Trust Me

Chapter 18

"Be careful Caleb," I yell. I hope he doesn't slip. That would be very bad.
"I'm fine Charlie," he laughs. Hes about five ft up, and the wall itself is only about ten feet tall. So he's almost there.
It seems as if I'm watching him climb in slow motion. Each movement could cause him to slip and fall. After all, we've already discovered these rocks are unstable.

His hand finally reach the ledge, and he hoists himself up.

"Give me a sec to catch my breath and then I'll pull you up, "he yells down at me.

"Ok but don't take too long. It'll be dark soon and we need to find a place to stay the night," I reply.

While I wait, I start to think. Specifically about my fight with Josh and my minor spat with Tiff. What if-god forbid- Caleb and I don't make it out. What if that monster cougar gets ahold of us. Josh and Tiff will think I hate them. And I don't hate them. They're the most important people in my life and I love them so much.
No, that's cant happen. No siree. I've got to make it out-I've got to apologize.

"Ok, are you ready?" Caleb shouts, bringing me back to reality.

"Yup. Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your scarf," I jokingly demand.

"As you wish my charming prince," Caleb obliges in what I'm guessing is his attempt at a shrill, princessy voice.
He starts to lower the scarf, and I stand up to grab it, but it's just out of reach.

"I can't get it any lower, your going to have to jump a little," he shouts.

God, this is going to hurt my leg. I literally take a leap of faith into the air, and luckily, I grab hold of it. He starts to pull me up. Slowly but surely I rise three, four, five feet into the air. But at about 7 feet, my arms start to feel weak, and I start to lose my grip.

Caleb, noticing that I'm slipping, encourages, "Just hold on a few more seconds Charlie!"

I can see that I'm only a few feet away from the ledge. If I reach my arms towards it, I can touch it. I let go of the scarf with one arm, and swing myself at the ledge. Then I let go with the other arm. I grab the ledge, but lose my grip, and start to fall. In moments, Caleb's hands are gripping my wrists. I look up into his eyes. For a moment we are just staring at each other.

"Ok this is nice and all, but can you start pulling me up now, because my arms hurt," I say, breaking the silence.

"Yes your majesty."

In seconds, I'm on solid ground, catching my breath. My arms ache so badly.

Caleb stands up, and reaches a hand down towards me, offering to help me stand up. I reluctantly let him.

I surprise him by wrapping my arms around him in a hug, and whispering, "Thank you so much."

"Don't thank me yet. I still haven't gotten you out of here."