The Switch

Sarah: Tunes [Part ONE]

The whispers were getting closer; and the footsteps seemed muted, as if the approacher was trying not to alert me. I held my breath.

The bracelet around my hand definitely felt colder, but I told myself it was just my illusion.

The thing was broken for sure, otherwise it would’ve given me the signal when Kenny was trying to kill me!

But no. It gave me the signal when I was falling off the beam— because I so needed it’s intelligence to tell me that falling off fifteen stories was life threatening.

I recalled how I had escaped Kenny, wondering if there was still another way I could do it again.

“Is that…why we’re up so high?”

The look on his face had been unquestionable.

I didn’t want to be out of reach. Heck, I didn’t want to be dead.

But when the worse comes to its worst, there are only a few things we can do.

I dug my newly manicured nails into his forearm and elbowed his throat. Kenny’s weight shifted, and his grip around me loosened. As I pulled away, I felt the blood ooze out of his arm and enter my nails.

I decided it was better to not focus on something like that while running on a beam connecting two faces of a building, fifteen stories high. I looked to my left and saw exactly what I was looking for—a pipe.

Stumbling a bit, I managed to steady myself and pick up my circus act for survival. Kenny, obviously having the advantage of flight, had already caught up.

No time to decide, kiddo. Jump!

And so I did. I stretched myself off the beam, seeing it as the only escape route, and aimed for the pipe.

I missed by almost a foot.

The bracelet turned cold immediately, as I hurtled past two stories in barely enough time to catch my breath.

When the scream did erupt though, I found it muffled against Kenny’s bare chest. Even at that moment, I didn’t expect him to come save me. Didn’t he need me dead anyway?

I felt the rest of my body slam against the rest of his, as he banked at a sharp angle toward the building and tumbled into a corridor.

His back hit the wall, and I fell on his arm.

My instinct was to run, but he was holding my wrist.

I struggled.

Kenny gathered himself and sat upright.

“Don’t go jumping off buildings, idiot!” there was a silly amount of worry in his voice, which was all the more frightening. I was sure that he said he wanted me dead.

“Why’d you save me?” I demanded, the confusion overpowering my fear.

I looked into his eyes, failing to see any reason behind doing what he did. What was the point?