Page 16 of Ablaze

Jesse makes it to the barbed wire quicker than I do. He holds on with both hands to the fence and waits for me to reach him. He doesn’t complain once about his hands touching the hot metal. I try to push myself faster up to him and succeed. My feet are aching from trying to squeeze them into the chain link to steady myself, and my hands feel like I’ve juggled hot pans. I can see that Jesse has already got his shirt over the wire, but he’s placed it on the wire in front of me so I can go over first. He reaches down and takes the shirt I have draped over my shoulder.

“Start climbing over the fence. Be very careful not to touch any of the wire that isn’t covered by the shirt,” he stresses to me.

“Why don’t you go ahead over first so I can see how it’s done?” I ask him.

He shakes his head to indicate no. “Because I don’t want to be on the other side if something happens and you fall back onto this side. I want to keep us on the same side of the fence,” he says, and his jaw tightens. This clearly isn’t up for discussion.

He’s concentrating to get the shirt to lay just right on the wires. I start making my way up the little area of the fence I have left before the wire. I don’t want to screw this up.

“You can do this Sadie. You’re stronger than you think.”

He’s trying to encourage me. I stare at him warily but continue to make my way up to the wire. Once I’m at the wire, and have no room to move any further up or beside it without crossing it, I realize how big the loops are. I’m instantly filled with fear that my skin is going to get ripped open. He can sense my hesitation about not knowing what to do.

“Sadie, put your hands on the wire through the shirt. You have to touch it. Try to touch it with one hand and get your leg over. If you don’t press too hard with your hand it might not puncture through the shirt.”

“What! You never said that the wire was going to go through the shirt.”

“It’s not thick material. You’re going to feel some sensation even if it’s on your legs. Trust me, it’ll be better than the barbed wire touching your bare skin. Just go slowly if you have to, but don’t make contact with any of the wire not under the shirt.”

I touch the wire and in my mind I’m so on edge, I expect it to shock me. I touch it, and I can feel the thickness of the wire through the shirt. I’m able to get my leg up and over the wire, and I’m straddling the coils. The next thing I know, my body’s momentum from swinging my leg up has made the fence sway. I’ve lost my balance and grip. I try to correct my position and catch the fence with my bare hand. It connects with the barbed wire. The movement instantly shoots pain up my left forearm and I’m screaming out in pain.

In the panic and pain, I lose my grip all together and begin to fall into the wire. Before I know it, Jesse climbs up the rest of the fence and flings his shirt on the wire next to me. He puts his upper body onto the shirt and uses his arms to help free me from the tangle of wire. He doesn’t take the time to reassure me; he just gets me free from the wire.

“Can you keep climbing down?”

“Yes, I think so,” I tell him. “My hand is bleeding, but I can make it.”

I start to climb down, and Jesse does the same. He makes it over the barbed wire and joins me on the fence. He goes slowly with me and stays by my side as we climb down. I’m much slower than him, but he doesn’t seem to mind. My hand is throbbing, and the sun is just continuing to heat the fence up. When I plant my feet on solid ground, I’m thrilled to be off the fence.

Jesse jumps off the fence with about five feet remaining. He has one of the shirts in his hands and begins ripping one side of it. He rips a long strip of fabric off. He takes my bleeding hand and gives it a look over.

“This is the best I’ve got at the moment,” he says to me as he holds up the strip. “Put your hand out, and I’ll wrap it.”

I hold my hand up and he begins wrapping the cloth strip around my hand. It’ll help stop the bleeding, but my hand won’t be very useful. If I’m not careful, it’ll get infected, and I’ll die. I’ll need to get water over it and clean it once we find a place to make camp, if we make camp, that is. We may just power through. I don’t know what to expect now that we’re over the fence and on the island. We could see through the chain link fence and as far as the eye can see the land all around us. Now, we’ll have to get past the hills and see what’s behind them.

Jesse

Sadie’s hand will heal over time; I’m certain of it. What matters is she got herself over the wall, and we have made it to the island. A part of me is relieved to have made it this far. The low hills of sand that stretch out in front of our view won’t take long to cross. Once we get past those, we should be able to see more of the landscape. We may have to look around the island to see if anything or anyone is out here. It’s getting so hot outside and with no coverage in sight, we are going to have to keep moving forward.

Everything is barren as we walk toward the low hills. I feel completely exposed out in the open like this. My back is slowing me down, but I keep putting one foot in front of the other. I have to get us over that hill. I can tell that Sadie is slowing down too. The fact that we’ve been up for so long isn’t helping. The sun is draining what little energy we have left. When we make it to the low sand hills, we have to pause for some rest.

I lay down on the sand and it sticks to my body from the sweat. My palms are covered, and I rub them onto my pant legs to clean them off. Sadie is just as weary. She drinks greedily from the bottle she pulled out of her backpack. I want to tell her to save it, but I don’t have the energy or the heart to chastise her. When we get up, we start the slow and arduous climb over the hills. What feels like hours but is really only a few minutes later, we crest the top and can see into the valley of what must be the island’s center. It takes my breath away.

Here, in the middle of the island, is a crystal blue lake, small in size but blue. Blue as a sapphire and sparkling, it almost blinds us from the reflection of the sun. Sadie and I look at each other in awe. A slow smile rises on her face, and I can feel the same coming across mine. When she goes to step forward, I put my hand out to stop her.

“We have to be careful. It could be some kind of trick,” I warn her.

Sadie stands stoically beside me and turns her eyes back to the lake. “This is where I’m meant to be. I can feel it.”

We make our way down the hill and toward the lake. I scan the landscape, looking for anything moving, anything that could harm us. I see nothing, and we continue moving forward. When we make it off the hill and back onto flat ground, we are only about 200 yards from the edge of the lake. The sand is so soft it makes it hard to walk on. Sadie gets past me on the sand and is about ten steps ahead of me when I hear the change in her steps.

The soft noise of our feet in the sand has been transformed into knocks on metal. I scream out to her, “Stop!” but it’s too late. I run toward her in the sand, and my feet move faster the closer I get to her. My feet don’t fall deep into the sand as before but stay level. I reach my arms out to Sadie, and my fingers grasp the shoulder straps of her backpack. I can see the silver metal through the sand below our feet.

I only get a glimpse of the metal before it gives way, and we are falling downward with the loose sand sprinkling us as we go. For the first time in my life, I truly feel terrified because this is a real unknown. As we fall down into the darkness, my hands never let go of the bag strapped to Sadie. If I have to sacrifice myself for her, I will. That is my last thought as everything goes pitch black.

Sadie

I can’t catch my breath. We are falling into the darkness, and all I can hear are my own screams. Jesse holds on to me tightly as we fall deeper and deeper. I close my eyes as the sand slowly rains down upon us. I stop screaming because there is no use; it only wastes my energy and won’t help us. Suddenly, light begins shining in and brightness surrounds us. I timidly open my eyes, and the light is so bright that I’m forced to squint. I try to open my eyes, but the light is bright and only getting brighter as we fall. Before I know it, we’ve stopped falling.

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