Fight With Fire

8

I stare up at the building in front of me. What's usually so inviting is so intimidating. The cracks in the concrete, once great handholds, now make me think of the old foundation. The windowsills, once the best tool for climbing the building, now seem like plastic extensions that would break under my weight. I look up one more time not understanding how I've done this so easily before.

I jump up and grab the top of the first windowsill bringing my feet up to rest on the bottom. The weightless feeling I was so used to never comes. I climb up much slower than usual grabbing the edges of windowsill after windowsill. The sky slowly starts to fill of darkness. The clouds become darker and I feel a drop of water land on my hand. I look down to see that I am at least 25 stories from the ground. There's no giving up now. I try to pick up the pace so I can beat the rain but every time I try to move faster I almost slip. It starts raining a bit faster and I'm 40 stories up.

Don't look down. Don't look down.

The windowsills are becoming wet and slippery. I'm 45 stories up. I reach up for the next window and grab it with two hands. I bring me feet up trying to balance them on the window sill. It starts poring and my feet slip. I'm hanging by two hands and I know the plastic can't hold my weight. I try to look for a foothold but I am blinded by the rain. I hear the window I'm hanging by open. No. I can't get caught out here. I try to pull myself up further but one hand slips.

"Ella, give me your hand!" I hear the familiar voice of Adrian at the window but I can't see him.

"I can't see you!" I try to grab the windowsill with my other hand but miss and my hand slips making me fall backward. I feel Adrian's hands grabbing for me. He first tries to grab my waist but misses and I reach out for his hands. I grasp two of his fingers and time slows. He tries to grab my hand but I slip again.

I start falling. I reach my hands towards the wall in front of me trying to grab a windowsill as they fly by in front of me. The first sill sends a searing pain through my hands as they make contact. I try to grab the next one but I feel the pain go through my fingers this time.

My fingers burn and everything burns as I fall down, down, down...

The next one I almost get a hold of but slip again. Finally, I am able to grab onto a windowsill. I move my feet slowly trying to find a foot hole but it's no use. The rain is still pouring down making it hard to see. My hands start to slip and I stop moving. I know now that moving just makes me fall. I stay completely still hoping that Adrian will somehow get to the window that I'm hanging onto. Right as I think this I hear the window two above mine open.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Adrian's voice comes down with the rain. I try to look up only to be blinded by the rain. I feel my fingers start to slip again. I shouldn't have started moving again.

"Adrian!" I start yelling hoping that'll make him move faster. "Adrian!" I don't even know if he can hear me over the rain. My hands start slipping again. My heart is beating in my chest a thousand miles per hour. My hair is matted to my forehead like thick blanket. The rain keeps a constant pressure that invites my down, down, down...

I put my weight on my right hand and adjust my left hand. I repeat the same thing with my other hand only to have my left hand slip. I reach back up again but that just makes my right hand start to slip as well.

"ADRIAN!"

The window flies open showing a frantic Adrian. He grabs my left hand as my right hand slips. The sudden weight almost brings him out the window with me. I see his muscles bulge as he starts to pull me back up. He moves his grasp down my arms to under my shoulder and pulls me through the window. I fall on him knocking him over. I realize that I have both arms wrapped around his torso but I don't move. I'm scared that if I let go then I'll start falling again. I feel him breathing heavily beneath me. I look up to see we are in a stairwell. That's why he got to me so quickly.

"How did you know I was there?" I ask still against his chest.

"I was on the 60th floor. I looked out my window and saw you climbing the building. I wasn't worried until I saw that it was raining. I ran as fast as I could." He's barely whispering but we're close enough that it doesn't matter. All sounds carry through the empty stairwell.

"Thank you." I see a red spot forming on his shirt under my hand. "Are you hurt?" I pull my hand away while he sits up. He pulls his shirt up revealing a six pack but no source for the blood.

"It's coming from your hands." He reaches over and grabs my hand turning it over showing many horizontal gashes in my palms. I feel a spark where his fingers touch my skin and I look into his eyes. He is looking at me like I told him something that he can't quite understand. "What is wrong with your iae?"

My hands immediately go up to my left cheek checking to see if any ink washed away. I had never been in the pouring rain before. I had always been inside. He shakes his head as if not understanding what I'm doing. Clearly there is nothing visibly wrong with it. "What are you asking me?" I ask truly confused.

"It's not normal."

I give a nervous laugh. "Are you saying this because Finn doesn't affect me?"

"Is that the only way it's abnormal?" He says still looking at me with that look.

I give another nervous laugh. "Well I certainly hope so." He continues to look at me clearly unsatisfied with my answer. "I don't understand."

He turns his head slightly to the side pursing his lips. "You don't do you." He doesn't say this like a question, more like I'm not even there.

I get up and take a few steps away. He continues to stare at the space I was occupying. He is sitting in the single patch of light from the window. There is rain pouring through the open window and pooling around him but he doesn't seem to care.

I turn my gaze from him to the corner watching the camera in the corner. I knew it was late but hopefully they wouldn't care. Luckily, the camera was facing the stairwell and not the window so they didn't see me fall through the window.

The door next to the platform opens and a supervisor walks out. I silently sigh in relief that we don't have to deal with the robots.

"Ms. Sanders, Mr. Adams. Please come with me."

Adrian blinks up towards the teacher but I signal to him before he can move. "Why?"

"You guys are out wandering about and it's late." The supervisor is getting more annoyed by the second. "Please cooperate before I give you a worse punishment."

"But we haven't done anything wrong. We didn't know it was late. I had just fallen down the stairs and Adrian was helping me get to the nurse's office. I don't see a need to drag us away and you leave your post when it was a silly mistake. Seeing as you now tell me it's late, we'll head back to our rooms."

Without another words I walk past her and up the stairs. The supervisors have harsh punishments but when it is an Oari they aren't too strict. Especially this close to testing because they know that we don't have long left. There's little they can do to us.

I saw Adrian peal off around the 53rd floor. I wonder what he was doing on the 60th floor before.