Page 76 of Beyond The Maples
I stand for a moment, staring at the looming structure in front of me, at the stains that are likely long-dried blood. My chest feels tight as I try to take a deep breath. Suddenly, it is too loud, and the light feels too bright as the room sways.
My attention slides unwillingly to the crowd, and I see Deacon's eyes pleading with me.
"Maple, come on... Don't." He looks shocked. Pained.
Berkley is nodding, hands raking through his hair. He turns to Tane and says something I can't quite make out, but Tane doesn't respond. Doesn't blink. His eyes are locked on me and, all at once, the panic churning in me pauses and turns into something else. Because he doesn't look nervous, or scared. The look he gives me is a taunt. He's doubting me and challenging me atthe same time, and that fire inside me, that I'm always trying to douse with watery logic, roars to life.
Wrapping the tether around my hands, pulling it taut so it strains around the tower, I start.
I haul my right leg back, and I kick as hard as I possibly can into the plastic wall. The metal gongs and my legs vibrate with the impact, but the shield is already stuck there, a foot off the ground.
Perfect.
I straighten, hovering just above the ground on the metal disk attached to my foot, then swing my left foot back and slam it into the tower. It sticks just above where the first disk is lodged. The angle is awkward at best, and I curse myself for not having longer legs.
I go to pull my right foot out, and it doesn't budge. It's too far embedded into the plastic.
"Ok, like 15% less force should be good," I mutter to myself, already sweating. I work it out, little by little, dislodging it slowly. This part is mildly humiliating, as I am so close to the ground that I can practically feel everyone breathing down my neck; watching me fumble, sweat and curse as I figure it all out.
I finally seem to find a rhythm, my legs already aching from the pulling and the reverberating off the metal impacting into the plastic. But it's so slow. I'm unable to get much distance between kicks with my legs being so short. Why didn't I stretch? I never stretch enough, and my screaming hamstrings are punishing me for it.
It’s the sting of the fabric around my hands that keeps me grounded in reality. I'm sweating, and the material isn't meant to be pulled taut like this with bare hands. It's meant to act as an anchor for the metal, and keep contestants close to the tower. Which, technically, it is; it's ensuring my upper half doesn't fold backwards. Unfortunately for me, the fabric only has so much give, and its already starting to irritate my palms.
Halfway up my feet gonumb, but it's fine.
Farra and Leo have arrived. I hear intense, frightened encouragement from below. I don't dare look down, though or I'll puke.
Pull.
Balance.
Wind back.
Kick.
Pull.
Balance.
Wind back.
Kick.
The ground in my peripheral starts to look far away. The voices echo loudly in this huge dome, and even up here, I can still hear them all perfectly. The top is so close now. I need to center myself, so I try to tune everything and everyone out.
It's hot up here. Is it supposed to be this hot up here? Two more big steps and I'll be up. I extend my legs more than I thought humanly possible. Every vibration from the disks sends another ache into my bones.
My hands are slipping on the silky fabric, and the heat feels overwhelming as I near the top. I get a whiff of something, sulphur maybe, and then the faintest breeze glides across my sweat slicked neck. It's cool, which makes no sense, and I'm sure I’m imagining it, but my heart rate calms at the reprieve.
Taking a slow, shaky breath I give one last push, one last big kick. Pulling out my last step, I bend myself over the lip of the top, letting out an anguished cry as I use my arms to pull myself up onto the smooth surface. My body is vibrating, muscles spasming and threatening to lock, as I pull my dangling feet from the edge.
It's silent up here for a moment, my vision sparking with black dots as I work to take big, deep breaths.
It feels like the entire world's gone still.
Then I hear a roar of cheering from down below. Rolling onto my stomach, the metal disks at my feet clashing awkwardly, I worm my way to peek over the side. The crowd below has doubled. A slow smile spreads across my lips as I seemy friends down below, hugging each other and screaming up at me. Tears well in my eyes.
I did it. I made it up.
