Chapter 12.
898 Words
"The remote is dead," Kane said, looking at the black plastic brick in his hand before pocketing it. "And unless someone is coming to bail us out, the only way off this thing is the ladder."
Harper looked out at the narrow, rusted emergency ladder that ran down the center of the Ferris wheel's support beams. It was a long way down, and the metal looked slick with evening dew.
"I can't do that," Ryan stammered, looking at the drop. "I have a thing about heights. A very big, very legitimate thing."
"Well, you have a choice, Ry," Harper said, standing up and testing the safety latch on the bucket. It gave way with a rusty screech. "You can stay here and become a permanent resident of Miller's Grove, or you can follow me."
She looked at the climb, then at the tattoo on her wrist. I’m Alive. "Kane, you go first to show us the footings," Harper commanded. "Max, you follow him. I’ll be below Ryan and make sure he doesn't pass out."
Kane didn't argue. He swung himself over the side of the bucket with the grace of someone used to escaping through windows. He hit the center beam and started down. "Watch your step. The rivets are loose."
Maxine went next, her glittery notebook tucked firmly into her waistband. She gave Harper a thumb's up before disappearing over the edge.
That left Harper and Ryan.
"Ryan. Look at me," Harper said, taking his face in her hands. Her touch was cold, but her gaze was steady. "I’m the one who’s supposed to be falling apart, remember? You can be brave. Now, stand up, take my hand, and let’s get off this ride."
Ryan took a deep, shuddering breath, looked into her blue eyes, and nodded.
As Harper stepped onto the narrow metal beam, the height finally hit her. The wind whipped her hoodie, and the ground looked like a dark abyss. For a second, the degradation felt real- a dizzying spin in her head that had nothing to do with the Ferris wheel.
But then she felt Ryan’s hand grip the back of her jacket.
"I've got you, Harp," he whispered, his voice shaking but certain.
"No," she said, reaching back to find his hand. "We've got each other."
They began the slow, agonizing descent down the skeleton of the machine, one rusted rung at a time, descending from the clouds back into the reality of the dark, waiting woods.
The wind whistled through the iron lattice of the Ferris wheel, a cold, mocking sound that seemed to pull at Harper’s clothes. Ryan was at the very top, his breaths coming in jagged hitches as he clung to the railing. Below him, Harper felt for each rung with trembling boots. Beneath her, Maxine was a steady shadow, and Kane was the anchor at the bottom, his flashlight tucked into his belt, illuminating the rusted steel.
Sixty feet became fifty. Fifty became forty.
The world was a vertical tunnel of shadow and cold metal. Then, without warning, the degradation Harper had been fighting all day surged. Her vision swam- a swirl of grey and black, and her left foot hit a patch of slick dew instead of solid steel.
"Harper!" Ryan’s scream ripped through the quiet night.
She slipped. Her hands clawed at the air, the world tilting as she plummeted. The rusted rungs whipped past her face like a blurred ladder to nowhere. "HARPER!" Maxine shrieked from below.
The fall was a fraction of a second, but it felt like an eternity of weightlessness. Then, a hand- hard as iron and just as cold, jolted out and caught her forearm. The force of it nearly pulled her shoulder from its socket, but the momentum stopped.
Harper’s chest slammed into the ladder. She scrambled for a grip, her fingers locking onto a leather-clad arm. She looked up, her breath coming in frantic gasps, and found herself staring directly into Kane’s green eyes. He was braced against the support beam, his muscles taut, holding her entire weight with one hand.
"Thanks," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the hammering of her own heart.
They gazed at each other for a heartbeat- a strange, static moment of suspended reality amidst the rust. Kane didn't look terrified; he looked focused, his jaw set in a line of grim intensity.
"Just hold on," he murmured, his voice a low vibration she felt in her own bones.
He didn't let go until he had physically hauled her back onto the rung, pinning her there. He moved with a predatory efficiency, squishing her between the ladder and his own frame to ensure she couldn't slip again. The scent of pine and old leather was overwhelming.
"I’m going to move around you," he said, his breath warm against her ear. "Can you do the rest?"
"Yes," Harper managed, her pulse thumping against the "I’m Alive" tattoo on her wrist.
Kane shifted, his large frame navigating the narrow space with practiced ease, hooking his arms around the ladder on either side of her until he was below her again. The formation reset: Ryan at the top, then Maxine, then Harper, and finally Kane at the lead.
- Writer
