I'm out of place trailing behind Tanner and Jack without Brooke, but it isn't the first time. They keep whispering things to each other as we walk towards a fairly tall building that's completely unfamiliar to me.
It's old and dirty, which makes it stand out from all of the other places in the Afterworld. I would like to back out now.
"This is where we're going?" The tall building could fall over at any moment, it probably has rust and termites. "I'll pass."
"Oh come on, it doesn't look that weird, you're just paranoid. It's much safer than these other buildings, it has lasted way longer." Jack says as we walk through the old wooden doors.
Inside is dark and empty, it's like walking into an abandoned hospital or something, nothing feels quite right. I shudder as Jack and Tanner head further into the abyss, as if this place isn't creepy in any way.
At the end of the small room lies a set of backpacks, six of them to be exact. Without hesitating, the two of them begin strapping them to their chest while I watch them in confusion.
"Here." Jack tosses me one, and it is much heavier than I expected.
"Woah." I struggle to keep it in my hands. "Is there metal in this thing or something?" I question, then begin placing the straps around my shoulders. They do it swiftly like they've done this a thousand times.
Tanner and Jack have already assembled themselves while I struggle to figure out which strap goes where.
I have the straps around my shoulders but I can't figure out where to connect the end of them.
Tanner chuckles and takes a step towards me, moving a few of the pieces into different places. What is supposed to be around my waist is around my shoulder. Soon enough, I'm ready for whatever we're doing, I'm still not sure.
"Ready?" Jack questions when Tanner buckles the last piece of my backpack together.
Tanner nods and the two of them turn towards the back wall, which I don't even realize has an elevator. Nothing here is lit up, I have about a four foot radius that I can see, other than that, everything is pitch black.
The elevator makes a loud, ear straining dinging sound and I cover my ears. Tanner and Jack don't seem bothered, of course. The only reason I don't tell them that I'm opting out is because I didn't know my way home.
Maybe I'm also just a little curious about what the bunjee roof is. That could also be a factor in my presence in the dark elevator.
There are three mirrors on each wall in the elevator. I never really looked at myself, but I don't really recognize the person I'm looking at in the mirror. She has long blonde hair, sleek and straight instead of wavy. Her eyes aren't brown, they're redish.
I grin slightly so that I don't look so serious.
Her height is taller than I remember and her jawline is much more defined. Her cheeks that were always chubby as a kid are thinner now. She grew up so quickly.
The elevator rises unbearably slowly. I don't trust it one bit, it can hardly work let alone get us to the top floor, which is the button that Tanner pressed.
"Remind me to just take the stairs next time." Jack groans whilst leaning against the wall.
"Maybe you shouldn't be entering sketchy buildings in the first place." I counter, doing the same thing he is.
"Maybe you should relax, Juliet." Jack sneers and I roll my eyes.
"Maybe you should stop complaining, Arnold." Tanner has the widest smile on his face when he says this.
Jack's eyes pop open and he instantly becomes red as a tomato. "Shut up." He says through clenched teeth.
Tanner is already laughing hysterically.
"What? Arnold?" I question.
"It's nothing." He says quietly, staring at the carpeted floor.
"Jack's real name is Arnold, his middle name is Jack." Tanner manages to say through laughter. "I knew that would shut you up." He says to him.
My eyes widen in response and I giggle with Tanner. I feel bad, but it's too funny not to laugh. I did not expect him to have a name that unudusl, Jack seemed to fit him so well.
"Hey, I like the name Arnold." I assure him, which doesn't make his frown disappear.
"No you don't. And my name isn't Arnold, it's *Jack." He walks out of the elevator as soon as the doors open. A gust of wind hits my face as we walk onto the roof. It's small and flat, there are no walls or anything to prevent anyone from falling off.
"Question." I announce as the two boys make their way to the edge. "If I were to just jump off of this roof without any equipment, what would happen? I'm already dead, I can't die twice."
Tanner turns his head towards me and smiles. "Why don't you jump and find out?"
Jack backs up a few steps from the edge. "I'll try it." He lunges towards the sky, leaping off of the side of the building.
I gasp and run towards the edge. My heart drops to my feet as my adrenaline level increases.
"Relax, he has the backpack on." Tanner laughs softly at my concern. I can hardly see Jack's figure in the dark, but he disappeared and I know he's alive because I hear him shrieking with excitement.
"You guys have some nerve to just jump off of a building like that." I look at Tanner with wide eyes. I thought I was pretty brave up until now.
"C'mon, you jumped out of a window. How is this different?" He inquires, and I glance over the edge, at the ground where I'm definitely going to meet death. Or whatever happens when you jump off of this place without any safety gear.
"It's not I guess." I reply.
"The backpack is going to protect you. When you get close to the ground, it'll pull you back up. There's metal on the ground and metal in your backpack, so it works like one big magnet. Got it?"
I nod.
"Great." He turns to the city. "Ready to jump?"
I don't answer, I only stare at the path Jack took to the ground. I can't even see him. Tanner grabs my hand and it jerks in response.
"On three?"
I either have to choose between jumping with Tanner now or doing it by myself. I just have to suck it up and ignore the potential consequences floating around in my mind.
"One." He smiles.
"Two."
I hold my breath and shut my eyes tight.
Once I feel Tanner's hand tug mine, I jump into the air. I hear myself gasp just before my body plunges towards the ground.
My stomach ties into a knot and does a hundred backflips as I fall to the streets below. I shriek as we fall, it feels like we've been falling for longer than we should be. Still, Tanner's hand has a firm grip on mine.
I open my eyes and the ground is approaching quicker than I'd like it to. My hand rips from Tanner's as I prepare myself to land.
Suddenly, something tugs at my chest with such force that it feels like my rib cage is broken. The ground stops getting closer and I begin soaring upward, then sink back down.
I begin to laugh after I'm sure my body isn't going to smack against the ground.
"Did you like it?" Tanner asks me.
My smile is so wide, I have never felt adrenaline like this when I was alive, nor would I ever have done something like this if I was alive, even if I trusted the gear.
"Yeah, that was awesome!" I laugh in disbelief. I actually survived. Jack is standing on the floor, his arms crossed and a smile on his face.
My backpack no longer lifts me up and I plop onto the ground, landing on my feet. I take the backpack off and without the excess weight, I feel like I'm floating.
Tanner glares at the two of us. "Who's ready for round two?"
Hopefully you enjoyed this short chapter, I decided to break up one big one into two short ones since the next few chapters are going to be pretty long (that means big things are coming!).