Thomas
As we reached the zipper, I saw a man standing up above the large crowd. It was the town police chief, Officer Thompson. He was looking around, scanning the crowd. To him, something wasn’t right.
Next to me, Molly was frowning. She hated seeing things like this. She especially didn’t like it, because it was Mitchell. Any other person, I think she wouldn’t have been so distraught.
“It’s going to be fine,” I told her.
She looked up at me and shook her head in response. “No, it’s not Thomas,” she said. “A friend of ours is going to die today. You don’t even care,” she accused. Her gaze went back to her feet.
I frowned at her, hearing this. “Molly, I do care,” I said softly. “I just know there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Molly looked up at me again. “You’re not even sad about it…” she said softly.
I sighed. I wasn’t going to be able to convince her otherwise. My gaze wandered away, meeting the eyes of a man I recognized from my dad’s work. “Do you think Mom and Dad are here?” I asked.
“Why wouldn’t they be? It’s a stupid social event,” Molly mumbled. “They’re going to be just like everyone else, entertained by death. You’re just like them too,” she added.
“Molly, why don’t you believe me?” I asked, looking down at my sister. “I am sad about this whole thing!”
“No, you’re not,” she muttered again, not even looking at me.
I give up. I just give up. If Molly is anything, she’s stubborn. I whispered a single, “I am sad,” and turned away.
As soon as my mouth closed, Officer Thompson was given a microphone. He turned to the whole crowd. “Good morning, citizens of Restless Isle!” The whole crowd cheered at this.
Well, the whole crowd except Molly and me.
“Mitchell Oliver has committed crimes against authority and the government, your government!” Officer Thompson said. Yup, the exact same thing he always says. Apparently Mitchell’s done the same things everyone else has done. Apparently he’s just like the people who were thrown in last year, or that couple who was thrown in when Molly and I weren’t even born.
I think I was the only person who made the connection. All around us, people were yelling things. On the less obscene end, they yelled “traitor” and “throw him in”. Molly and I didn’t say a word. Instead, I just mouthed the words of Officer Thompson’s speech.
As we stood there, someone tugged on my arm. I mumbled something to them. “Stop, I’m trying to pay attention,” I said. But, at that exact moment, the crowd started yelling even louder, drowning out my words. I craned my neck to see, but it was fairly obvious.
Mitchell was in handcuffs and a bright orange jumpsuit. He was being escorted through the crowd to Officer Thompson by four police officers. Instead of looking terrified, like other prisoners had been when it was their turn to fall into the pit, Mitchell was looking straight forward, not a single hint of remorse in his eyes. He had accepted his fate completely. I was impressed, and admired that.
As Mitchell walked, people threw things at him. The people were yelling things at top volume, things even more obscene than what had been yelled in the first place. Apparently, the worse curses come out when you see the person in question. But, again, Mitchell didn’t flinch once. He just kept walking with his police escorts.
I glanced over at Molly to see her reaction. Her face was scrunched up a bit, as if she was holding back tears (who am I kidding, she obviously was). But, she faced forward, knowing there was nothing she could do unless she wanted to end up dead at the bottom of the pit.
Whoever had been pulling on my arm did it again. I looked down at the person, and found Elsie standing down there. “Elsie? What is it?” I asked softly.
“I’m scared,” she said softly. She had every right to be, after all. Mom and Dad had kept her away from the zipper on sentencing days, since they didn’t want her to see what happened here. But, since she was at school and she had to follow her teacher, she was forced to see what happened. She’d never seen this before, and now it was all going to be forced on her.
“Aw, Elsie,” I said softly. I crouched down to her level and pulled her in for a hug. “It’s gonna be okay.”
“But somebody’s gonna die!” Elsie said softly, frowning.
I sighed. “Elsie…” But, she just buried her face in my side in response.
At that moment, Officer Thompson spoke up again. Mitchell was standing next to him, but was still flanked by the police escorts. Officer Thompson looked at Mitchell. “Mitchell Oliver,” he began, “for your crimes against authority from the government, you have been sentenced to death by the zipper.” More cheers rang out while Elsie shook in my side. “Do you have any last words before we open the zipper?”
Mitchell looked at the officer, looking like he was trying to decide whether to speak or not. Finally, he made a choice. He opened his mouth and said simply, “I don’t regret what I did.” He closed his mouth, saying nothing more.
Officer Thompson almost looked disappointed. Maybe he was expecting something more interesting, a last confession that would get everyone talking. But, the disappointment was wiped from his face pretty quickly. He nodded, and turned to an officer standing near the large zipper pull. “Open it up, officer,” he ordered.
The officer nodded, and did as he was told. He and another officer, this one a girl, pulled the zipper pull down the street so the gap was wide open.
A gaping pit was left open in front of everyone. I was close enough and tall enough to see down the pit a bit. All I could see, though, was dark rock lining the edges of the pit. Then, it was just darkness. Everything else was hidden under the shadows.
Mitchell walked up close to the edge. He looked down the chasm, a slightly nervous expression on his face. Then, he stepped forward, right up to the edge…
And he jumped. He jumped straight off, without any fear whatsoever, to his death.
As everyone screamed for joy, I muttered a single word under my breath. “Goodbye.” I didn’t even notice the pressure of Elsie’s body against my side disappearing.
The crowd began to thin out, since the big, important part had ended. But, I stayed, my feet rooted to their place. Molly looked up at me. “He’s really gone,” she said softly.
I nodded slowly. “Yeah,” I said softly, sighing.
Molly looked down at her feet, and said, “Do you think we can go now?” Most of the people had left, save some crowds of other teenagers that were giggling about something and some police officers.
“Yeah, sure,” I said. “Here, let’s walk Elsie back to school,” I said. I looked down to my other side, but didn’t see her. “Elsie?” I called.
“Maybe she went back to her class,” Molly suggested, but her voice still was missing the excitement it normally had.
“Yeah, she probably did,” I agreed with a nod. I turned to walk away.
Molly began to do the same, but stopped in her tracks. “Elsie!” she screamed.
That’s when I noticed what was happening. I spun around and gasped. “Elsie! What are you doing?”
“I wanna see if he’s okay,” Elsie said. She looked out over the edge of the pit, her feet inches from the edge.
“Elsie, get away from there. You could get hurt,” I said.
Elsie ignored my warning. “How deep do you think this is?” she asked.
“Pretty deep. Move back from there, please,” Molly pleaded.
Again, she ignored us. She stepped to the edge and peered down. “It’s so dark…”
Then, time seemed to slow down. Elsie stumbled towards the edge and fell into the pit.
I stood there for about half a second in shock, but then snapped out of it. Molly and I ran towards the edge of the pit, screaming, “Elsie! Elsie!” We skidded to a stop in front of it, our feet inches away from the ledge like hers had been.
“Elsie, are you okay?” Molly called down the pit, biting down on her lip. There was no response.
We shared a look, and I whispered, “She couldn’t be…you know…could she?”
Molly had tears running down her cheeks. “What if she is?”
I sighed. “I don’t know,” I said, wrapping my arms around her in a hug. She hugged me back tightly, her head buried in my chest as she cried.
At that moment, an officer came by. “You two should step back. We’re zipping it up now,” he said.
Molly removed her head from my chest to speak. “But, sir,” she began, but was cut off.
“I know you two must be sad at having to watch him die, but it’s over now. He’s gone.” I knew the officer must mean well, but he obviously didn’t see what happened.
“Sir, I don’t think you understand,” Molly said.
“Oh, were you two dating, young lady? I’m sorry you had to lose your boyfriend like that,” the officer said.
Molly’s eyes were huge. “What? No! I wasn’t dating Mitchell!” she exclaimed.
“Officer, our sister just freaking fell into the zipper, and you’re not batting an eye?” I asked, getting a bit angry.
“Son, the only person I saw fall in today was Mitchell, and he’s a guy,” the officer said.
My fists clenched in frustration. I was about to scream at him for being a complete idiot when Molly spoke up. “Sir, maybe you just didn’t see it. Our little sister just fell in. She’s about seven years old, named Elsie Wagner…”
“Sorry, miss. Didn’t see it. Why don’t you two go run along to school?” the officer suggested.
Again, I was just about to scream when Molly spoke. “Okay,” she said, and grabbed my arm. “Come on, Thomas.” She tugged on my arm and led me out of the area towards the school.
When we were out of sight, I yanked my arm out of her grasp. “What the heck, Molly?” I exclaimed loudly.
“Thomas, I…” she began softly, looking away.
“You what? You’re completely calm about the fact that our little sister is probably lying dead at the bottom of the zipper’s pit with Mitchell? You don’t care that our little sister just got zipped by accident? Yeah, you cried, but for about thirty seconds, and then the cop showed up!”
“Thomas, please…” Molly said softly. “Let me explain.”
“Okay, explain,” I ordered, my arms crossed.
Molly said softly, “Complaining to a police officer isn’t going to help Elsie. They aren’t going to send someone down the bottomless pit to rescue someone they don’t know is down there, and they probably believe is more than likely dead.”
“You think she’s dead then!” I accused. I wasn’t thinking straight at all.
"I never said I did,” Molly said, frowning. Tears threatened to fall down her cheeks at this point. I knew I had hurt her, but right then I didn’t care. “I just said the police probably do. They aren’t going to send anyone to save her.”
“Then why don’t we do it?” I found myself asking.
“What?” Molly asked with wide eyes.
“Why don’t we save Elsie?”
Molly had an analytical look on her face as she spoke. “You want to jump into the pit, risking your own life to save her when she could be dead? That’s suicide, practically!” She wasn’t sad anymore. Now, she was just mad.
“If we don’t die from impact, we’ll know she’s probably alive,” I reasoned.
“Yeah, and if not, we’re just dead!” Molly pointed out.
“I just want to save my sister, okay? I’m jumping. You don’t have to,” I told her.
Molly frowned. “I just don’t want to lose you too,” she said softly.
I said, “I’m jumping. Tell Mr. P. I’m not feeling good today. I’m going home to plan.”
“But, Thomas,” Molly began, looking up at me.
“You’re not changing my mind. I’m going to, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” I then turned on my heel and walked away without another word.
----------
The clock on my desk read 4:00 pm. My sister had fallen in at 9:10 am. She could be dead.
My little sister could be dead. I had tried to push that thought out of my head as I worked, so I was just thinking that I was doing this for my own reason. But now the thought was back. I groaned, leaning back in my desk chair. It rolled back and hit my bed which was directly behind it on the other wall. I groaned again and gave up.
I got up from my chair and pushed it back towards the desk. My gaze fell on the sheet of paper lying on the table. At the top of the sheet, it read “Jumping Plans”. Below it, nothing was written.
I had absolutely no idea of how to do this without ending up dead. Most of my conventional means wouldn’t work, because the pit was too deep. So, what else could I do but jump and hope I’d live?
My mind drifted to my parents. They were still at work, and would be there until five at the earliest. I hadn’t seen them at the zipper earlier, but I knew they had to have been there. But, I also knew they hadn’t seen Elsie fall, or I would have heard them scream. They weren’t one of the people who had stayed around afterwards because they weren’t those kinds of people, and never had been. They were totally clueless. I couldn’t believe they didn’t have some kind of parental instinct that their child was in trouble.
4:05. Molly should be home by now. School ended at 3:30, and it never took this long to get back home. Not even on snowy, windy days where it took forever to make your way down the street into the wind. Now that was impossible.
Please don’t tell me my sister’s in trouble too. I can’t lose Elsie and Molly in the same day. I just can’t.
Molly would say I’m being paranoid. Elsie would giggle and agree, and she’d give me her little seven year-old smile. And I’d just lean back in my seat and ignore them as I freaked out.
But seriously, where is she?
I got up from my chair and went down the stairs. I was starving. Maybe there was something good for me to eat down there.
I heard the door open as I reached the kitchen. I spun around to face the door, looking around.
“Hi,” Molly said as she walked through the door.
“Molly, you’re okay,” I said as I gave her a hug.
Molly hugged me back and said, “Are you okay?”
“I was nervous that something happened to you,” I admitted.
Molly sighed, and said, “I’m fine. Did you come up with a plan yet?”
“Nope,” I admitted. My gaze fell to my feet.
She looked at me. “Nothing at all?”
“Not unless jumping without anything to help is an option,” I told her.
She rolled her eyes. “You’re such an idiot. Give me some paper. I’ve got plenty of ideas.”
I nodded, going to get some paper from a shelf nearby. Then, something hit me. “Wait a second. Why were you coming up with ideas?” I asked. “You’re not coming, are you?”
“You’re going after our sister. Why wouldn’t I help you?” Molly said.
“Because you said it was a suicide mission,” I said, giving her a piece of paper and a pen.
“We’re going after our sister to possibly save her life. She’s our little sister. I’m not going to leave her lying down at the bottom of the zipper to die, if she isn’t already dead,” she began.
Then I cut her off. “We don’t know if she’s dead or not.”
She nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” she agreed. “But I’m not letting you go alone. So, I came up with some ideas at school,” she said, and then began to write them down.
Ideas
-Bungee cord: once landed have someone pull the cord off so no evidence left
-Rope: same as above
-Parachutes: safe landing, pull cord once near bottom
“Why are you such a genius?” I asked her.
“I’m just thinking, that’s all. Which one should we do?” she asked me.
“Probably parachutes,” I said. “I don’t want to get anyone else involved. Maybe they’ll be arrested and thrown in if someone finds out,” I reasoned.
“But someone needs to pull the zipper pull,” she pointed out.
I sighed. I hadn’t thought of that. “I still like the parachutes. But who do we trust to pull the zipper?” I asked.
“Simple,” Molly said. “Peter. I already talked to him.”
“You already talked to him?” I asked, shocked.
“Yup,” Molly said. “We’ve got an ally.”
I sighed again. “Okay. I really don’t want to get Peter involved, but I guess we have to,” I said.
“So when do we jump?” Molly asked me.
“When can we find parachutes?” I asked in response.
“Peter’s friend likes to go skydiving. He can get them really quickly,” Molly said to me.
“Then let’s talk to Peter and get those parachutes. If we can get them tonight, let’s go tonight,” I told her.
“Tonight?” Molly asked, shocked.
“Yeah. Let’s go tonight,” I said. “Pack up some rations. Let’s go,” I added.
“Wait, what about getting back up there?” Molly asked. “What happens if we find her and can’t get out?”
“We’ll figure that out later. Maybe Peter can send down a long rope to help us up when we find her. We’ll tell him a time and a date of when to do that, and then we’ll be fine,” I reasoned.
Molly nodded, but still looked nervous. “Are you sure you want to go tonight?” she asked softly.
“We’ve got to,” I said. “Are you coming?"
Molly bit her lip and nodded slowly. “Yeah,” she said. “Let’s go save Elsie.”
----------
A/N Hi everyone. I just would like to thank everyone reading this for all the support. I know I write fanfiction mainly, but I'm glad that people are enjoying this story. I worked really hard on it, and knowing people like it is a great gift. Thank you.
Please vote and comment on this chapter too! Thanks!