Josh's face had a look of shock and disbelief, "What did you hear?" He asked.
"Muffled voices, rising and falling like you hear from a party; then Dylan shouting 'BIG UP FOR JUJU!" Followed by an uproar of laughter from who ever he's with, in there," I said, throwing my finger toward the exposed window.
Another roar of laughter from deep within the bowels of the building, seeped out the window, alerting us both and pricking up our ears.
This wave of mirth, triggered my impulsivity, and before I had time to think, I'd leapt back up onto the window ledge.
"BENITA!" Josh shouted, causing me to jolt and lose my footing. Knowing I was going to fall, I instinctively allowed my body loosen, to lessen the impact; but I fell into the gloomy space with my right foot taking the brunt of my fall.
The pain shot up from my foot and through my body with a nausea inducing dizziness. In an instant, Josh was at my side, cradling me, "Have you hurt yourself?" He asked.
Feeling myself wavering from hazy to clear, I managed to say, "My foot," during a lucid moment, before I blacked out.
I came to, and saw Josh shining his phone into my bare foot, my sock and trainer lying by my side. "What's happened?" I asked, disorientated.
"You hurt your ankle, but I don't think it's broke, sprained more like," he explained.
"How long have I been here?"
"No more than 60 seconds, you fainted," he said.
Looking up, I saw the sun begin it's final descent and the clarity of our situation hit me, "Let's get out of here; this place looks like rats live in it, and rats freak me out," I said, pushing myself up onto my un-injured foot, with Josh's help.
Standing flamingo like, I raised my arms and put my hands on the window ledge. Josh's hands gripped tight under my arm pits, "You need to think before you act, Benita, seriously," he said, not in a judgemental way, more in a constructive advice kind of way. "I know I do, I'll work on it," I said. My hands gripped the ledge and I felt Josh's muscles flex and tighten ready to thrust me upwards, "After three Benita: 1,2,3..."
...I used my leg like a piston, and this coupled with Josh's push threw me up and onto the ledge...SLAM...a shutter banged down, the force of it throwing me backwards. But Josh caught me, saving me from further injury.
The slamming shutter thrust us into a murky blackness. Josh shone his phone at the window and punched the shutter, "Metal, locked solid!"
We both paused in silence, before another roar of distant laughter from somewhere above us made its way to our ears. Taking Josh's advice, and following his example, I didn't react, I listened.
The laughter subsided and a familiar voice hit our ears, "I knew it, they're idiots. Or to be precise, our idiotic lambs have arrived in time for slaughter," the words delivered in Dylan's dulcet tones.
I looked at Josh, "That's definitely Dylan, isn't it?"
"Affirmative," he said, dialling his phone.
"Who you calling?"
"GG."
"Granny Grace, what can she do?"
He looked at me, the look on his face reflecting the seriousness of our situation, "A lot more than we can!" He said, looking at the newly sealed window.
He put his phone onto loudspeaker: "GG, we're in bother."
"Tell me about it sweetheart."
His face lit up, "You know our situation?"
