The Doll Girl [discontinued and horribly cringey]

Chapter Six: Fall

One warm October day, a family set out in their brand-new car. The morning sun glinted on the spotless metal of the vehicle. They were a small group, only three, but there was much merriment in the car.

The shiny, black Civic arrived at a rock climbing gym half an hour later. Mr. Willow was joking merrily as he stepped out and shut the car door. His wife and daughter piled out and they went into the building.

It wasn't crowded at all. In fact, there were only two other families other than the Willows. They were immediately fitted into proper footwear by the friendly worker, Mike, and began climbing.

Brook started on the shortest, easiest wall which was adorned with cheery yellow, artificial rocks. She grabbed onto a big rock and lifted herself up, up, up. "Grab, pull, lift, step up," she told herself again and again.

For some odd reason, she found herself thinking about what Evelyn had told her. She'd said that she and her niece weren't human. And Brook... she had to believe it, just because of a long-forgotten memory of her early childhood. Brook didn't try to forget the fact that she wasn't human, she just tried to prepare herself for the fate she knew was hers.

Now she was almost at the top of the climbing wall. Risking a backward glance, she looked over her shoulder at her mother, yelling, "Look, Mom!"

Mrs. Willow smiled and took a picture. Then she, too, started to climb a wall.

Awhile later, Brook was preparing for the tallest climbing wall without a climbing harness. She'd done it several times with a harness, and Mike had finally deemed her ready for a climb with no harness. Mike warned her about the consequences of falling, but Brook soon was confidently scaling the high wall with the agility of a professional rock climber.

 Mr. Willow announced, "I'm going to get my water bottle; it's in the car."

Brook listened and replied, "'Kay." Her flushed face shone as she climbed higher and higher. The few freckles that decorated it stood out from the pink skin. Her black, wavy hair was up in a neat ponytail, but it somehow still managed to get in her face.

Marilyn nodded from the top of a climbing wall.

He came back deathly pale. "The car-"

Brook turned around, looking mildly interested.

"It- it's gone!"

Mrs. Willow stared.

Their new car... it was gone?! What?! No, that couldn't be... Dad had locked it properly, hadn't he...?

 "I- I forgot to lock it and now... I think someone's stolen it, and..." Mr. Willow stammered incoherently. 

Brook, shocked, raised a hand over her open mouth and realised, too late, what she had done.

"Brook!" her mother shrieked in alarm.

Her daughter, hanging on with her sweaty left hand, swung violently from the top of the highest climbing wall. She smacked into the wall, her head striking a pointed rock. Brook's fingers slipped from the handhold. She fell from the top of the highest wall, with no harness, and hit the lightly cushioned floor below hard. And then everything went black...

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I just wanted to thank voidxjournal for making the beautiful new cover. It's AMAZING; I absolutely love it!!! Thanks again Emily! Please go check out her stories too :)