Free Fall *Third book*

sixteen.

Sneaking out of Henry's house was almost impossible. He hadn't specifically told me that I had to sneak out, but telling me to go out a window in the spare room and climb down the latticework on the side of his house kind of gave me the hint. 

I was about halfway when my mind decided 'hey Bella, lets look down at the ground below us' and I immediately started to freak out. 

"Why is it so damn far?" I say to myself, feel my grip become week on the framework. As my lattice what close to a ladder and generally easy to climb, this seemed so hard and I don't know if it was my panic that made me think that or that face that it was genuinely hard. 

"Bella, you doing okay?" I heard a voice say from below. I look down again and see Henry standing there. 

"Uh, y-yeah. I'm perfectly f-fine." I stutter, worried that my hands will lose grip or my feet would slip. 

I think Henry could sense my panic. "It's okay, one step at a time. You're doing great." His voice was quiet and cautious as to not bother his mother who was still inside and clearly didn't like visitors in her house. 

"I promise you're almost there. If you take another 5 steps, you can free fall into my arms. I promise I'll catch you." 

"Are you joking!?" I say as if the kid was crazy. Did he want me to die? Was that the mysterious kids plan the whole time? After everything I had been through I honestly wouldn't be that surprised if that was my next trouble 

"Just trust me." Henry's voice was stern and serious again as I continued to slowly climb down those 5 steps. 

"If you drop me I swear-" 

"Bella, I won't. It just saves the the extra climbing that you already seem to be struggling with." He assures me. 

I take a deep breath and close my eyes. "Here goes nothing" I mumble to myself. I slowly let go of the lattice and feel myself fall for at least 5 seconds before I (thankfully) land into Henry's arms. 

"See, it was all about trust." He says, placing me on the ground, "I wouldn't have dropped you." 

"Something tells me I'm not the first person you've had to sneak out the window before." I suggest, straightening out my clothes. 

"Nope. And you're not the first girl either. You all get to a certain point and the struggle bugs me so I came up with the free fall method so you could all get to the bottom quicker. We don't have time to waste here." He shrugs, his iconic smirk planted on his face. 

"Has anyone ever told you you're an asshole?" I question, placing my hands on my hips. 

"Only you on a daily basis." Henry grins, ruffling my hair. 

I fix my hair, "Hmm. funny that." 

He lets out a laugh and leads me down the path to the side gate where he opens it up and lets me through before him. We walk to his car where he finally doesn't seem as cautious anymore. 

"She's in the basement now." Henry says as he opens my door. It was as if he could read my mind. 

"How do you know?" 

"Well, that's where our alcohol stash is. As I'm sure you probably heard whilst trying to get out the window, we had another blow out and that happens everytime I want to leave the house after a certain time and I know after that she goes down to the basement and drinks, regretting a lot. It's a cycle." 

Henry speaks as if it's no big deal that his mother treats him like this. I open my mouth to speak, more so to say some words of support but he cuts me off.