~ELENA
My legs were jelly, but my brain was screaming: She's going to fall.
The crowd was frozen, a gallery of useless onlookers. Every professional, terrifyingly composed employee of the Gray Group was standing, staring up like they were watching a movie. No one was moving. No one was acting.
"Someone call the police! Fire department! Someone do something!" I yelled, my voice cracking with adrenaline. I didn't care that I was trying to escape been arrested. This was a child.
"We would wait to catch her when she falls." I heard the mummers but I didn't listen, that was the most stupid idea, it was way risky to catch someone falling from that high and what if she fell with the chandelier?
So I ignored all sensibility and scrambled onto the nearest surface, the marble railing that separated the lobby from a shallow decorative pool.
It gave me a few extra feet of height, but it wasn't enough.
I took the first three steps of the nearest marble staircase before I realized what I was doing.
This is crazy, Elena. Get out. You've escaped! But the image of that tiny, petrified face overrode every survival instinct I had.
I started climbing, fast, my bare feet slapping against the cool marble. I passed the frozen crowd, ignoring their stares, my focus locked on the baby girl. The second-floor landing felt miles away.
"Hey!" I shouted, trying to sound calm, though my voice was shaking. "Hey, sweetie! Don't look down, okay? Look at me! My name is Elena."
The girl's eyes, huge and brimming with tears, finally found mine. She shook her head violently.
"No, you got this." I whispered "That's it. You're doing great. I'm right here. I'm going to help you, okay?" I was lying. I had no idea how.
I reached up, my fingers barely skimming the bottom of the chandelier. It was swaying too much. I needed to get higher, closer.
My eyes darted to the enormous staircase on the left. It curved upward, leading to the second floor, and the railing ran close to the chandelier's base. It was a stupid, reckless idea, but it was the only one.
I ran to the stairs, ignoring the burning in my legs and the frantic internal voice telling me to just leave. I scrambled up, leaping over two steps at a time until I was at the second-floor landing.
I edged out onto the railing, ignoring the gasps from the crowd below. The chandelier was still swaying, creaking like a ship in a storm. I was now directly next to the girl.
"Hold tight, just a little longer," I whispered, my heart pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs.
"Mommy!" she sobbed, her voice cracking.
"I know, honey. I know you're scared. But you're safe. Just reach out your hand. I'll catch you."
I stretched my arm out, my body balanced precariously on the narrow railing. She was too far. The railing was too thin. I needed to move a little closer, just a little.
"I'm gonna fall!" She cried, her voice a heart-wrenching sob.
"No, you won't fall! You're a superhero! You're holding on so tight!, you just have to reach out to me." I assured. I knew it was worst than terrifying cause even I was scared at that point.
Don't look down, Elena. Don't look down.
The girl's grip slipped on the crystal, and the chandelier swung violently. A collective scream rose from the lobby.
I had to distract her. Fast.
"I know a secret!" I shouted, raising my hands to show I meant no harm. "I know your dad! He has a painting of you in his office! It's really good! You drew a great house!"
Her eyes widened in surprise. "You know my uncle?"
Uncle? Mr. Gray had an uncle? No, wait. Did the girl just say uncle? Mr. Gray's niece? The little girl from the drawing?
"Yes! And he wants you to come down right now so he can give you a high five!" I lied desperately, extending my hand as far as I could across the open space. "Slide down a little bit, okay? Just a tiny bit. I'll catch you!"
I was balanced on the very edge of the landing, leaning out over the void. It was an insane, reckless position, but the girl's eyes were fixed on me now.
She took a shaky breath, then slowly, agonizingly, her small hand let go of the thick wire and reached for me. She was still too far.
"A little more! You got this!" I yelled, stretching until my fingers were practically numb.
She slipped.
A sharp, terrified cry left her lips as her small body went slack.
"No!"
I lunged, my entire weight shifting forward, throwing my arm out and snagging her wrist.
The sudden, dead weight yanked my shoulder, and I felt the sickening slide of my own foot as I lost my balance on the slick marble.
I wrapped her in a protective hug, shielding her head as we tumbled from the railing.
I hit the floor hard. The sound of my fall sickening, a flash of white-hot pain exploded in my head. But my arms didn't let go.
I didn't even have time to process the pain before a deafening sound tore through the lobby, not the sound of our fall, but the sound of massive, stressed metal screaming. The wires snapped.
I looked up, dazed, just as the huge crystal chandelier came down.
It was hurtling toward us.
In the last, agonizing split second, before the crushing weight of crystal and metal hit, a shadow fell over us. I felt a massive, powerful push.
And then, silence.
I lay there, the taste of blood in my mouth, the weight of the little girl still in my arms.
The chandelier, a thousand shards of glass and twisted metal, had exploded on the marble floor right where we had fallen.
Mr. Gray was kneeling over us, his body shielding me from seeing anyone in the lobby, aside him.
"Look at me, Keep your eyes on me." I heard him whisper but I didn't, my vision was blurring, but I still turned and saw the blood, dark and spreading on the white floor. It wasn't the little girl's. It wasn't Mr Gray's. It was definitely mine. And that was the last thing I remembered before everything disappeared and the world around me became darkness.
Note: Next chapter is actually what happened in this chapter but in Sophia's Pov