Yours Truly 2017 / Cascadia College / Bothell, WA 2017 YT Online Book | Page 107

The Ledge
Nina Jouval

“Soooo why are we doing this?” I say
with a hint of shakiness in my voice.

“Because I want to and I said so,” Kelsey
violently whispers.

I watch nervously as she fumbles
through her backpack trying to find something.

“Damnit Shay, did you forget to bring
the flashlight?!” Despite the eerie darkness, I
can see the fire light up in her eyes.

“N-no I have it right h-here,” I stutter.

“Why are you so nervous? Calm the hell
down.”

“Oh I’m not nervous, just really cold.” She
rips the flashlight out of my hands and turns it
on. She swiftly moves the beam of light around
the room of the construction site. It defines the
little details that I couldn’t see before. There are
countless pipes and tangled wires crisscrossing
over each other. All the exposed wood and
concrete remind me of a skeleton. Kelsey
excitedly starts climbing the half-finished stairs
while I look around for any security guards that
might pop out. I soon follow after her.

Flashbacks whirl around in my mind
about all the other occasions where she lured
me into her savage stunts. I will never forget
the time we went to the makeup store and she
made me shove dozens of beauty products in
my pockets, which was later followed by being
chased by a mall cop and almost getting caught.
Of course Kelsey didn’t care if she got away and
left me behind because she didn’t look back to
see if I was still there. Not once.

Her snickering laugh snaps me out
of my trance. I crinkle my nose and wince at
her villainous cackle. “Doesn’t this just give
you the most amazing feeling? The rush is so
empowering,” she says with a creepy grin. Every
time she says that, I want to tell her how utterly
sick and twisted it is to think that way, but I know
if I said that, I would suffer the consequences.
We continue to climb until we reach a vast gap
in the floor.

“We have to jump across. There’s no
other way,” Kelsey insists.

“O-oh okay well we obviously can’t
make that jump so why don’t we just call it a
night and go home?”

“Wow are you freaking kidding me? Shay,
you’re such a wimp. I can’t believe I actually
hang out with you sometimes. It’s no wonder
you have no friends.” My body immediately fills
with heat, and tears start to creep up in my eyes,
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