The Five Unnecessaries

Chapter 13- PART 1

The sweat ran down my forehead, burning my eyes. They remained open, glued to the climbing wall towering above me, until I looked down at the beads of sweat on my wrist. Collin's fingers swept off my arm to grasp my hand.

"Okay, are you ready?" he said, looking at his watch.

"I just ran two miles. No."

Collin's eyes were blue and convincing. "Say yes."

"Yes," I said, certain I had lied to myself.

"Okay, your time was thirteen minutes thirty, which is awesome. Your pulse is fine. You got this, Aislyn. Go."

I ran the last few steps to the wall, where twenty people waited—probably for me to fail. No one cheered. No one cheers if they think they will end up being embarrassed for believing in you. Tessa made sure that if anyone cheered for me, they would lose their credibility.

This time, I reached twenty-five feet at a steady pace, but at thirty feet, I slowed down, unable to find a good hold. I didn't want to look down. Collin shouted at me to look up. I was running out of time.

"Just because you failed yesterday doesn't mean you can't still do—," Tessa yelled up. Patterson had probably told her to shut up. That encouraged me to reach for the next stone grip.

But the lowering of expectations made my heart sink in dread. I hated how Tessa's words echoed louder after she said them.

I heard Megan's voice scream up, "You're already most of the way there! Go for fifty, c'mon!"

I reached up, but my hand cramped, and I quickly reacted again, my fingers burning. I had a blister from the previous day, and I was pretty sure it had popped. I was only at forty-two. I ignored the pain and looked up again, unsure which rock to reach for. I reached, then lunged out to get to the stone farthest away. It was riskier, but it was the only way to reach fifty in time. Three more pushes, one near slip, and one more stone.

Fifty. I'd made it to fifty. Under a minute.

There were some claps and whoops from Megan and Collin. Tessa was predictably silent.

"Oi!" Patterson called. "You're bleeding. Come down."

I looked at my blister. For a small wound, there was a lot of blood. My heart was racing as I came down. Patterson nodded, but then turned to Avery. Tessa complained that it was unsanitary for her to go up the wall now.

"Good, I'll go," Megan said, pulling the carabiner out of Tessa's hands. "We've got the same blood, so I don't care."

Her eyes met mine with pride. She winked, but then Patterson ordered me to get a bandage before I could thank her.

"Good luck!" I shouted as Collin pulled me away, talking to me all the way back to the Circle. He wrapped a bandage around my finger, apologizing every time I winced.

"It's okay," I said, trying to keep my breath steady. He checked my pulse again. "But you could have told me it hurts to land like that with almost no tension from seven feet. Why did you do that?"

"Well, most times, when you jump in the Republic, it's almost a ten-foot drop from a fire escape. You need to get used to it. We're practicing rolling when you fall next week."

I looked up at the cloudy sky, desperate to find something other than his hand touching mine to think about.

"So, I have a question about HistCulture."

He looked at me curiously. "Yeah, anything. What is it?"

"This morning, I was watching a video. With only Sub-Terras working because everyone else is granted allowance, where does the Republic's food come from? I understand the Republic claims it all comes from farming machines, but I just can't wrap my head around it. Do they really get it for free?"