The Unlucky Ones

[20] - Falling

[Tobias]

YOU'RE AFRAID OF HEIGHTS.

" How do you survive in the Dauntless compound? " Tris asks.

My chest is right this high up.

" I ignore my fear, " I say. " When I make decisions, I pretend it doesn’t exist. "

She stares at me, her eyes filled with luminescent wonder and beautiful curiosity. She wants to know more. But I can't show her just yet. She continues stating, an expressing similar to a smile is pursed on her lips.

" What? " I ask quietly.

She shakes her head.

" Nothing. " She says.

She looks away, at the city. We need to focus. She climbed up here for a reason.

" We’re not high enough, " She says.

I look up. Above me is a tangle of white bars, the wheel’s scaffolding.

" I’m going to climb, " She says, standing up.

She grabs one of the bars above her head and pulls herself up.

" For God’s sake, Stiff. " I say.

She shakes her head, continuing to climb.

" You don’t have to follow me, " She says.

I shove my foot onto the place where two bars cross and push myself up, grabbing another bar in the process. I sway for a second, my heart beating so hard I can’t feel anything else. Every thought I have condenses into that heartbeat, moving at the same rhythm.

" Yes, I do. " I say.

This is crazy, and she knows it. A fraction of an inch of mistake, half a second of hesitation, and our lives are over. Heat tears through my chest and I grab the next bar. I pull myself up, my arms shaking, and force my leg under me so I’m standing on another bar. I look down. I can’t breathe. I imagine my body plummeting, smacking into the bars as it falls down, and my limbs at broken angles on the pavement. I grab a bar with each hand and pull myself up, easy, like I'm sitting up in bed. But I'm not comfortable or natural here.

I grab another bar, find another place to wedge my foot. When I look at the city again, the building isn’t in the way. I’m high enough to see the skyline. Most of the buildings are black against a navy sky, but the red lights at the top of the Hub are lit up. They blink half as fast as my heartbeat. Beneath the buildings, the streets look like tunnels. For a few seconds, I see only a dark blanket over the land in front of me, just faint differences between building and sky and street and ground. Then I see a tiny pulsing light on the ground.

" See that? " She says, pointing at it.

I'm looking over her shoulder. It causes a shaky feeling in my chest and legs.

" Yeah, " I say, smiling. " It’s coming from the park at the end of the pier. Figures. It’s surrounded by open space, but the trees provide some camouflage. Obviously not enough. "

She looks over her should and her lips are close to me.

" Okay. " She says.

She examines my face. Probably the scar on my chin. Or my lips.

" Um, " She says, clearing her throat. " Start climbing down. I’ll follow you. "

I nod, stopping down. I begin climbing down, ready to be on stable ground again. Suddenly, I hear something hit the poles on its way down. A scaffolding pole.

Four!

Tris is dangling in mid-air by her hands. It really is a Dauntless Ferris Wheel.

" Hold on! " I shout. " Just hold on, I have an idea. "

I continue climbing down as fast as I can. Suddenly, I'm on the ground. I don't remember how but I am. Did I jump? Did I fly? Was it my emergency instincts? What did it? I soul out in relief and suddenly I remember what I'm doing.

" Four! " Tris screams from the scaffolding.

I run to the Ferris wheel control panel. I look down, spotting a key still in the system. I turn it, then press a button and push a lever. Suddenly, the wheel comes to life. She begins to grow closer to the ground and starts laughing with hysteria. The seriousness sets in and she stops. She's getting even closer. She's picking up speed. If she doesn’t drop at the right time, the moving cars and metal scaffolding will drag at her body and carry her with them, and then she will really die. She drops, and her body slams into the ground, feet first.

Her legs collapse beneath her and she pulls her arms in, rolling as fast as she can to the side. The cement scrapes her face, she rolls again, and then the bottom of the car skims her shoulder. We're safe. She presses her palms to her face. She doesn’t try to get up. If she did, I’m sure she would just fall back down. I approach her, crouching down. My hands wrap around her wrists. I pry her hands from her eyes. I enclose one of her hands perfectly between both of mine.

" You all right? " I ask, pressing our hands together.

She nods, sighing out.

" Yeah. " She says.

I start to laugh. After a second, she laughs too. With her free hand, she pushes herself to a sitting position. I am aware of how little space there is between us—six inches at most. That space feels charged with electricity. I feel like it should be smaller. I stand, pulling her up with me. The wheel is still moving, creating a wind that tosses her hair back.

" You could have told me that the Ferris wheel still worked. " She says.

I'm still holding her. Why?

" We wouldn’t have had to climb in the first place. " She says.

I nod.

" Trust me, I would have if I had known, " I say, chuckling. " Couldn’t just let you hang there, so I took a risk. Come on, time to go get their flag. "