The Beginning Of The End

Chapter 10: Annabelle

I know I don't weigh that much, but stepping on his back made me feel a little self conscious. What if I broke his back or something? I mean we're still kinda weak..  

It's fine, it's fine. He's offering it and it needs to be done. 

Ok.

I place one foot on his back, and slowly start to put weight on it.

"Belle, you weigh two pounds, you aren't going to hurt me. It's ok, really."

I still feel weird about it, but I put my full weight on my right foot and push off the hard ground. I can practically feel his back muscles through my shoes and I shiver a little. But I need to focus. 

I take a closer look at the camera. Thankfully, though this building is old, it's technology is not. The security camera I'm looking at right now is the exact camera that I read about. There's a few wires connected in the back, and I know I need to pull one of them out to disconnect the camera lens, but I can't remember which one the article said it was...

There was something in the article about the blue one? I guess I'll start there. I slide my hand up the blue wire and let it guide me to the place where it connects to the camera. When I reach it I gently tug and it instantly pops out. 

I turn back towards the front of the camera and see that the light is still blinking. So the blue wire wasn't connected to the camera... maybe it was the sound. I'll leave the wire out just in case i'm right. 

I decide to try the red one next. I repeat my process and feel it pop out in my hand once again. Turning once more towards the front, I notice that this wire was indeed the correct one. So that's good news I guess. 

Although Jonathan is trying his best to be macho and not show his pain, I can feel his body start to twitch under me and can hear his small grunts. 

"Um, sorry I'm so heavy..I know it's awful but I'm almost done..." which of course was a lie. 

To my surprise, Jonathan starts laughing. I nearly fall off of his back as it shakes.

"Belle trust me when I say you're not heavy at all. Any amount of weight starts to hurt after awhile. Don't worry about it, just do your thing."

"Right...are you sure though? I mean I can get off and you can stretch out and-"

"Belle. Focus. I'm fine. Keep working."

I nod and turn back to the job at hand before I realize something.

He called me Belle. Twice. I wonder how many other times he's called me that, and I've just not noticed? No matter how many times he's done it, the result is the same. He needs to be stopped before he thinks it's ok to permanently call me that.

I grow suddenly angry. I've hated that nickname for a long time, and the fact that I told him this and he just uses it anyways really pisses me off. He doesn't know the story behind it. He doesn't know that whenever it's said, a fresh wave of pain crashes to my already beaten and broken shore. 

But that's just it. He doesn't know. I can't flip out on him and expect him to understand how wrong he was by doing this. However, that's a conversation to have later. 

Instead I just say, "Please don't call me that."

I have to say i'm surprised at how small and weak my voice sounds.

I guess he notices it too, because he starts to say something before I cut him off. "I'll get into it later. Just...please. Don't."

He doesn't say a word after this. I use the silence to collect my thoughts and focus them back to the camera. 

Ok. I should be able to slide the back cover off of the camera and withdraw the chip. It's like a sim card; if I push it farther in it will pop out. Unfortunately, while it is like a sim card it's not actually the sim card. I have to be very careful about which chip I pull out. If the sim card comes out, the memory isn't intact with the camera, and the chip would be useless. Normal sim cards would allow you to simply put it back in the camera and the memory would be restored. No such luck with this kind. It's kind of like a security mechanism for the security camera; if you don't know what you're doing, you can't get in. Kind of ironic. Hah. 

There is one very simple way of telling the chips apart. The sim card has a small green light next to it, and the chip I need has a red one. The problem is, you need the camera to be facing the opposite way that it's currently facing in order to see the lights. Er, at least to comfortably  see the lights. I'm going to have to twist myself around, crouch, and tilt my head up to look while still keeping my balance so that I don't fall off Jonathan. I'm not looking forward to this. Why'd they have to build this camera so difficultly? 

I have to move quickly. Either this is a test, which could have a time limit, or it's not and security guards are on their way. There's so much security and protection in this place...I wonder why? There's no time to ponder this thought however, Jonathan's fading fast. His occasional tremors have become more and more frequent. First I twist around and crouch; It's probably one of the most physically uncomfortable moments I've ever been through. I can already feel a cramp coming on when I lift my head up, stretching my neck in the worst way. Going as slow as I feel safe, I reach my hands up and slide off the cover. It comes off extremely easily, which I'm grateful for, and I put the cover in my back pocket. As I lift my head back up, the little lights come into view. The green light is to the left s of all the circuits, and the red is to the right. I begin to lift my hand back up when Jonathan jerks, causing me to hit my head.

"Ow," I say, rubbing my head.

"So-Sorry, I'm tired, and- are you done yet?"

"I was practically done until you moved."

"Oh.."

I sigh and get back to work. Thankfully I didn't fall off of his back, or accidentally change my position. I tilt my head back once more, hopefully for the last time, and reach my hand up again. This time I rest my finger on the red chip, and push. It pops out and I catch it. Now there's only one more step until we have that map; plugging the chip in on the other side of the camera. I slide the cover back on the camera and shift the other side. I need only search a few seconds before I find the slot to insert the chip. Once I do so, I hear the familiar whirring of a printer. Great! The article said that all of this is designed for the controller if he gets lost and needs to find his way back to the control room. I suppose this model of security cameras is designed for a very large building or area, which both intrigues me and scares me. The house looked pretty big from the outside, but looks can be deceiving. Maybe the house stretches for miles behind what we saw. I'm so freaking glad my nerdy self took interest in that article. 

"YES!"

"What? Did you get it?!"

"I got it! Now we can get to the control room and figure out a way to get out of here."

"What about our families?" I can tell Jonathan has been thinking about them. He wears a sad expression on his face that carries to his soft eyes. 

"We'll get your family and Daniel, if it's the last thing we do." Daniel. I feel guilty for not thinking about him sooner. Now I feel how much I miss him, and it's a kick to the gut. I force myself to control my emotions; having a break down now wouldn't help him. In fact, it could hurt him.

That thought gave me enough determination to pump myself up. I turn to Jonathan.

"Lets go."