A Rule That Never Breaks

Chapter 4

I kept my distance as I followed Ari. We walked down the same street he'd followed me up. He hopped between pools of light ahead of me; his back momentarily illuminated by a street lamp before disappearing into darkness again. I stayed half a block behind, timing my pace so I was in the dark when he was in the light. I walked on my toes, keeping my weight light to silence my feet. There was probably no need. The whirling cars on the nearby expressway blotted out even the low hum of the street lamps. I quickened my pace and followed more closely behind. 

I felt furtive and more than a little guilty as I followed Ari. Justifications spun around my head. He had followed me too... If he wasn't going to tell me what he was going to do with these psychotic gods, what choice did I have but to find out...

Ari changed direction and began crossing the street. I was forced to duck behind a parked car to stay out of sight. We were only a dozen blocks or so from where I lived, but already the buildings had grown taller; dilapidated brick was replaced by smooth stucco, and brown grass lined the sidewalk instead of dirt. I wondered if Ari's family helped him pay the rent.

I waited on the opposite side of the street as Ari turned off the sidewalk and up a narrow walkway that lead to the entrance of a moderately-sized apartment building. He paused at the door and reached into his pocket.

I sprang to my feet from behind the parked car. I would lose him if he went inside! I sucked in a breath and sprinted across the street, keeping my legs bent low in a crouch. I ducked behind a lamp post just as Ari opened the door and went inside. The door closed behind him with a click.

"Dammit!" I swore under my breath.

I kicked the ground with the toe of my sneaker and straightened. There was no point hiding now. I walked slowly along the sidewalk towards Ari's building, stopping when I was across from the walkway. The lobby was well-lit, with soft brown carpet and green plastic plants in the corners. It was empty.

I sighed, exasperated, and glanced at the night sky. Clear, cloudless... a flicker in the corner of my eye caught my attention. The light to one of the second story apartments had just turned on. Could it be Ari's? I started up the walkway towards the apartment building but veered towards the middle of the lawn. I craned my neck upwards, trying to see through the window. The apartment's balcony obscured my view inside. I backed up another step and took in the whole building. Some lights were on; most were off. There was no way to tell which one was Ari's. 

I moved closer to the building. The balcony was pretty low off the ground, maybe only 12 feet or so. Too high to reach from the ground, but there was a small utility box stuck to the side of the building below. If I could stand on it and jump....

I stopped with my fingers pressed into the metal box. What was I doing?  Following Ari was one thing, but climbing up a balcony to spy on him was another entirely. And what was I going to do if it really was Ari inside?  Watch him take a shower? I snatched my hand back from the utility box in disgust. I made to walk away but was hit by a sudden swell of emotion. My body stiffened reflexively. For a second I thought it was my own...but no...my brain had long since learned to parse internal feelings from external ones.  And this one felt... reverent, loving almost, as if my heart were filling with awe. It was definitely not mine.

I whirled around, trying to find the source. The street was silent; nothing moved. I looked up at the apartment. I could hear something coming from inside. It was only a faint vibration, like a low hum, its rhythm undulating up and down. It sounded like singing.

Alright, that was it. I walked towards the balcony more purposefully this time. I forced my foot on top of the utility box and pushed myself to standing on top of it. The box creaked under my weight but held. My shoulders pressed against the building as I shimmied my toes until I was facing the balcony. The bottom railing was still a few feet above my outstretched fingertips. I leaned forward and gathered my weight in my legs, preparing to jump.

I launched myself forward at the same time the box under my feet snapped. The knuckles of my right hand slammed uselessly into the bottom of the balcony, but I managed to wrap my left hand around one of the metal railings. My body swung wildly under my arms, wrenching hard on my left shoulder. My arm burned with the effort of holding myself off the ground. I moved my free hand to grip another bar and forced my foot up to the balcony. I remembered how I used to sit on top of the monkey bars when I was a kid and tried the same technique now; hauling up with my arms until my body twisted and my weight moved over my foot. I flopped over the railing like a drowned rat, my heart pounding against my chest.

I took a deep breath and forced my heart to slow. The light was still on in the apartment, but it had dimmed and begun to flicker. I crept along the side of the balcony silently, trying to compensate for my earlier racket, and crouched in the corner. I pressed my knees into the concrete and leaned forward to peer through the window.

I gasped and yanked my head back immediately.

It was Ari. Staring at me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and steeled myself, preparing to be defiant. My chest rose and fell against my volition; my heart was pounding again. But no footsteps approached, and the window stayed shut. My curiosity rose as my heart slowed. When I could resist it no longer, I peeked back through the window.

Ari hadn't moved. He was kneeling in the middle of the room with a dozen candles arranged in a circle around him. This time I noticed his eyes were squeezed shut, his lips moving rapidly in a low murmur. Something wet pooled on the ground in front of Ari. The liquid was a deep red color, running in thin rivulets on either side of him. My breath caught in my throat.

A gust of wind came from behind me and nearly knocked me off my feet. I put a hand out to steady myself as as second gust flattened my back. The hood of my jacket flapped up and down hopelessly. It was just like before, except this wind felt stronger. My teeth began to chatter, it was colder too. My arm vibrated with the energy of the wind. I struggled to keep my eyes on Ari. Somehow, the same wind was in his apartment. He faced into it; his hair pressed flat against his head and his fists pushed into the ground. He was still murmuring but his lips had straightened to a grim line. It was as if all the air were being sucked from the world and funneling straight into Ari's apartment, completely unobstructed by the wall separating it.

The wind was only getting stronger; it picked up speed as it rushed into the apartment. My body flattened against the closed window. I planted my feet in an effort to gain some distance. They started to slide across the pavement.

"Ari!" I shouted in desperation.

He didn't look up to show he'd heard. He was bent on all fours now, his body swaying with the the wind.

"Ari!" I tried again. "Stop this!"

I could hardly move now. The wind slammed against my back, making it impossible to turn around. I pressed my palm into the glass in front of me, trying to stay upright. If I could just reach the side of the window, I could get inside and make Ari stop this! The wind was stealing the breath from my mouth. I couldn't get air in, I was going to suffocate!

The tips of my fingers closed around the metal window frame. I wrenched it open, throwing my weight forward as I did. The window slid backwards, but the rest of my body kept going forward, carried by my momentum and this unearthly wind. 

My feet left the ground. 

I screamed.

My body was hurtling through the open window, my body twisting and writhing impossibly in midair. I couldn't see Ari anymore. The world dissolved in a blur of color. I was drowning. The torrent of air stole all my senses except the roaring in my ears. I opened my mouth to scream one last plea of terror... but then I lost my grip on the world and everything went dark. The last thing I remembered before losing awareness completely was falling; the vicious wind replaced by the inexorable pull of gravity.