strangely careful, unlike so many people, he wasn't invasive. He hadn't once broached the topic of my family even though it would've been the normal, if insensitive, approach. And he hadn't asked me about Carrey and not for the first time today, I was quietly grateful for his paradoxical nature even if I couldn't keep up with it. First Anna, then Carrey and now this. He never pushed. He was explosive but controlled kind of like a gun. 

"No, I didn't use a ladder. They're all hung off of a grid that I hoisted into the air. With much difficulty, I might add. And I did that to avoid a ladder."  

"You're really crafty you know?" he said cheekily. 

"Says the man who has a concealed office and home behind a bookcase."  

"Oh, it's no longer a freak box?" 

"I was being polite. The jury's still out on that one." 

It was the first light and easy conversation we'd probably had all day, maybe ever, and it was nice. 

"I can just..." I turned to return to the couch when his hand caught mine. He threaded his fingers between mine and I prayed that my hands wouldn't begin to sweat. The gesture was tender and he gently pulled me in the direction of the staircase. I followed silently as we made a slow descent and clung desperately to the side, in absence of a handrail. 

It was going fine until I made the mistake of looking down the barrel and felt like I was going to barf. I stopped immediately. 

"Shi you can't close your eyes! Open your eyes for godsakes woman! If anything happens to you Uncle S. is gonna fucking kill me." I opened my eyes not because I heard the laughter in his tone or responded to the tightening of his hand, but because of what he had called me.