“Where do I begin?” (part II)

You know something thats really scary?  Those rickety elevators they put up so you can get up and down the building.  Heights don’t usually bother me, but I’ll tell you, every time I go up one of those things, and it shakes and rattles all the way up…  Yeah, I’d rather have someone tweeze my eyebrows  (which, I suppose couldn’t hurt).  But I digress…

What was I going to tell you about?  Oh yeah!  The other day…

So, the other day we were fitting brackets to the ceiling to hang the furnace ducts on 71.  Very boring.  All you do is measure out so much space, then drill a couple holes and attach the metal strips that will hold up the ducts.  Again… boring.  So we’re working on this.  Joe, Matty and me.  We were moving pretty fast too, granted its not exactly rocket science.

We’re going along fine, but then had to make an "L" shape as we get to the edge of the building.  Now, let me mention something.  Anytime you have to work near the edge (i.e. where the building stops) everything slows down!  Of course we have to wear harnesses all the time because the wind is so bad.  But even with the harness I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to fall.  Well, Matty gets it in his head that we can finish this before lunch and move up to the next floor.  So of course he’s got this agenda and is moving as fast as possible.  He grabbed his ladder, moved it a couple feet to the left and started to ascend it.

Before either Joe or I noticed that something was wrong, we watched Matty get about three steps up and then the ladder began to tip over the edge.  From there it was like watching a slow motion camera.  Both of us tried to move to him, but it felt like we were moving through molassus.  The scene went by so slow that I watched as he became parallel to the floor and then the moment his axis tipped past parallel, time seemed to quicken up again.  But something was different.  I knew what I had to do, and even though it sounded crazy, I did it.

I jumped off the edge after Matty.  We plumeted to the ground at an alarming speed.  I wasn’t far behind him however so I flattened myself and sped towards him.  As soon as I could I grabbed on to his leg and pulled him next to me as we rocketed down.  The wind was rushing in my ears and the speed was intense, and all I could do was close my eyes and think about being back on 71.

Then I opened my eyes and Matty and I were looking at Joe, who was staring in disbelief over the edge.  Looking at Matty, his eyes were closed and his body was still tense, waiting to hit the ground.  I put a hand on his shoulder and shook him a little.

By this time Joe was really panicing.  Turning around to race downstairs I’m sure, he bumped right into us and screamed!  Well… he didn’t scream so much as hollar loudly!

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" he yelled.

"What was what?" I said, panting slightly. 

"THAT!!!" he said pointing over the edge.

Matty was finally beginning to open his eyes, but he was far from relaxing.  "YOU JUST SWAN DIVED OFF THIS FRIGGIN’ SPIKE AND THEN APPEARED RIGHT BEHIND ME!"

I shrugged.  I mean, seriously.  What was I supposed to tell him?  "Oh, I jumped off, then teleported back to 71."  That sounds a little absurd.  What I did say, however, was "Do we have to shout?"

"I’M NOT SHOUTING!  I’M JUST OVER EXCITED AT THE MOMENT." he said.

Matty, still stiff as a board, "Well… stop talking then because its reminding me of the screaming wind on the way down…"

Joe opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself.

Matty, finally able to free his body, decided it would be better to just fall over.  Joe and I caught him and set him down, then followed suit, realizing that all three of us were probably going into shock.  Taking a long deep breath, Joe finally managed…

"You can teleport?"  Just remember, he said it.  Not me.  I shrugged.  I had no idea what it was.

The three of us sat there for a long time and didn’t say another word…