12- Darts Here, Darts Everywhere

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Lauren's POV

I grabbed onto a rung of the ladder and began pulling myself up. The rung creaked a little but other than that, it didn't seem as if it was going to break and fall off under my weight. My hands began shaking as the wind flipped my hair in every direction possible. I blew off a strand of hair that was coming into my eyes and helped myself up to another step.

The wind calmed down a bit after a while and I looked down to the ground and saw I was quite high up. But I wasn't going to stop here. I was going to go right up. I looked up again and continued pulling myself up onto each rung.

"Lauren," a low voice said behind me. The voice startled me but then I reminded myself that it was just Theo. How did he see me up here?

I looked over my shoulder and our eyes met with each other.

"Hi," I smiled. It was strange how I wasn't so afraid of him anymore. It was as if I was getting used to him.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"I don't think I'm doing anything. I know what I'm doing. I'm seeking higher ground to find out where the other team are. They must have picked their location by now, right?" I replied.

"Yeah. Why didn't you tell the others about this plan?" he asked with a slightly panicked voice. He sounded scared. It was strange to me that Theo could be nervous about something. I wondered what it was.

"Well, I'd rather make my own decisions and go through with it on my own. Does that make me sound selfish? I don't know but I just wanted to do something by myself for once," I answered. "By the way, why do you sound so nervous, Theo?"

"No, that doesn't make you sound selfish, and I'll just give you the straight answer. I'm afraid of heights. I know, it makes me sound stupid but that's just what I'm afraid of."

"Never knew you could ever be afraid of something," I smiled to myself. Theo was a human just like the rest of us. I knew that most people were afraid of something, whether they showed it or not, but I never assumed that Theo would be afraid of something. He looked so strong and he, himself, could be a fear for someone. I almost laughed out loud at that thought. Sure, I was a little afraid of Theo, but not anymore.

"Everyone's afraid of something, whether you believe it or not. I'll get to see all of your fears in the second stage of initiation," Theo explained.

"Why? What's going to happen in the second stage of initiation?" I asked.

"I can't tell you. You'll just have to find out for yourself," he teased.

"Don't tell me you're going to lock us all up in a room with giant spiders and snakes!" I exclaimed.

"Don't be crazy. Not everyone is afraid of snakes and spiders," he pointed out. After that, I decided not to talk for a while. I focused my mind on pulling myself up on to each rung, and not falling off. Just a little higher and then I would be able to find out where the other team are.

"Lauren, are you even human?!" Theo gulped. "We're so high up already! Come on, let's go back down."

"Just a little higher!" I pleaded. As soon as I grabbed onto the next rung, the one I was standing on creaked beneath me and came loose. I gasped and heard the bar clatter against all of the other bars below me, and then bounce onto the pavement. Theo grabbed me just in time. His placed his cold hand on the side of my hip and, in that moment, I almost froze to death. And it wasn't just because of the cold.

"You alright?" he asked in his deep, quiet voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. I used all of my strength to pull myself up onto the next rung, making sure I didn't put my whole weight on it so it wouldn't break off like what happened before.

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