Robson felt his legs shaking as he tried to catch his
breath. He was up too high for his liking, but there’d been nowhere else to go.
He could feel the wind cooling the sweat on his face and making the ladder shudder.
He wished it would stop. It’s why he’d never been a roofer, even though he
could lay tiles better than any of his team.
His team - he risked a glance down. He could still see the
gaping hole by the wall they’d finished yesterday. He remembered George
mentioning its appearance this morning, putting it down to some kind of
settling in the ground – unsettling more like!
Robson couldn’t see anything from this height, but he wasn’t going to risk climbing back down, even if it meant being up here all night. He swallowed hard at the thought, to stop panic rising. He focused his gaze upwards instead, across the tiles to the peak of the roof. Maybe he should climb up and straddle it like Jackson did at break times. Maybe he could attract attention from up there, get some help. Although was that a good idea? That would bring people, innocent bystanders, who had no clue what they were walking into. It was bad enough when they’d all come running to Paddy’s screams.
Robson shuddered and this time it wasn’t from the wind. He couldn’t get the picture of Paddy’s bloody foot out of his head, or the image of Jackson and George crawling into the hole after him. He’d be waking from the sound of their screams for months to come.
He crawled up over the guttering and onto the tiles. By the time he put his leg over the ridge and sat up, the sun was going down. It looked like he was up here for the night, but at least he was safe. Although, when movement caught his peripheral vision and he turned to find a black mass with two red eyes crawling towards him, he realised he’s forgotten to do one thing; push the ladder off the side of the house.
Robson couldn’t see anything from this height, but he wasn’t going to risk climbing back down, even if it meant being up here all night. He swallowed hard at the thought, to stop panic rising. He focused his gaze upwards instead, across the tiles to the peak of the roof. Maybe he should climb up and straddle it like Jackson did at break times. Maybe he could attract attention from up there, get some help. Although was that a good idea? That would bring people, innocent bystanders, who had no clue what they were walking into. It was bad enough when they’d all come running to Paddy’s screams.
Robson shuddered and this time it wasn’t from the wind. He couldn’t get the picture of Paddy’s bloody foot out of his head, or the image of Jackson and George crawling into the hole after him. He’d be waking from the sound of their screams for months to come.
He crawled up over the guttering and onto the tiles. By the time he put his leg over the ridge and sat up, the sun was going down. It looked like he was up here for the night, but at least he was safe. Although, when movement caught his peripheral vision and he turned to find a black mass with two red eyes crawling towards him, he realised he’s forgotten to do one thing; push the ladder off the side of the house.
350 Words
Ummm ... a precarious position!
ReplyDeleteA very tense, fast paced read. But that ladder. . . oops. Brilliant ending. Xxx
ReplyDeleteA very tense, fast paced read. But that ladder. . . oops. Brilliant ending. Xxx
ReplyDeleteGood tip, always make sure you can't be followed.
ReplyDelete