“Hey, Hallie.” Amie tensed again as Benny spoke in a low voice. “Um, just wanted to see if we can talk? Feel like things happened really fast, and I think … I dunno, I think we can fix this. You left your socks here, so if you want them … let me know. This is Benny, by the way. Um, you probably knew that. Okay. Cool. Bye.”
Benny’s feet slowly pivoted, and there was a rustle in the direction of the wastebasket. He walked out.
Amie let out a slow breath. Her mind, in contrast, was racing.
Hallie? Like “Hallie From The Park” Hallie?ThatHallie?
What were the odds? How many people were named Hallie? And if itwasHallie From The Park, who was the woman in the photo?
Moving to inspect the papers again, a new message on her phone caught her attention.
You’re not gonna like this, Ziya said,but I think you have to climb the balconies.
Amie gave a start as the television blared again. She pinched the bridge of her nose as she considered this new plan. Ziya was right; she didn’t like it.
Every apartment had a small … honestly, the word “balcony” was generous. Every apartment had a small ledge surrounded by a railing accessed by a sliding door in the bedroom. Each ledge was several feet wide and only about a foot deep. It was an architectural anomaly, mainly used by the occupants of the building for hanging wet clothes, storing dirty shoes, and not much else.
Amie winced at the thought of climbing from balcony to balcony. She didn’t exactly have a fear of heights. A more accurate diagnosis would be that she had a fear offallingfrom a great height, even in situations where people assured her that it was very unlikely she would fall. Not to mention situations where shewasvery likely to fall, likeclimbing across the balconies of the third floor of her apartment building.
And where would she even go? Both she and David lived on the floor below. Did she have to climbdowntoo?
As the minutes ticked by, Amie became more and more resigned. Her phone remained dark. Ziya was waiting for an update, and David had either become incredibly engrossed in whatever Benny had on the TV, or he was also lacking ideas.
What’s happening?Ziya finally asked.Did he catch you?
No, Amie replied. She sighed, resigned.I’m going to climb the balconies.
She sent a similar text to David, then rolled out from under the bed. Climbing to her feet, she securely stuffed the papers and her phone into her pockets.
The television continued to blare in the other room as she picked her way across the bedroom to the sliding door. Amie touched the handle, pausing. The lock was already unlatched, but she knew these doors had a tendency for squeaking. She waited, listening for a swell in volume from the TV.
With extraordinary good timing, David’s voice rang out from the other room.
“Well, I’d better head back to my place to check the traps,” he said. “Thank you for the beer.”
Amie eased the door open as Benny responded, wincing at the squeaking of rubber on plastic. She paused, listening, hoping that Benny’s own voice in his ears would help to muffle the squeaks. After a few seconds of no one angrily storming into the bedroom, she slipped outside. There was a loud applause break from the television, and with that cue, Amie pulled the door shut behind her.
It was a muggy evening. The sky was full of pink clouds with dark-purple shadows, the glow of the setting sun illuminating the way as Amie sidled along the width of the balcony.
Amie never before had an issue being out on her own balcony (so long as she had a firm grip on the doorway), but the knowledge of what was to come made every moment she was out there feel ten times more perilous.
Stopping at the railing, Amie assessed her next obstacle. There was a gap about a foot and a half wide between Benny’s balcony and the next. Against her better judgment, she looked down into the gap, her breath temporarily stalling as she saw the distance to the ground. Her vision swam as she took a hurried step back. She had to focus on her breathing for a full minute before she felt assured that her heart wasn’t going to pound its way out of her chest, grow little legs, and go running back into Benny’s apartment.
This was impossible. Who thought this was a good idea?
“Amie?” The hissed whisper cut through the ambient noise of distant traffic. “Amie!”
The whisperer’s target audience looked out toward the source of the noise. From a balcony two doors down and one floor below, a hand shot out to wave at her.
“Ziya?” Amie whispered, squinting through the long shadows cast by the surrounding buildings. Her ex-girlfriend was standing on David’s balcony, pulling up her dark red crop top as she leaned dangerously far over the railing to see Amie.
“It’s okay, don’t talk,” Ziya replied, gold hoops swinging from her ears as she waved her hands. “Don’t want him to hear you!”
“He has the TV on at max volume,” came David’s voice from out of Amie’s line of sight. “So at the very least, he won’t hear anything when Amie falls to her death.”
“Unhelpful,” Ziya said as Amie’s stomach did a flip. “Hey. Don’t listen to him. You just need to go two balconies over and climb down.”
“Oh, just that?” Amie said, her voice jumping half an octave.
