Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 85817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 429(@200wpm)___ 343(@250wpm)___ 286(@300wpm)
So I was surprised when I pulled up to the gravel parking lot that there were no police cars lined up, blocking our entrance. I thought we’d for sure have cops here. Instead, we pulled right up to the gate, which had been cut open and was now swinging back and forth in the wind.
We got out of my car, a cloud of dust still in the air.
“That must be Nick’s car,” I said, pointing at a beat-up Chevy with the passenger door still thrown open.
“Come on, let’s go,” Angel said, running ahead of me.
The Heaven’s Gate building, officially named the Diamond Bank building, was mostly finished, with everything but the upper floors enclosed and furnished. We ran through the lobby where paint buckets and ladders still waited to be put away, tarps covering the check-in area and waiting area. The elevator had been installed, but there was no power except for some emergency lighting throughout the room, so I knew we had to take the long way up.
“The stairs. Over there.” I ran toward the closed door, hoping to God that it wasn’t locked.
The door swung open, revealing a staircase that still smelled like wet paint and wood chips.
“Think they’re at the top?” Angel asked, looking up. Some of the scaffolding hadn’t been fully completed in the stairwell, so we could see a long way up.
“They’ve got to be.” And I started to run, taking two stairs at a time, both hands on the rails. Angel followed close behind me, neither of us wanting to lose another second.
By the twentieth floor, we were starting to feel it. My legs burned, but I pushed past the pain.
I’m not losing you, Sam. I’m not.
That thought alone kept me climbing. As we got higher, the building felt less and less completed, until the concrete stairs were we running up turned into just steel, our shoes making loud echoes off each step. The doors that led out onto the floor from the stairwells were gone, letting us looking into the long and empty halls. Around the fortieth floor, I could see that there were no longer any walls on the exterior of the building. It started to get colder, too, the farther we climbed.
“Come on, we’re almost there,” I said, encouraging Angel. Neither of us were strangers to physical exertion, but running up forty flights of stairs would wind even the strongest athlete.
Still, we kept climbing. Every step, every heartbeat, taking us closer and closer to Sam and Peter.
What if they aren’t here…?
The thought hit me like a dump truck tearing through a solid brick wall.
I kept running up the stairs, faster now. I couldn’t entertain those kinds of thoughts. They had to be here. Had to. And they had to be alive, because if they weren’t…
Faster I ran, Angel right behind me. Finally, I could see where the topmost flight gave way to pure sky, the ceiling not having been built yet. The wind whistled down the steps, penetrating my ears like the cries of dying birds, sharp and shrieking.
We reached the flat landing on the highest floor. No more stairs to climb. Nothing.
And I saw them. The three of them. Sam sat on a chair, his back to me, while Nick held Peter’s chair against the edge of the building. The fear on Peter’s face reflected like moonlight. He didn’t see us, no one did. But I saw him, and I saw how close he was to being pushed over, tumbling down to the ground while he was tied to a rickety wooden chair.
I shouted but could barely hear myself over the wind, which started whipping up even more, causing a big blue tarp to slap outward, the corner coming dangerously close to taking out my eye.
That’s when it all exploded. I watched as Sam’s wrists came free, the rope that was tying him falling down to the ground. He jumped upward, straight toward Nick and Peter. Nick, caught by total surprise, seemed to freeze in place. Sam reached for both of them, grabbing Nick by the arm and Peter by the chair. For a brief moment, time seemed to have stopped. I thought Sam was going to be carried away by the momentum and all three of them were going to go flying to their end. I started to run, but there’d be no way I could get there in time. Zero way.
But Sam didn’t fall over. He pulled them back. All three of them came falling backward, away from the edge. Peter’s chair fell and shattered, Sam managing to avoid being splintered by any of the wood. Nick fell hard, off to the side. His head hit an exposed brick, bouncing back up at a scary speed. His body went limp.
“Sam!” I was at his side, kneeling down, looking him over to make sure he wasn’t hurt. “Sam, baby, are you okay? I’m here. I’ve got you.”