Secrets Intertwined

XX

Days began to bleed into weeks as Aislyn settled into a mundane routine. Wake up, spend all day with the boys, train secretly, repeat.

The boring, consistent routine was making Aislyn itch.

She was made for more. Sitting around living a prosaic life wasn't for her and her temper was beginning to fray. The constant onslaught of prying questions was eating away at her and the only time she had some reprieve was when she snuck away in the small hours of the morning.

It was a calm night, with no wind and the only light came from the full moon. Everyone had gone to their respective house a few hours ago and all was quiet in the Community.

Aislyn peered out off the living room curtains to double-check that the coast was clear. Grabbing her backpack that she had packed earlier, she threw it over her back, already dressed in her suit, and she pulled on her gloves.

Stepping out into the night, Aislyn silently closed the door behind her and began a slow jog to one of the nearby cliffs that overlooked a secluded, sandy beach.

Gradually increasing her speed, Aislyn fought through the burning in her lungs and pain in her legs and refused to reduce her speed, adamant to make it to her destination without stopping.

Finally reaching the cliff, Aislyn roughly yanked off her mask and began to dry heave. In the three weeks, she had been here, she considered it a huge improvement because at least she wasn't vomiting anymore.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she put her mask back on and she strode over to the ledge that protruded out at a slanted angle before dropping steeply. She peered over but it was too dark to see the bottom. Dropping to one knee, she pulled her backpack over her shoulder and began rummaging around.

She pulled out a huge rope and slung it over her shoulder. Next, she withdrew two small weights and another piece of smaller rope. Tying up the bag, she walked up to the closest tree and leapt up, grabbing onto a low hanging branch, pulling herself up.

She placed her bag on the branch, near the trunk of the tree. She jumped down and took the rope off her shoulder and tied it around the same tree, securely tightening it.

Aislyn walked over to edge and threw the rope over, watching until the end disappeared into the abyss. Then she secured the weights around her waist, grabbed the rope with her two glove-clad hands, and placed her feet either side of the rope.

Walking backwards, she backed up to the edge of the cliff. For a moment, all she did was stand there leaning precariously over the hundred-meter edge. She sucked in a massive gulp of air and held it until her lungs began to burn, then slowly released it.

"One, two, three."

She bent her legs and pushed herself off the edge.

Hurtling down, Aislyn could feel the heat of the friction burning through her gloves, which loosely grasped the rope and the frigid air as it slammed against her falling form.

Feeling that she was nearing the end of the rope, she clamped her hands around it and did the same with her feet. Clenching her teeth, Aislyn let out a grunt, and using all her strength, she gradually drew to a halt, no more than a metre from the end of the fifty-meter rope.

Not waiting to catch her breath, she slowly slid down the last remnants of the rope until she was hanging off the end, legs dangling in the air.

Aislyn kicked her legs and began to sway back and forth, gradually increasing her speed and distance until she was in reaching distance of the cliff wall.

With a short yell, Aislyn swung one last time with all her might and released the rope, stretching out her hands, reaching for the wall. Upon impact, Aislyn began to skid down the wall, metal fingertips of her gloves scratching over the surface of the stone.

She was practically blind in the darkness, the only light coming from the eery white glow of the moon, and tiny sparks that flew from her fingertips of her gloves. But she wasn't afraid. The adrenaline pumping through her body gave her a buzz and she was beginning to feel like herself again.

As she reached a rocky part in the cliff, she managed to grab hold of a piece of rock that stuck out. Even though her arms screamed in protest, she held on tight and managed to find somewhere to place her feet.

Inch by inch, she managed to scale down the cliff face, sometimes barely being able to hold on, the muscles in her arms begging her to let go.

After an hour of inching her way down, Aislyn looked down and saw that she only had a few metres left, so she released her grip on the rocks and fell.

As the impact from the jump, reverberated through her bones, her weary legs gave out from underneath her and she landed on her back, facing up towards the sky. She hooted in joy and pulled off the mask to push tendrils of hair, soaked in sweat, out of her face. A wide grin etched across her face and she lay there, giving a reprieve to her shaky and achy limbs.

This was the third time she had done this and every time she added more weights to try to build back some of her lost strength. Pulling off her gloves, she grimaced at the sight of her cracked and bleeding nails.

Wobbling, she got to her feet and removed the weights from around her waist before walking over to the sea to wash her hands of her crimson blood that stained them.

After cleaning her hands, Aislyn straightened up and stretched her throbbing muscles. Out of nowhere, Aislyn heard a noise in the distance and her head whipped to the cliff she had just scaled.

Darting back to the wall, Aislyn pressed her body against it and strained her ears, trying to work out if one of the patrols was nearby.

The first time she had snuck out, she had learnt quite quickly that there were various patrol groups keeping watch throughout the night. Patrols that the Leaders had put in place after her kidnapping.

Although she didn't hear anything else after that, Aislyn hastily pulled on her mask and gloves, ignoring the shooting pain from her fingertips.

After one last glance, to make sure no one was watching her, Aislyn reattached the weights and placed her hand on the wall bracing herself for the gruelling climb.

Slowly but surely, Aislyn maintained a steady pace that pushed her body to its limit, not allowing herself to stop for a rest, and eventually she managed to reach the rope. Finding crevices close together for her hands and feet, Aislyn crouched down and bent her legs.

"One. Two. Three," she murmured to herself.

Spring outwards, Aislyn pushed herself off the wall and contorted her body in mid-air so that she was facing the other way. Soaring through the air, Aislyn grabbed hold of the rope with her hands and held on with all her might as she swung back and forth.

After the swinging settled, Aislyn reached down to wrap the rope once around her leg.

Repositioning herself, she began to pull herself up the rope with her arms with help from her legs, ensnared in the rope. Droplets of sweat ran down her face and the only noise she could hear was her panting inside the mask.

When she reached the top of the cliff, she was barely managing to hold on. Gritting her teeth, she shrieked with the effort it took her to pull herself up onto the grassy cover. Her arms gave out and she lay face down in the dirt, gasping for air.

There she lay on the ground for a considerable amount of time, trying to dredge up the energy to reach the tree to untie the rope.

One by one, she untied the weights from around her waist and slowly got up.

Swaying on her feet she stumbled over to the tree and with fumbling fingers tried to untie it. After several minutes of getting nowhere, she gave up and staggered over to the branch she had left her bag on. Jumping, she wrapped her arms around the branch but she found that she didn't have the strength to lift herself. As she dropped down to her feet, she staggered forward, face first, into the tree.

Pushing her herself off it, she mumbled, "Fuck it."

Leaving everything behind, she floundered back home and groggily changed into a tracksuit and baggy top, kicking her suit under her bed, and collapsed onto her bed, out cold.

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