These kids are who? You're kidding! [Chapter 4]
Who ever said an adrenaline was rush was exciting was the biggest liar she has ever heard of. If this were any other day, she’d be sitting at home, curled up in front of the T.V reading a book or doing her homework. She’d most likely would end up falling to sleep watching IRIS, and woken up to start her day all over again. As boring as it sounds; it’s comfortable, and it’s familiar. The two things she enjoys most. Change, risk and spontaneity were things she was not good with.
So now she found herself in a situation where she was knee-deep in things she was not comfortable with. First of all, she was surrounded by her favorite idols that now possessed the bodies of children. Secondly, she now had a dangling baby to save. Third of all, she was climbing a tree despite her crippling fear of heights. The fact that someone would possibly get hurt and die pretty much over rode that fear long ago.
The steps leading up to the tree house were pretty narrow, but thankfully they were stable. Who in their right mind built this thing? And so high up!
She took a peek down, and swallowed the lump that was now forming in her throat.
‘Don’t look down. Don’t look down.’ She mentally chanted in hopes of keeping her nerves down.
The only thing keeping her from running back down for her life was the fact that Henry’s cries were getting louder, and more fearful. She knew he knew he was in danger, and that just made everything worse. She closed her eyes tightly, took a deep breath and sped up finally making it to the house. She held onto the railing as she felt some of the branches sway.
Note to self. Stay far, far, far away from trees.
She reached the railing that sat just above the branch Henry was on and reached down trying to grab him. She could see the fabric on his back that was caught on a rough edge on the branch was already halfway ripped through. The rip was getting bigger as Henry started to fall a little more. From the railing, her arms were too short to reach, and he was too scared to reach for her or even acknowledge she was there. His eyes were shut tightly and his hands were flailing around.
Nicole cursed and looked around trying to find a stick or something long that she could reach him with. From what she saw, no one used this house anymore, so it was virtually bare. Looking up, she saw a branch that extended the farthest from the tree. It was pretty thick and it sat right under and slightly to the left of the thin branch Henry was hanging from. If she got onto that, she could possibly stand and reach him.
Liking that idea better than the other alternatives, she stepped over the railing and carefully balanced herself on the edge. She shimmed to her left and carefully stepped onto the first branch she saw. It was a thinner branch that creaked with her added weight. Holding her breath, she stopped to see if it would break. Once she was sure that the branch was stable enough, she dropped to her knees and grabbed the branch to lower herself down onto the branch below Henry’s.
Nicole stepped on her tippy-toes and lowered the rest of her body onto the branch. Grabbing at it, she crawled along the branch and groaned as it got thinner the farther she went down. When she was sure she was below Henry, she looked up to see him still crying. His sobs were now silent; he was probably losing his voice by now. She reached up and tried to grab him, but realized she was too short to reach him.
Once again, whoever said drinking milk will help you grow was a liar! She practically drank the whole cow, and still nothing.
“Henry-ah! Henry, I need you to reach down for me sweetie, can you do that?” Nicole questioned softly.
She tried to keep as much of her fear out of her voice in hopes to calm him down a little. It didn’t help much. He opened his eyes, but closed them quickly when he saw how high up he was.
“Henry, don’t look down, okay? Only look at me, only look at noona.”
She reached her arms up and held them open. He sagged down a bit more as the last of his shirt was being ripped. Inwardly she was a panicked wreck. She knew the only shot she had at this was to catch him as he fell, but so many things could go wrong.
What if she missed?
What if she caught him and they both fell?
She couldn’t help any of the negative thoughts she was feeling at the moment. He gargled something she couldn’t quite make out as his shirt split in two. This sent him falling almost instantly. He screamed a loud, high pitched wail as he came falling down.
Nicole could feel every heartbeat that slammed against her chest as if someone was beating against it with a hammer. Her throat was tight as she fought back tears she knew would come. She hated feeling helpless, and hated even more when it affected others.
‘Please, please! God I know we don’t talk much but please. Let everything turn out okay. He’s just a baby.’ She mentally prayed.
She didn’t know if anyone was listening, but at the moment, she had nothing else to lose.
Nicole reached up and out as she felt Henry hit her chest. She fell to her knees and grabbed the branch for dear life as she held Henry with the other. He was clinging to her shirt as if it was the last thing he had on earth as he continued to cry. She wanted to cry a long with him. She sat there for a few minutes taking in everything that just happened.
She did it, she actually did it! She was a live, and he most certainly was alive.
She didn’t know how to process any of it, so she just sat there blankly. “Noona! Noona!” A voice shouted from below her. She slowly looked down and saw the boys peering up at her. Hangeng was looking towards the ground; slightly shaking. Ryeowook was crying as the others were cheering. She looked down at Henry who by now had cried himself to sleep. The poor thing was probably exhausted by now.
When she was finally back on solid ground, she could finally take a breath and fell to the ground. The boys rushed to crowd around her as she cradled Henry in her arms. He looked so much more peaceful now that he was sleeping.
“Noona, that was amazing!” Kangin gushed as she squatted down in front of her.
She smiled lightly and nodded. Who knew she had it in her. The others sat down around her as well except for Kyuhyun and Hangeng who just stood there with their heads hung low. She couldn’t imagine how bad they must have felt.
She sighed before handing Henry to Leeteuk before she stood up and made her way over to the two moping boys. She kneeled down in front of them so they were eye level and smiled.
“Hey. Are you guys okay?” Kyuhyun looked at her in sadness, while Hangeng didn’t move a muscle.
He probably took it the hardest.
He was the oldest, and was supposed to watch over them. She grabbed his chin and lifted it so his eyes met hers.
“Hangeng, it’s okay. Stuff like this happens all the time. You did a good job trying to find help, and no one is mad at you. Henry is fine, and no one was hurt. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Okay?”
He frowned slightly as he mulled over her words. He nodded slowly after a while before giving a small smile.
“Thank you.” He told her quietly.
His voice slightly cracked and she could tell he wanted to cry. Kyuhyun smiled as well before blushing slightly.
Awww! Okay, fan girl moment over.
She brought them over to the others and sighed. All she wanted to do was lay down after that. Unfortunately, she couldn’t.
There was still five more to find.
Freaking SM Entertainment. Yeah, let’s make the world’s largest idol group, we’ll break records.
Blah, blah, blah.