AWOL

Preparation

"We don't create a fantasy world to be able to escape reality. We create it to be able to stay." ~Lynda Barry

I can't seem to lower my heart rate. Every meal occurs about every half a cycle, which wasn't hard to figure out, it's figuring out which meal is being provided during what time of the cycle. Even though I know when each meal should come, I still had no recollection of the Moon or Sun being out.

There's still some time before my next ration, but during all that time between receiving the note and now, my heart hasn't slowed down. I've since torn the note up into tiny pieces and mixed it into the little bit of porridge I left in the bowl, hopefully protecting the identity of the man helping me escape. 

Questions were rampaging through my head a mile a minute. Who was this man? Why was he helping me? Was his mission to just simply set me free, or was he taking me somewhere? Is he working for someone? Who? Which side is he on? Is he an enemy or a friend? 

I'll have to find out. 

In the meantime, I stretched. We have to ride buildings if we're going to escape. Stretching isn't just a preliminary thing you do before you workout or play some game. It's what makes the difference between making a jump or falling short two inches and plummeting eight stories to your death. A good stretch enables you to reach the few inches further to grab onto a ledge, you'd otherwise miss if you didn't stretch. I've seen it too many times, building riders out of the peripheral of my eye suddenly drop and disappear from my sight, never seen again. I don't know if they break a leg or their neck, I never think twice about them, I'm going too fast, analyzing the options ahead, deciding the best placement of my foot, where to shift my weight, watching my own path for any holes or weak ledges that could end my life. 

I stretch until I feel like a soft noodle. Don't want any sudden spasms, cramps, or charlie-horses slowing me down or making me fall. Every ligament, tendon, and muscle in my body needs to hold with every bend, twist, and agile move I make. Riding buildings is 40% agility 60% courage like my Mama used to put it.

Hesitate and you die. 

Once I'm sure I've stretched out as much I can, I think. Stretching only prepares you for the agility part, building your mentality prepares you for the courage portion; the most significant portion. Mama made a chant that she always said to herself before she rode the buildings, and she shared it with me when I began to ride 'em, I say it now in case I don't get a chance later:

"Be brave, be bold, don't hesitate

Keep your heartbeat's drum beating 

Can't make a mistake

Numb the scared, the doubt, and trust your fate

Let your spirit run, jump, and fly

Can liberate"

I feel ready.

Now, I wait.

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Author's Note:

I know this was a very short chapter, but it was an appropriate place to end off at, and start a new one. They'll be longer from now on!

Thank you for reading!