“You can. You have to crawl to me. If I move forward, you’llget closer to the edge.”
And I’d lose the toehold I currently have, my boot wedgedinto a narrow space between two rocks.
“You can do it,” I say. “Come on, Belle.”
She takes a deep breath and then throws her arm up, grabbingonto my elbow. Bit by bit, she crawls her way up my body,using me as a human rope. And when she’s close enough that Ican wrap my arms around her waist, I hug her and roll herover my body.
She lands on my legs, scraping my knees even harder againstthe jagged lava rock.
But I don’t give a f**k. She isn’t dead. That’s what matters.
Now that she’s safe, I inch my way away from the ledge andthen rise to my knees once I’m on solid earth. Belle is lyingflat on her bac
