Thirty Two

CHAPTER 32

Golden High School - public park.

"IT'S BRITTANY!" exclaimed Luke, amidst the crowd of gathered students.

The commotion started a few minutes ago, after one of the students found Brittany hanging from the end of the second floor tile and she screamed hysterically afterwards. Other students and officials who heard the announcement of Brittany's disappearance immediately approached the location and formed a crowd to witness Brittany's fight for her life up there.

The noise made by these panicked people caught the attention of Ace and Luke who were looking for Brittany in the parking lot (which happened to be close to where Brittany was found). The girl was found clinging to the end of the second-floor roof tile, which led directly to the dormitory's public garden.

"Shit! Why is she up there?! Hurry up and save her!" exclaimed Ace, to everyone around him.

But their reactions only made Ace more confused and annoyed. How could those people not move from their places and instead watch Brittany like this was a fun spectacle for them. The overlapping sounds of whispering began to irritate Ace's sense of hearing. Some of them voiced suggestions to prepare a mattress, others called for the police to be called and so on. But strangely, none of them did any of that, instead they took out their cell phones and started recording Brittany's suffering without any shame.

"What's going on?" asked Nicholas as he broke through the crowd and stood near Ace and Luke. His head snapped up to follow what the other students were doing. "Asshole! Hurry up and help me!"

Luke hurriedly left the crowd and ran to the gymnasium to grab a gym mat that he might be able to use to hold Brittany's body when she fell. For some reason, it was the only idea he had at the time.

Meanwhile, Nicholas told Ace to stay down there watching Brittany, while he would run to help her from up there.

Ace of course immediately agreed and Nicholas immediately rushed through the stairs to the floor where Brittany was. He thought, Paul Scoots' daughter was on the second floor. And the man who worked as a detective felt he just needed to find out which room he could save Brittany from.

Nicholas moved through the rooms in front of him as soon as his feet reached and set foot on hallway 002 (or the second floor) of New York City's finest dormitory. It took a few minutes before he finally reached and found a room that was close enough to Brittany.

Nicholas immediately moved the large window in the room and extended his hand towards Brittany. "Britt, I'm going to save you!" he shouted.

The blonde-haired girl immediately realized where Nicholas was. She shook her head in fear as she said, "Nic, I'm scared. Help me, Nic! Help!" in a hoarse voice. It was clear that his voice was exhausted from all the crying he had been doing.

"Give me your hand!" ordered Nicholas. After trying, he never managed to reach the brown-eyed girl's body, as they were quite far away. It would be very dangerous if Nic forced herself out of the window. Because both Nicholas and Brittany could fall and neither of them would survive.

"I can't! I'm scared, Nic!" cried Brittany desperately, there were also sobs in between her words.

"Come on, give me your hand!" Nicholas coaxed her once more. "I'll catch you, you have nothing to fear!"

Brittany looked at Nicholas, then glanced down at the crowd below. She considered for a moment all the possibilities that would befall her at that moment. She also thought that her being on the second floor would probably only cause her to break a few bones if she fell, instilling some courage in herself. Brittany then looked at Nicholas once more. "Nic, save me," she said softly.

Nicholas immediately nodded. "Yes, of course. Let's give me your hand!"

Slowly, Brittany began to release one of her holds from the edge of the tile and reached out to take Nicholas' hand in front of her. Nicholas leaned in to reach Brittany, but it was futile. They were still far enough apart to reach each other. Almost impossible. Brittany seemed to be losing her balance with only one hand.

"Nic, I'm... I'm scared," she squeaked frantically.

The man named Nicholas Gray was trying to find another way to help the girl, but apparently, they had no other choice.

But suddenly, like a god appearing in the middle of an emergency, Luke managed to carry the large mattress there by himself. From down there he called out, "Britt, drop your body!" Brittany turned to the source of the voice. "Me and Ace will make sure you fall on this mat. Right, Ace?"

Ace shouted back, "Yes. I'll make sure you're safe!"

Brittany turned to Nic. "Nic..."

"You'll be safe, Britt," he tried to soothe her. "Drop your body and you'll be safe."

"But... I..."

Nic shook his head slowly. "I'll make sure you're safe. If you're not, I'll punish those two boys," he said, punctuated by an amused snort.

And having had enough, Brittany nodded quickly. Signaling that she would obey and jump down there immediately. But just before she did, her eyes and Nic's met. "Nic, Alicia is in danger," she said softly. "Someone is trying to attack her up there."

"Up there?"

"Save her, Nic, save her..." and Brittany ended their conversation by jumping onto the mat that Luke and Ace were holding tightly on both sides.

After making sure that Brittany really fell on the mat and was safe, Nicholas immediately ran towards hallway 003 (or the third floor) and did the same thing as before; breaking into one room after another to find Alicia.

Until he came to a room labeled Selena and Shena's room. He broke into it and called Alicia's name as loud as he could so that she could hear him. But to no avail. There was no sign that Alicia was there, except...

"ALICIA!"