3. The Rescue

“RUN!”

Cameron was at full speed before he even had time to contemplate where the command had come from. It wasn’t so much a conscious thought, or even a word in his head for that matter. More a compulsion that had hit him with the ferocity of a icy gust of wind out of a still night. He suddenly just had to . . .

What? His direction was taking him straight at the annoying little brat near the window. The Kid! He had to get the kid away from the window! Why? Don’t ask! Just move! Cameron took another running step, then launched himself through the air towards the child. The movement was all instinct. There wasn’t enough time for any kind of thought processes. Just as Cameron left the ground, the boy’s final thud on the window jolted something free. Something clicked, something clanked. Something cracked and gave way, causing the entire glass plane to suddenly fall free from it’s mounting. A sudden, ferocious gust of wind, caused by the change in air pressure, helped suck the window out. The boy, who had been leaning all his weight on the window, tried desperately to regain his balance and change his momentum, but the rush of air exiting the window was too strong for him. He tumbled forward, losing his balance and fell, head first, out the window. Cameron, still in mid flight, stretched his arm out as far as possible. The boy was quickly disappearing over the ledge. Cameron reached out and grabbed. His hand just caught the boys ankle as he tumbled over the ledge.

Cameron's dramatic run and leap had the desired the effect. He got there just in time to catch the boy as he was about to take Olympic level high diving to a whole new level. Unfortunately, because his rescue attempt had been set in motion solely by instinct, he didn’t really have time to think about the possible consequences of his actions. For instance, he had managed to catch the boy successfully.

But who was going to catch him?

“Oh shit!”

With his free arm, Cameron desperately grabbed at something – anything – to try and slow himself down. He finally managed to grab a hold of the edge of the red covering material that was on top of the ledge the boy had been standing on. Cameron gripped on tightly, a small smile starting to form on his mouth. The smile faded immediately when a large ripping noise sounded as the material was tron from it’s fasteners.

“SHIIIIIIT!!!!!”

By this time, some of the other patrons had leapt into action. One, a particularly stocky builders/labourer named Melvin, had brought his two young kids up to the tower for the day, just to spend a little bit of family time together. He’d seen so little of them recently that he had worried that their opinion of him was starting to decline. After today, his kids opinion of their dad would never be in doubt again. Melvin dived forward and managed to grab hold of the tearing material. The other end of it had finally met a connection it couldn’t break. So Cameron and the kid’s plummet had been temporarily halted. Another tourist, a substitute teacher named John who had desires of being a writer, had gone running up to the window. After checking that Melvin had a solid grasp of the material, he leaned out the window. Hanging about 4 foot down from the window ledge was Cameron, clinging desperately onto the material with one hand, the small boy’s ankle with the other. The child wasn’t moving.

“Are you alight?” John yelled out, trying to get his voice heard above the rushing of the wind.
Despite the tense situation, Cameron’s response made him smile.

“I don’t like heights!”

“Is he OK?” John asked, gesturing towards the boy who was hanging like a rag doll in Cam's hand.

“He hit his head when we fell out. I think he’s knocked himself out”

“Just hang on! We’re going to try to pull you up!”

“I ain’t going anywhere!” John leaned back inside and turned to Melvin. Some of the other men in the crowd had run up and grabbed hold of the material, backing Melvin up.

"You got that?” John asked?

“Yeah, we’re good.”

Pushing through the crowd to the right, came Tory. She tried to get up to a window to see, but couldn’t get close enough. Off to the left, the boy’s mother was suddenly extremely concerned about her child’s welfare. Amazing how a simple thing like a potential plummet to your death can do that.

“Where’s my Baby! Where is he?” She screamed, hysterically. John had to almost physically stop her from diving out the window herself.

"He’s fine! The guy caught him”

“His names’ Cameron” Tory found herself calling from the sides. Almost completely distraught, she realised how silly it was that people be accurate with his name.

“Cameron then. You, big guy!”

“Melvin”

“ Melvin. You think you can start pulling them up?”

“No worries”

John leaned out the window. Cameron was still holding on for dear life.

“We’re going to start pulling you up!”

“Get me up close enough so I can pass you the kid!”

“We’ll get you both in!”

“GET THE KID FIRST!”

John turned back to Melvin

“GO!”

“HEAVE!!” Shouted Melvin. Him and the others dug in their feet and started pulling backwards. John turned back around and watched as Cameron slowly started to rise up.

“Somebody grab my belt!” John yelled, as he started to lean out of the window. Two others from the crowd had run forward and grabbed onto john. He leaned as far out the window as he dared. Below him, Cameron started to lift the boy across his body, towards John’s outstretched hand. Standing beside John, trying desperately to see out the window, Tory looked for any sight of her dangling boyfriend. So she was in just the right position to hear the material to her side rip.
“It’s ripping!” She screamed, desperately trying to find a hand hold on the deteriorating material. John quickly glanced at the tear, then turned back to Cameron.

“Hand me him! Quickly!”

Cameron lifted the boy up as high as he could. John stretched out, trying desperately to get ahold of the boy’s ankle. He almost had him, when a large chunk of material pulled free. Cameron dropped a few feet, stopping abruptly when the material pulled tight again.
Back inside, Tory and some others tried in vain to get a firm handhold onto the slipping material, but it pulled way tight. Tears were streaming down Tory’s face as she valiantly tried to stop it from slipping any further.

A sudden high pitched scream caught them all by surprise. The sudden jolt from the fall had snapped the boy out of his daze. He now seemed to realise the true nature of his predicament and panic had well and truly set in. Cameron held on tightly as the boy started to kick and thrash about.

“Calm down Kid! Stop kicking!” Unfortunately, the boy was far from being able to listen to reason. Inside, the boys mother was screaming from behind the crowd.

“They’re gonna fall! Pull them up, please! They’re gonna die!”

Melvin watched as the young mother fretted hysterically. He glanced over towards his own family, where his 7 year old son was watching with a look of both fear and awe on his small face. Glancing up again at the young mother, emoting in waves of fear and anger, a strange calm and a resolve came over Melvin.

“Not today!” he said, with a conviction that surprised even himself. Melvin wrapped the material around his arm, planted his feet and gritted his teeth. He looked over at John, who nodded at him.

“HEAVE!!” He yelled! They pulled as hard as they could, and Cameron started to lift again. This sudden movement however, sent the kid into a blind panic, and he began to thrash wildly.

“Stop Kicking!” Cameron screamed. But it was too late. The boys movements sent shudders through the length of the material, causing Tory’s end to shear off and slip. Now the full weight of both Cameron and the Boy was transferred to Melvin's side. The others who were helping lost there grip as Melvin was suddenly jerked forward. He stumbled forward a few steps before being able to right himself. He gripped tighter and strained backwards. John, almost falling out the window himself, grabbed ahold of the edge of the window and reached down. The sudden drop had started Cameron swinging, almost out of control. The high winds that were buffering them were’nt helping things in the slightest. Spining around, Cameron managed to get his feet to touch the building. He planted himself, looked up and made up his mind.

“Hang on kid. This is going to suck.”

Pushing himself back, he started swinging away from the window. Up above, Melvin strained with the material. Since it was so tightly wrapped around him, no one else could get a grip, so they were physically holding on to Melvin as best they could.

What’s he doing?” Melvin screamed, struggling to keep his grip.

Down below, Cameron swung the boy out behind him as far as he could. When gravity started to take them back the other way, Cameron swung the boy as hard as he could. Watching, John realised what it was Cameron was trying to achieve and got ready to play his part. Lifting with all his might, Cameron swung the boy up towards the window. When he reached the top of the arc, john grabbed at the boy. Catching him around one wrist, John pulled backwards with all his might. John, the boy and his two support people all tumbled back into a heap on the floor. John had wrapped his arms around the boy, in order to try and cradle him from the fall. He now hugged the boy with all his might, before releasing him to his crying yet relived mother.

Many years later, John would win an award for one of his books. In his acceptance speech, he cited this exact moment as the point where he realised he could achieve just about anything, and started his first novel the very next day. He also revealed the identity of the Mysterious dedication that had been in the front of all his books. A simple line that read “For CK and the Brat.”

After John had grabbed the boy off of him, Cameron started to swing back the other way. His plan was to try and get back up enough momentum so he could grab ahold of the window ledge. After that, with a bit of help, he was sure he could make it back in. Cameron reached the peak of his arc and started to propel himself forward. He glanced up and saw Tory’s face staring down at him. She had finally managed to get to the window after john had fallen backwards. ‘I’m really going to have to make it up to her for scaring her so badly’ Cameron thought. But as he looked up at her, he happened to notice – pretty much at the same time she did – that the material had been rubbing on a sharpened piece of the window ledge. And that this final swing was had weakened it to the point where it was no starting to give way.

Melvin suddenly pitched backwards, landing on top of a couple of his anchor people. He wondered why, suddenly, all of the tension had gone out of the material. It even took him a few moments to grasp exactly what had happened after he noticed the frayed and torn end of the material in his hand. John saw Melvin fall back, and expectantly turned to see Cameron at the window.

But instead, he saw Tory start to scream as she saw the love of her life start to plummet towards the street.