Endless

Chapter 8

At nightfall Grayson, Brooklyn, a few other reds and I prepare ourselves to sneak away. We decide to embark on the journey together, however once we have begun we can go at our own paces. We then depart.

***

By daybreak we had completed over seventy levels and passed a lot of blues while they were sleeping on bases. Although we had discussed that we would not need to stay together, we ended up doing so anyway. We seemed to all go at the same pace.

Our small group reached level three-hundred and three by the late morning. The level was made up of five neon yellow rectangular platforms each spaced a few inches from each other leaving a gap that a shoe could easily slip through.

On the platforms were tall, bright orange walls that were thin in width yet wide in length. In fact, they were so wide that they only left a dangerously narrow space to swing yourself around to the other side of each wall.

Lucia, a member of the red team that accompanied us daringly steps up to go first. We all follow closely behind her. Lucia quickly hops onto the first platform and grabs the edge of the wall. She begins to rush as she quickly inches sideways nearing the edge.

Once she comes close to the edge of the platform, Lucia forcefully swings herself to get to the other side of the wall. I am following close behind her when I hear her scream.

I see her left foot drop off the platform and dangle in mid-air. The toe of her right foot is barely on the platform and Lucia is twisting her foot back and forth to inch herself back onto the platform. Lucia's screams come out in short breaths as her hands begin to slip from being pressed against each side of the wall.

I lunge forward and press one of my hands onto the wall for support. With my other hand I reach forward and grab Lucia's waist. She begins to sway backward even more.

I feel Grayson firmly grab onto my waist to keep me from falling off the edge as well. All three of us stand in a line, one behind the other on the platform risking our lives for each other. Roy's voice calls over all the frantic screams, "Try to balance yourselves!" And suddenly Roy has a hand on Grayson's shoulder after jumping on the platform.

Mark and Brooklyn are the last ones still on the base. Mark shouts, "Hold on!" He attempts to bounce forward to help the chain of us but Grayson yells, "No, stay there! Your heels will hover right off the edge and we'll lose you!"

Lucia screams again, "Taya - Taya please help me!" Her eyes glass over with tears. Tears now prick the backs of my eyes as I'm longing to save her. So, with one swift move I reach out with both hands and grab Lucia's waist.

I feel unbalanced and wobbly as I pour all my strength into pulling Lucia back onto the platform. Finally, I yank her back onto the narrow space of the platform which makes her slam into the wall in front of her and hug it.

I am panting and shaking from exhaustion and fear. While pressing her hand on one side of the wall for balance, Lucia wipes her eyes with the back of her other hand and sniffles. She quickly shakes off her remaining anxiety feeling embarrassed and mutters thank you before taking off to complete the level in a hurry.

Lucia begins the next level after this one. We all progress in a line, each member is a few steps behind the other. Lucia is the first one in this order. As Grayson jumps onto the base after me, he calls after Lucia, "Don't rush the levels, Lucia!" Lucia turns around from the level ahead.