“Hold on!” A courage in Melody breaks forth as she realizes she really is the only one who can help Will right now.
While she is grateful for Will’s confidence in her, it’s the flash of Rebecca’s face that motivates her. She can’t imagine her losing someone else she loves so much. The poor girl has experienced enough heartache to last anyone a lifetime and she’s only eight. She throws every ounce of strength she has at the rocky pieces and surprises herself at how much strength she still has.
Will squints as rubble shifts around him and his arm muscles move for the first time since he fell.
“How long have you been here?” Melody keeps Will talking to take his mind off the discomfort.
“Since last night. Max and I were fixing up the basement together. Then he went to bed because he had an early flight this morning. I figured, why not continue on my own, and when I walked in, the stairs we were just putting in collapsed. I now, it was stupid of me.”
Will wriggles free an arm. As he struggles to free his arm, the rocks on the stairs also wriggle free and fall. They land just north of where Will is and narrowly miss his face. Melody had removed the rocks that would have undoubtedly landed on Will.
He sighs. “Good. You got them just in time.”
The rubble falling exposes a gap in the stairwell, in the dim lighting, it looks like yet another abyss separating Will and Melody, except she is the one trying to save him now. Melody now sees she is actually kneeling on the only portion of the stairs that still remains intact. The rest has crumbled on the floor underneath her and created quite an obstacle for her and Will.
A sharp sting bites into Melody’s finger and she strains.
“Your finger, there’s blood on it.” Will’s genuine concern for Melody catches her off-guard. There is a softness on his face that seems gentle and almost uncharacteristically tender. It confuses her because she was sure she had him pinned as a stiff, emotionally removed boss. But now his dark features appear more handsome.
“It’ll be fine.” She says, wiping her finger off a slab and continuing to work. Will joins in with his free arm and they work together.
Melody removes her shoes. Now panting, she leans beneath the stairwell and removes rubble on one side, while Will tackles the other side. Soon, Will sits up and with triumph in his voice, he says, “Yes,” as he handles the last slab pressing on his leg and throws it to the side. His body is free. “We make a pretty good team.” His smile is charming and it makes Melody blush.
They still need to bring him back over the stairs. They make a plan to build a small hill for Will to climb over and get back to the stairwell. Using larger pieces of cement slab, they build and once crouched over this hill, she tells him, “Jump onto the stairwell.”
Will jumps and barely misses the ledge. He jumps again, scrapes the ledge, but this time the hill crumbles from under him and Melody braces herself for a loud crash. Will looks like he is about to fall flat on his back and possibly break something. Then he turns his body around, catches his fall with his hands and slices the skin on his am on a piece of cement shaped like shrapnel. By controlling his fall, he also stops the rubble from rolling out further.
“Will!”
“I’m alright.” He brushes his arm off then sits up, cautiously not rocking the hill more than he needs to. “Look,” he begins, “I have an idea, but you’re going to have to trust me.”
Being on the island has made her less trusting. Things are not all as they seem. But her idea hasn’t worked so far, so it wouldn’t hurt to try Will’s idea.
She nods her head.
“Instead of trying to reach the staircase, you lean down a little and lend me a hand.” Melody realizes he means her literal hand. She’s not comfortable, but none of this is, so again she vows to try it.
They build the hill back up again; Will jumps, and this time he catches Melody’s arm just inches lower than the ledge. Immediately, she locks her feet into a slot in-between two stairs.
“Pull!” Will’s body is tense. His grip tightens on her hands, and now she sees it – his pupils dilate as he also pulls his legs up to his stomach. Melody can tell, Will is not used to being at the mercy of another.
“I’m trying!” Melody grunts through gritted teeth. She pulls. “Aargh!” Her arms are in excruciating pain, but Will’s body is rising up. She presses her knees into the cement step and pulls again.
She wishes she had gone to the gym more or at least had one on the island she could frequent, but now it’s too late.
The stairs creak at the additional weight and tension.
Both Will and Melody lock eyes; they must hurry – there is not much time before the entire stairwell collapses.
When Melody pulls as high as she can go, Will grips on her upper arm, he’s closer, she in-turn locks her arms under his broad shoulders, into a tight embrace, then she pulls his body.
At the first sign of ledge, Will grabs the stairwell with one arm. In a single swoop, he swings one leg up. He is strong. Then he releases Melody’s arm, to her relief.
She unhinges her feet from the stair and she feels it loosen. Quickly, she assists him haul his body up the stairs onto safer ground. Then they hear rubble smash into the ground as they both race up
