Chapter 3 - THE WALL
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"Okay, now, stand here. Put your hands together like... yes, just like that! On the count of three you lift me up, okay?"
Ada looked down at Kassia's sandal-clad foot, pressed against her interlocked hands. Then she looked up at the very top of the stone fence, which suddenly seemed ten times higher than she remembered.
Swallowing down the queasiness churning in her stomach, she took a deep breath, pressed her lips tight and nodded, not trusting her voice at that moment.
"Good." Kassia nodded back, not a trace of fear or doubt in her focused gaze and wide smile. "Okay, ready?"
The grip on Ada's shoulders tightened, the increased pressure making her breath hitch. But she shook it off, steeling herself, and focused all her attention on keeping her stance wide and feet firmly planted on the ground, adjusting her hands one last time to make sure could support Kassia's full weight.
There was something oddly comforting about that position, like she'd done it a million times, and she found herself getting more relaxed despite the earlier panic, her breathing evening out to an almost sleep-like rhythm.
"One... two... three!"
As soon as she felt Kassia's entire body weight shift to her hands, Ada buckled down and then, gathering up all her strength, lifted her hands up in one swift motion, flinging the older girl upwards and towards the stone fence.
The idea was for Kassia to get just high enough to grab onto the top of the wall, and then pull herself the rest of the way up.
But to Ada's absolute horror, she witnessed the girl's body flying right over the entire wall, disappearing into the other side with a single garbled cry.
"Holy shit!"
There was a loud thump and Ada's heart stopped.
"Kassia!" she screamed, forgetting all about the doctor and the General for a second, "Kassia?"
There was no response.
Legs shaking, Ada ran over to the gate and gripped the bars, trying to get a glimpse of the other side of the wall. But no matter how hard she pressed her face against it, the gate made it near impossible to find the right angle. She couldn't see anything past the entrance.
"I'm sorry," she choked out, lips trembling, "I'm so sorry. Please, say something. Are you okay, Kassia? Kassia!"
Then something slammed up against the gate from the other side.
"Boo!" someone shouted right into her face.
Ada let out a yelp and recoiled, letting go of the metal bars as if they had just burned her. In her haste to get away, she tripped and fell back onto the paved ground.
When she looked up, Kassia was there on the other side, bent over and holding her stomach, whole body shaking with raucous laughter.
"Sorry," the older girl managed to say between bursts of choked laughter and gasps for air, "I just couldn't help myself. You should've seen your face!"
Heat crawled up Ada's neck and simmered beneath the skin on her cheeks. It condensed into a tight knot in her throat and a sting behind her eyes, but she gritted her teeth and pushed it all down before standing up. Rubbing the tender skin on her lower back, she stormed over to the gate and the girl.
"Consider it payback for throwing me over the wall like that." Kassia smirked, gripping the metal bars and leaning in, tilting her head to peer up at her with half-lidded eyes.
The words made Ada freeze and come to a halt right in front of the gate. In a slow, almost hesitant motion, her own eyes slid down to Kassia's hands, traveling down her arms, then all the way to her knees, noticing all the small patches of scraped or bruised skin along the way.
Just like that, the hot ball of anger that had been swelling inside her chest, ready to explode, fizzled out, leaving only a small but tight knot of worry and guilt behind.
"I'm sorry," Ada whispered, looking down at her feet with a pained expression.
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"Hey," Kassia called out, trying to get her attention with a more lively tone. "Come on, I was just messing with you."
Getting no response, the older girl leaned in closer and changed her tone, voice low and soothing as she whispered, "It's okay, Ada, I'm fine. See?"
Ada looked up just in time to see Kassia giving a short but lively twirl, right before stopping and flashing her a wink. The sheer silliness of that action got an unintentional giggle out of Ada, which only made Kassia's smile bloom into a full-blown grin.
"That's better," the older girl chirped. Grabbing the bars again, she wiggled her fingers and nodded towards the wall, a glint of excitement in her eyes. "Now it's your turn."
The smile on Ada's face dropped like a rock.
She stepped back again, arms wrapped tight around her stomach. Her lips parted and closed shut a couple of times, eyes jumping back and forth between the glass doors near the pool and the girl on the other side of the gate.
"But I," she stammered, averting her gaze, nails sinking deep into the skin on her arms, "I told you I can't."
"Fine, whatever!" Kassia snapped, slamming her hands against the metal bars, making Ada flinch and step back.
The older girl made a move to leave, but pivoted and stepped up to the gate one more time, her narrowed, accusing eyes burning a hole through Ada's skin.
"You know what?" she spat, voice actually breaking for a split second, "I thought you were cool. I don't know what's gotten into you, but I don't like this scaredy-cat version of you. If you wanna blow me off, then fine, you can stay here and rot in the heat, for all I care!"
And then she left. She just straight up spun around, stormed off and disappeared behind the wall.
Ada was left there, stunned into silence, frozen in place and trying to process what had just happened. The whole world fell quiet and she was alone once more, nothing to keep her company but the suffocating summer heat, the dead garden and the still pool.
Lost in a dazed stupor, she blinked several times. Slowly, with one unsure step at a time, she turned around and started dragging her feet back to the pool. The moment her toes touched the marble deck, she stopped. For a full minute, she just stood there, eyes staring unblinkingly at the unmoving reflection of that much-too childish face on the pool's surface.
Then her gaze paned up, sweeping across the empty house behind the glass doors, before zeroing in on the staircase that led all the way down to the lab.
Her dark eyes narrowed.
She clenched her jaw tight and balled her hands into fists at her sides. Her breaths grew fast and ragged. And then they stopped all together.
In one swift movement, Ada spun around on her heels and bolted straight across the garden, flying past everything, like a bullet through the air. Right before she reached the wall, and without ever losing her momentum, she jumped.
And just like Kassia, she didn't just reach the top of the wall, she flew right over it, legs tucked tight, bare feet inches from skimming the very edge of the stone fence.
For that one split second in time where she was in the air, Ada's heart soared and her skin buzzed with pure adrenaline, a million miles above everything and anyone. The horizon was right there, just within her reach.
And then gravity kicked in.
The sinking feeling in her stomach triggered something in her brain. As soon as the balls of her feet touched the ground she tucked her head to the side and dropped into a forward roll over her right shoulder, the momentum she got from it enough for her to jump right back to her feet.
She stood there, knees bent, heart racing, beating against her chest like a drum, refusing to slow down. And it wasn't just her heart, every part of her body was alive and humming, hands shaking and muscles twitching, as if screaming at her to do something else. To keep going, to keep running.
But towards what?
"Hoy shit..."
Ada whipped her body around. Stance wide, she raised both fists to her chin, ready to strike, only for all of her to freeze and then ease-up when she came face to face with a familiar wide-eyed girl.
"Kassia...?" Ada heard herself whisper, as if saying it too loud would make the sight before her vanish, like a mirage.
"What the hell was that!" the girl in question yelled, gesturing widely with her arms.
Her wide eyes jumped back and forth between Ada and the top of the wall, mouth hanging open with a dazed sort of shock, as if also not sure that what she was seeing was, in fact, real.
"How did you-?"
"You waited for me," Ada interjected in a soft tone, not a question but a statement, laced with its own sense of pleasant shock.
She walked up to the older girl, the faint, tilted smile on her lips growing wider with each step she took.
Kassia turned to face her, and just like that, her surprised expression shifted to a confident grin, a hand coming down to rest on her coked hip.
"Of course I waited," she scoffed, rolling her eyes, as if the mere idea of someone doubting her were ridiculous. "I knew you'd come around eventually."
As soon as Ada was within arm's reach, Kassia grasped her hand. This time Ada barely flinched at the touch, letting the older girl tighten her grip and pull her close, raising their interlocked fingers to eye-level.
"And that's what friends do, right?" Kassia smiled softly, tilting her head to peer up at her, eyes overflowing with a warmth that seeped into Ada's skin. "They never leave the other behind. They wait for each other."
And even though Ada had no idea what friends did or didn't do, that statement rang true regardless, like the lost verse of an old tune. She felt the truth of it in her very core, so she breathed out a soft, wistful "yeah."
Something heavy and delicate hanged in the silence that fell between them, in the unbreakable hold they had on each other as they locked eyes. Kassia was the first to break it, lowering their joined hands and coughing into her free one while averting her gaze.
"Ah, yes, good... Great," she stammered, scratching the bridge of her nose. "Glad we're on the same page here."
With a slight tug of her hand, Kassia started to pull Ada along the wall. "Now, let's go, before they realise we've gone missing. Gabriel is waiting for us."