A Passion Flower

14- Wall Climbing

We walk down the hall feeling proud of our achievement.

We managed to get inside the suite of the president of America, two fifteen-year-old kids. That has got to be some kind of achievement. I see Cj dancing and when he notices me staring at him his face light up with a smile. I feel my cheeks slightly turn pink so I darken my expression and push on, knowing we don't have much time until someone, somewhere figures us out.

I sigh and decide to take this moment to collect my thoughts:

We need this plan to work or I will never be able to see Nut again or feel the leaves brush against my feet while hunting down a wild boar. If I don't manage to get back, I will never see Stripes again and I'll never get to see the view from my mountain again. But if I leave, I'll never see Cj again. But that doesn't matter, does it?

I mean, he was the one that wanted to experiment on me, wanted to help lock me up and change me, maybe kill me. But when we hid in the wardrobe from the people trying to find me, he didn't give me up. He seemed generally happy to see me in the woods. And he has been very fun to tease. Even though, I'm still not sure I can forgive him unless I get a real reason for everything that he did to me.
(I wrote this and this girl is still annoying me)
The most important thing, however, is to warm the President. If we can get to him, he can help us stop Cj's father. We have come this far and even though I want to go back to the woods and sleep, I'm not prepared to give up now. Cj can stay in the far corners of the back of my mind, locked away from my main thoughts.

But no matter how hard I try to ignore him, every time he smiles at me, I feel weird. It is an unknown feeling so, therefore, it worries me, but it isn't unpleasant, is it?

"Anyone who needs to talk to the president has to go through me first. And I know that you two imbeciles are not agents, your just kids that want to do something cool so you can go back to your little friends and tell them all about it."

I look up to see a tall lady with a neat bun and small glasses glaring at us. She has a digital clipboard in her left hand and a fancy looking cell phone in the other.

'I don't know how you managed to trick the bodyguards with your erased history, but I'm not prepared to let you waltz in here and see the leader of the United States."

"We'll see about that," I whisper smirking at the lady with my eyes narrowed.

---

We get kicked out of the hotel.

I watch Cj kick the wall in frustration,

"How are we going to warn him now?! I mean, there's no way we can go to the Russian president because we don't know where he is AND he probably wouldn't believe us anyway. In fact, how is Drinkwater supposed to believe us? We are just two teenage kids. He will probably think that we are insane. We didn't think this plan through, Pash."

He slides down the cracked wall groaning.

"What are we meant to do now?"

He carries on whining but I ignore him because I notice something that gives me a glimmer of hope.

"Wait. Stop. Shut up Cj," I say, silencing him in annoyance as I walk closer to the wall. I reach out and stick my fingers inside a hole before grinning widely.

"Passion? You look like you just got an idea."

"That's because I just did," I reply, weighing out my options in my head.

"Ok," I say, "I have a plan, but first,"

I stick two fingers in my mouth and blow as hard as I can.

"Uh?" Cj's smile faltered, "No sound came out."

"Wait for it.." I grin.

Suddenly Cubs zooms around the corner and runs into Cj, causing him to let out a squeal in surprise.

"Oh my gosh," I giggle.

"What?" he questions, trying to pry the cat clawing to his jumper.

"You scream like a girl."

He glares at me while I laugh and finally detaches Cubs, handing her to me with a grimace.

"Just tell me your plan," he whines.

"This."

I take a few steps away from the wall before running and jumping, allowing my fingers to get caught in the grooves of the building. I skillfully scale upwards and reach the president's window before peeking inside.

I can see him sitting at his computer at the wall furthest from the window. The assistant lady that threw us out of the hotel comes in, probably to warn him about us, but she suddenly glances at the window, causing me to duck and lose my footing. I fall and Cj catches me, while I sigh in relief at the fact I haven't broken any bones.

"Right, once the lady has gone, we can sneak inside and talk to him," I say, hopping out of his arms, "Come help me move the rubbish bins."

"What..?"

Once we finish placing the giant trash bins underneath the area we will be climbing up, I lead him to the wall and start instructing him on how to climb up. He is quite bad at first, missing handholds and losing his footing but he gets there in the end.
Cubs is our lookout so she is pacing back and forth, keeping an eye on our surroundings.

"A little to your left, NO WAIT!"

I watch in horror as Chris slips and curses before proceeding to fall, almost in slow motion.

My instincts kick in and I manage to grab his hand at the last second before letting out a sigh of relief.

He gives me a apologetic smile that makes me want to melt and also punch him in the face. Hard.

"Sorry," he giggles, probably still full of adrenaline.

"Idiot," I reply and prepare to hoist him up again.

"Pash, is that you? What happened to your hair?" a voice questions.

My eyes light up in surprise and I look down to see my little brother staring back up at me.

"Nut?" I utter, my body rigid from shock.

In my disbelief, I accidentally drop Cj and doing so causes me to slip as well.

We both land on top of each other in the dumpster, groaning from pain. I exhale heaving and lift my head up, staring into his eyes on accident. I feel my cheeks heat up and quickly look away. 'What was that?' I thought

My brother does not look impressed. Nevertheless I fire away questions at him.

"Nut?? What are you doing here, how did you get here, why are you here."

I feel the pain take over my body as my brother struggles to answer the cascade of questions.

I mutter one last thing,

"I am going to kill you when I wake up."

Then I blackout.