One-Shots

One-Shot #3: Posthuman

Posthuman

Written by Danny Richards

Produced by Corey Smith, Matthew Anderson, Luca Limoncelli and Joanna Holland

Edited by Corey Smith

Created and developed by Danny Richards

Clara pulled the leather gloves over her calloused hands just as they began to sweat. She had done this a few times now, but it didn't stop her getting nervous, each time more so than the last. Kneepads tightened and helmet fastened she got up from the wall she had perched herself on before each attempt and began making her way to the ladder at the back of her block of flats.

"Okay, let's do this." She whispered to herself.

Gripping the metal rings surrounding the outside of the ladder, Clara checked the camera attached to her helmet was recording before she began her ascent to the roof. She felt lighter than ever, stronger as she pulled herself up to the next ring, getting faster each time. Roughly halfway up, Clara passed her own flat. Her kid brother was sat at his computer playing his games, blissfully unaware that his sister who he thought was in the next room was actually making her way to the roof. Their parents had always warned them about going to the roof. It was a forbidden zone. The block of flats they lived in were quite old and the roof was rumoured to be unsafe, but over the last few weeks Clara had visited more and more regularly without any problems.

She ducked under the final ring of the ladder and pulled herself onto the first roof of the block of flats, jogging round to the steel steps which lead up the peak of the building. The sun was beginning to set, but Clara could just about see the outline of the Quantum Technology headquarters in Central London. The towering glass and chrome skyscraper of one of the world's largest companies seemed like a world away from Clara's own home. Moving around the roof she could hear the asphalt below her feet begin to creak under the weight of her tiny frame. She daren't stand still for too long. Clara was less worried about hurting herself than she was about proving her parents theories about the roof to be correct.

Standing at the edge of the roof, Clara looked down at the ground below. Her stomach sank. Breathing heavy, Clara moved back to centre of the roof, her target another 30 feet ahead of her.

Breathing deeply. In and out. In and out. She readied herself on the roof. The first step was the hardest. Her jog quickly turned into a sprint as she headed towards the edge, ready to jump.

But she stopped. The nerves had gotten the best of her as they had many times before. Skidding slightly to a stop, Clara looked back down at the ground below her. She really thought this was the one. Sulking, she made her way back to the centre of the roof and waited for a while as the sun continued to set. It was beginning to get dark, but there was still enough sunlight to give it one more shot. Clara readied herself again, this time sure she was going to make the jump.

"1...2...3."

Her left foot moved forwards first, and she began to run faster than ever before. This was the one. Clara leapt off the edge of the building and began to soar above the street below, gliding across the chasm between her own flat and the ones across the road. She was weightless, hanging in the air for

what seemed like hours but was really only a few seconds. Her arms flailed slightly as she reached for the edge of the roof, but it wasn't needed as she confidently glided onto the asphalt surface, rolling to a stop.

A wave of emotions rushed over Clara as she removed her helmet and checked if the mounted camera had survived the flight. She attempted to laugh through her heavy breathing but could only manage a sort of chortle as she looked back at the adjacent roof now 30 feet behind her. She had actually done it.

"My name is Clara Sheen, and....and...holy shit!" Clara was overcome with ecstasy. Ever since she had been a little girl she knew she was special, different from her classmates who had teased her when she tried to convince them of it. Of course when she had said she was special, she didn't imagine she would be able to jump between tower blocks but she wouldn't let that detract from the occasion.

Standing back up, Clara picked the helmet up once again and looked into the camera.

"If anyone happens to see this video, that was attempt number eight. Stay tuned for attempt number nine." Clara switched off the camera. She knew no one would ever see the tapes. She'd be branded a freak if they got out, an anomaly. Shoved into the back of a van and taken to a remote facility, where scientists would test her without her family ever knowing what had happened to their daughter. Clara wasn't going to let that happen. She would upload the file to her computer at home and hide it behind folders so that her technophobe parents would never stumble upon it.

Making her way down from the roof, Clara headed home to the banality of her normal life, her family still none the wiser as to what their daughter had been up to that afternoon. That was the way Clara liked it, and it was the way things were going to stay.

Gods and Monsters

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