CHAPTER 19: BORDERING ON RIDICULE

Reaper shielded her eyes and looked up towards the sky. The black dot was getting bigger and bigger. Oh good. Right on time, she thought. She took a step back to make room for it. The speeding body crashed down a few centimetres from her foot, the sound of bones breaking as it hit the concrete pavement. Reaper raised her brows in astonishment. After all these centuries and after all those dead bodies she’s seen, the sprawled mess in front of her still distressed her. Ewww, gross, she screwed her face up at the sight. Oh well, she sighed, to work then. Bending towards the body, she reached through it with her hand and pulled out a translucent piece of film.

Michael ran towards the edge of the roof and cautiously looked down. “Oh shit,” he mumbled.

Natasha opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times. Funny, why is it I feel so light all of a sudden? Feeling a little disorientated, she let her eyes wander around, trying to determine her surroundings. Oh hello, who’s this? There was someone standing next to her. Huh? Must be my eyes playing tricks on me. She rubbed them and tried again. She blinked. Okay, either I’m (a) going mad (b) having a really bad dream or (c) there’s really a skeleton standing next to me.

Reaper smiled.

Uh. And the skeleton just smiled at me too. Wait a minute. Skeleton, black robe and is that a scythe it’s holding in its hand? Then Natasha looked down at her feet. Oh. That’s not me sprawled there, is it? Gosh, I look a mess. Natasha turned to the skeleton next to her. “Does that mean?” she asked as she pointed at her body on the ground.

Reaper nodded.

Oh, Natasha thought. Damn. What the hell happened? She looked back up towards the hotel.

Michael peered over the edge cautiously. He could just barely make out Natasha’s body sprawled at the bottom. He remembered shouting at the top of his lungs when he saw Natasha push Ellen off the roof. He had run towards them to try and stop Natasha, had accidentally tripped over his own foot, bumped into Natasha, sending her over the edge together with Ellen.

Ellen! Michael slapped his forehead as he remembered. Where was Ellen?

“Michael,” a soft, strained voice floated towards his ears.

Michael recognised it. Ellen? He peered over the edge again.

“Michael...”

There was Ellen hanging on tightly to a flag pole which was protruding out of the side of the hotel.

“Ellen!” Michael yelled with joy. His stomach did a double flip. She’s still alive, she’s still alive, he mentally hopped and pranced about in glee.

Oh, you stupid man. Stop jumping around like an idiot and give her a hand. She’s not very light, you know, Chance grumbled as he hung on to the window ledge. He felt his colleague’s grip at his feet and looked down behind him. Eros was hugging on to Chance’s legs as Chance had climbed out of the window right below Ellen. He carefully positioned himself under Ellen so that her feet rested on his shoulders. He nodded at Eros. Eros indicated towards Ellen as if reminding his colleague to stay put and not move. Chance grimaced as felt the weight of Ellen on his shoulders.

The two Aspects had headed over to her hotel after leaving Purgatory and had arrived just in time to see Natasha push Ellen off the roof. A flag pole had mysteriously materialised a few metres from the roof while our two heroes scrambled down over to the appropriate floor - which explains the view of the current situation.

“Hang on, Ellen. I’ll get you. Just hang on,” Michael shouted to her. From where he was he guessed that she was probably outside the 30th floor. With leaps and bounds, he hurried down the steps towards her.

Ellen couldn’t believe what was going on. One minute she was in her room kicking her heels in the air and giggling over some silly thought, the next minute she was outside, hanging on to a flagpole for dear life, 30-over storeys from going splat on the ground. She remembered looking at the sky and musing about how clear and blue it looked. She remembered wishing she took flying lessons. She remembered seeing this flagpole on her way down. She remembered instinctively reaching out her hands for it.

That’s odd, Ellen thought as Chance positioned his shoulders under her feet. I feel like I’m actually standing on something. She risked a glance down but there was nothing below her. Shrugging, she looked back up again and saw Michael’s face peering over the edge. That was when she called out to him.

Natasha squinted at the figures above. That can’t be right. She looked at them again and shook her head as if trying to clear her mind. Ellen was hanging on to a flagpole. But it wasn’t that that caused her to look again. It was the two guys below Ellen. One, standing precariously on the ledge of the window, right below Ellen’s feet while the other held on to the one standing on the ledge. Natasha turned to look at Death as if asking for assurance that she wasn’t exactly hallucinating the whole thing.

Try and imagine a skeleton grinning sheepishly.

Michael ran to the window and stuck his head out. “Ellen,” he called. “I’m here. Give me your hand.” Michael reached out his hand at her.

Finally, thought Ellen.

Finally, thought Chance.

Finally, thought Eros.

Ellen carefully inched a little closer towards Michael’s outstretched hand. Oh boy, here’s the hard part. Do I let go and grab his hand or what? If I let go, I may lose my other grip and if he misses grabbing my hand, I could just plunge all the way down. She risked another glance down and gulped when she saw Natasha’s body on the concrete. She had seen Natasha whisk straight passed her just now. She could still remember the look on Natasha’s face. It was one that said ‘eh? this is all going wrong, isn’t it?’

Ellen reverted her attention back to Michael’s hand again. Then she looked at him. Then she remembered how he had blundered up on to the roof to try and save her just now. Oh dear, she worried. He’s definitely going to miss my hand if I let go.

“Come on, Ellen. Your hand,” Michael called out to her again.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty, Ellen imagined him saying.

Hurry up, thought Chance.

Hurry the @#%* up, thought Eros.

This is interesting, thought Reaper.

Fall, fall, thought Natasha.

Aiya, thought Ellen, die die-la. She squeezed her eyes shut and released the grip in one hand and reached out towards Michael with it. She felt his palm cover hers and tightened around it.

“Okay, I got you. Other hand now,” Michael said.

Ellen released her breath. Other hand? Oh well, here goes nothing. She let go of the flagpole and quickly swung her hand over to Michael’s. He grabbed it and pulled. Come on, he grunted. Hands, arm muscles, my dear friends, don’t fail me now, Michael pleaded as he pulled Ellen towards him with all the strength he could muster. That’s it, that’s it. Just a little bit more. Yes, yes. Oufff! He fell backwards as Ellen landed on top of him.

“Gosh, you’re heavy,” he commented with a grin.

Ellen stared at Michael. Then she threw herself at him, hugging him with all her might. It was only then that the whole fear thing hit her. She started to sob, her tears flowing freely and she held on to him for dear life.

“It’s okay now. Everything’s okay now,” Michael stroked her hair and consoled her.

Damn, Natasha cursed when she realised that Ellen would not be joining her on the concrete. “So, what happens now?” she turned and asked Death.

Reaper smiled and let go the translucent film she had been holding on to all this while. Natasha slowly sank into the ground. Bye, bye, Reaper waved to her. Enjoy your stay in hell.

“Now, that was fun, wasn’t it?” Chance grinned at Eros.

Spyda sat back in her chair after watching the threads on the screen unfold in front of her. She smiled. Looks like that idiot Chance really managed to do it after all.