Conspiracy Theorist

Chapter Four

Scarlett stood and was silently wishing she believed in God, so she could pray to him and curse him at the same time. To curse him for making her so damn proud and stubborn, ignorantly refusing Adam’s offer to go before her on their first training session.

As the four of them had stood in front of a gaping chasm that went on forever, there was no bottom to it. Jason had asked who wanted to come first and Jocelyn had readily offered Scarlett, claiming she had ‘Balls of Steel.’ Adam- being as gallant as he was- offered to go before Scarlett, but she wasn’t about to show any sign of weakness. She wanted a God to curse for making her such a stubborn, proud, ‘Balls of Steel’ type of girl.

Her stomach clenched viciously and she couldn’t stop her eyed from widening in fear as she stepped closer to the ledge, her stomach dropped just like the ground. Gem had explained to the teens that they had been injected and the government wasn’t sure what powers each of them had inherited. This was all a horrible, cruel test to see the extent of their powers. She had been assured there was water at the bottom of the abyss to cushion any fall they might take, but Scarlett knew that hitting water from high up was like hitting a brick wall.

This was one of many tests- it checked her flight ability. The objective was simple enough, jump and if her instincts kicked in and caught her she would fly to the other side. Or she would plummet who knows how many feet into freezing water.

Scarlett had been afraid of heights since she was a child, she knew it was an irrational fear, it’s not like she had some traumatic childhood experience.

“Hurry up! We don’t have all day!” Gem drawled and snickered at Scarlett’s stricken expression.

With a horrible sinking feeling Scarlett approached the edge reluctantly and jumped…

***

            Adam watched as Scarlett’s slim figure disappeared over the edge and he waited…

And waited…

And waited…

But he didn’t see a bob of blonde come back up.

Adam couldn’t get the look in her eyes out of his mind. She had looked completely petrified; he had to struggle with himself mentally. He desperately wanted to jump after and hold her; stroke her hair and tell her everything would be okay. He didn’t know why but he couldn’t stop the unwanted surge of emotions for Scarlett- a girl he just met and knew nothing more than the name of.

Adam let out a sigh of relief and Jocelyn’s body un-tensed from beside him. Scarlett’s head appeared from a ladder clinging to the side of the rocky face of the wall. She was visibly trembling and he wasn’t sure if it was from fear or from cold- probably both. The chill of the air conditioning probably didn’t help much either.

She walked over to the terror-stricken kids and interlaced her fingers with Jocelyn. It was obvious to Adam that Scarlett was trying to find comfort from the only thing she knew anymore- Jocelyn.

His fingers twitched to pull Scarlett towards him and wrap his arms around her. He resisted but it took everything within him.

“Who wants to go next?” Jason’s overly excited voice penetrated Adam’s thoughts.

“I’ll go,” Adam stated plainly, he had always done stupid things with his friends to get a thrill and this didn’t terrify him- like it did Scarlett. He knew it was hard for her to show so much weakness and let other people know how frightened she was.

Gem’s annoying nasally voice stopped him as he clomped towards the edge of the canyon. “I think we should let Kasper go next.” She said revealing the ice in her heart. She wanted Kasper to be scared. She was like a sick monster feeding on other people’s fears.