We All Fall Down

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     Marcus looks at me before starting to speak, "Move the top from the bars, they aren't connected," he says and we both stand on the pile of food, balancing ourselves on a big bag of apples.

      I put my hands against the metal slab that is the roof and Marcus does the same. "On the count of three we lift," I say to him and wait for his response.

      "Okay, 1," he says and then looks at me, "2," he nods at me then bends down to get a better grip on it, "3," he says and we both lift.

      The slab moves an inch off of the bars and then stops. "What if we put some of the food underneath it against the bars so that it will stay up?" I ask him.

      "Worth a shot," he says and goes and picks up some pears and carrots. "Try these," he says and hands them to me.

      I grab the pear from him and put it in my mouth to hold it. "You are going to need to hold it up while I deal with the food," I say to him, sounding muffled, but understandable.

      "Okay, ready?" he asks me, and I nod to him. "Set," he says and bends down, "Go!" he screams, louder than needed and picks up the top, lifting up one side about five inches.

      Quickly, I spit the pear out of my mouth and put it underneath of the top. "Okay, you can let go now," I say and he does. Surprisingly, the pear does not get crushed; instead it sits there in-between of the bars and the top.

      "Let's try and roll the to-," I say to him, but stop when I hear someone's voice.

      "Aria, we are the only two alive," Marcus says and looks at me, obviously hearing the voices too.

      "I know," I say slowly, listening as the voices get louder and closer.

      "Congratulations," the voice says, coming from underneath us. "We finally had people survive," the voice continues.

      "Who are you?" I ask in hope that the voice would respond.

      "Don't you recognize my voice?" the person says in response and I search my memory for that voice until I realize who it is; Dr. Hale.

      "Dr. Hale," I say and smile, looking to Marcus. "He's the only doctor that was ever nice to me," I say and laugh, feeling secure.

      Marcus laughs in response, a big smile on his face. "We survived," he says and hugs me.

      "Yea," I say to him and hug him back. "We aren't going to stay there," I whisper in his ear.

      "I know," he whispers back to me, hugging me tighter, then letting go and stepping a few feet away from me, his back to the bars of the wall.

      "Are you going to get us out of here?" I ask Dr. Hale. "Do we have to dig in the food to get out?" I ask the voice.

      "Yes, look underneath all of the food and you will find a trap door, go in there and wait at the bottom," Dr. Hale's voice responds.

      "Okay," I say as Marcus and I start to dig into the food until we see a metal trapdoor. I open it and look down to see a ladder, "Let's get out of here," I say to him and start to climb down.

      "Let's go," Marcus says and follows right behind me.