Countdown (on hold)

Three years, one month, one day, one hour, forty minutes before

I was excited, remembering the first time Caleb took me to the room. Jumping off the roof to another part of the building was the best part, and I hoped I would have the chance to do that again. Caleb hated the thought of it, but I loved it. Jumping off something that high gave me such an adrenaline rush that nothing else could compare. The feeling of flying in the air for just a second, the wind rushing past you as gravity is pulling you down, everything about jumping off excited me.

            Caleb, on the other hand, hated heights and the idea of jumping down them. “I don’t see how you can like jumping down from here.” He said to me while I was looking down over the ledge.

            “It’s fun,” I was getting ready to jump off the ledge. “I’ll meet you down there.” I jumped off before Caleb could stop me. I let out a yell right as I jumped. The wind blew right in my face and my hair covered my eyes. Instead of trying to push the hair off, I let it stay. Not seeing exactly where I was going to land gave me a small little thrill. Nothing compared to the actual flying in the air process, but a thrill. I could faintly see through my hair, and got ready to land.

Landing was the scariest part of jumping off; if you land the wrong way, you could break your ankles or your arms, depending on how you land. Jumping off trees when I was little paid off, because I landed almost flawlessly. “How was my landing?” I called to Caleb who was sitting on one of the ladders’ steps.

            “Almost flawless. Try to not to stumble the next time.” He answered me, smiling.

            “Next time, you’re jumping with me. It feels like flying, you’ll love it.” I said walking towards him and the door. I waited for him to pick the lock, which didn’t take too long.

            I stepped into the room first so that Caleb could shut the door without trapping us inside. The room was just like it was the last time we were in there. I didn’t expect it to be completely different, but I thought that Mr. Brights would have taken our leftover stuff away. The main door locked from the outside in so now no one could get in or out, unless you knew how to get in from the concealed door in the back of the room. Getting into the room from the secret door was more time consuming, because it can only be accessed from the roof, but more exciting than just walking in the room through the school’s entrance.

            “Home sweet home,” I heard Caleb mutter. He sat down onto of the old, rickety desk that was in there and I sat on the equally old and musty office chair.

            “Have you been here since the detentions?” I asked him.

            Caleb looked up from the papers he was trying to organize. “Once or twice.” I nodded even though he went back to shuffling his papers and couldn’t see me. “Here’s a book.” He tossed without looking at me. I caught the book and looked at its cover before putting it down.

            “Caleb, what’s wrong?” He was about to answer, but I cut him off. “Don’t say nothing’s wrong because I can tell something is.”

             He sighed, “It has to do with Marley and the other ‘outcasts.’ That’s all I can tell you now, but you’ll probably want to be a part of it once you know what it is.”