She wanted to look to the foot of the ladder. Her eyes gently peering down, between her and the ladder, as if she was trying to not let it see she was looking. She couldn't see anything through the darkness. Turning her head to look over her shoulder she could see the flickering street light a hundred yards from the foot of the ladder. The bulb of the street light had been broken free of it's housing and was swaying in the light breezing causing a circle of light to swing along the ground. The dimmed edges of the circle playing against everything it came in contact with. Glints of light seeming to betray movement in the darkness as the light swayed away, only to be duplicated again when the light swayed back again.
Her heart beat eased up as she looked not seeing anything that caused her to feel fear as she had. But the weight was still around her. A pressure that felt like it would burst her eardrums and pop her eyes. Turning her head back to the ladder she rested her forehead against the rung her right hand gripped. Closing her eyes, she tried to will her body to stop feeling the pressure.
A quiet few moments passed and her ears heard the rattling again. Not a sound like a babies rattle, but more of a metallic rattle, like a chain. Her eyes opened and she turned her head letting her eyes quickly scan the darkness. She saw nothing and heard no other movement. Her heart was racing again, adrenaline pumping again. The pressure was again feeling to press on her again. She still wasn't sure if it was just trying to crush her or if it was trying to draw her toward it. A muscle in her shoulder twitched involuntarily and she let out a scream, but only for a second before covering her mouth with her free hand. It had felt like something touched her and her heart felt the startling pain of fear. She heard the rattle again and scurrying of chain accross the concrete sidewalk that ran up to the base of the ladder.
It was then she heard a gurgling, moaning, yell from the distance. She turned her head, still covering her mouth with her hand. All she caught a glimpse of was links of chain dragging along the concrete under the light, disappearing into the darkness again coming toward her. Letting out a yelp her hand covering her mouth returned to the ladder rungs and she started going up the ladder again, skipping the broken rungs.
The ladder rungs were slightly damp and had a moldy feel to them. Her shoes felt slick on the metal and she could feel the flakes crunching under her shoes as she clambered up two rungs at a time. She felt the ladder shake more and more and she hoped it was just because of her movement. The dragging chains were still behind and below her.
She found out why the ladder was shaking after a few more moments. There was a section of rungs that had been broken almost completely. The metal had rusted and broken, the rungs long since fallen to the concrete below. Now she gripped only the vertical sides of the ladder with her hands, pulling her body up and praying her hands wouldn't slip. This slowed her down greatly but she wasn't going to stop. She used what remained of the rungs on either side of the vertical bars to use as footholds.
Sweat was running down her face as she reached completed rungs again. They were as strong as before, but to be safe she now gripped and stepped as close to the sides of the rungs as possible. She wasn't going to let weak metal toss her to the ground below if she could help it. She began to wonder how high this ladder went.
Hearing a loud reverberating metallic clanking she stopped on the ladder. Soon she felt the vibration on the ladder. It had reached the ladder. She heard the chains clinking on the ladder and hoped it would have more trouble than her. She started up the ladder more, her forehead creasing and her mouth opening in a silent scream as she felt the ladder jerk and the clinks starting to echo from below her. It was climbing now. (to be continued...)
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