Free Under Zenith by Shannen Crane Camp

final scream, I threw my hands out in front of me, unable to see from all the wavy white-blonde hair that flew in front of my face.
                  With a horrible thud and a white hot pain in my middle finger, I grabbed onto the damp tree roots that miraculously held my weight. I pressed my cheek against the wet earth and clung for dear death to the side of the island, not looking up or down, simply panting and hating Hayden.
    “Start climbing,” his very unwelcome voice said directly above me.
    How on earth had he gotten onto the island?
    “I hate you!” I screamed, my entire body shaking from just how terrified I was at that moment.
    The endless expanse of air below me was scary, but knowing that I didn’t have the arm strength to pull myself onto the island and get out of this alive was the scariest part. At what point did I finally admit to myself that I couldn’t do it and just let go?
    “I don’t care for you much either. Now stop being completely useless and start climbing.”
    I hadn’t ever been a rage filled person. In fact, before I’d died I couldn’t name a single person I hated. Sure there were some girls I didn’t like much and a few cheating ex-boyfriends I’d rather not see. But no one I hated.
    At that moment, clinging to the dirty tree root like it was my only hope , I could very truthfully say, I hated Hayden.
    With a deep burning passion.
    “I can’t do it,” I called up to him, setting aside my hate in favor of my logic that told me I somehow needed to climb.
    “Yeah , I know,” he said, not encouraging me at all. “If you can’t even do this, there’s no way you’ll pass the other tasks. You might as well just give up now.”
    “Aren’t you supposed to be rooting for me?” I asked incredulously. “Don’t you need me to make it to my Destination so you can get a raise or something?”
    “After listening to all your whining , I’m not sure it’s worth it,” he told me, shrugging his shoulders and walking away from the ledge.
    He couldn’t be serious. There was no way he wanted me to drop off a cliff just because I had whined a little (rightfully so might I add) about being dead.
    Slowly and carefully, I released the tree root with one hand and stretched it skyward toward the next root, closing my sore fingers around it and finding that I was still completely stuck. I couldn’t look down to see where I should put my foot. I couldn’t just hoist myself up and hope the root held me.
    Unless I was willing to suddenly become daring, there wasn’t really much I could do but stay there like a squirrel stuck halfway up a tree trunk. In this scenario, I saw Hayden as the mean little kid with a BB gun, repeatedly trying to fire at me.
    I definitely couldn’t die here (again) so I took a deep breath, steadied my nerves, and pulled myself up to the next tree root. My feet scrambled for purchase for a minute, but eventually found it, however unsteadily. The boots hadn’t been a great choice for my little mountain climbing experience. They had no tread, and were completely stiff and inflexible. I couldn’t have picked worse footwear if I’d tried.
    It was a slow long process to get myself up to the edge of the island. I was sweaty and terrified by the time the grass was within my reach and my entire body shook with the constant effort of keeping my self from falling. I wasn’t sure exactly how long it had taken me, but it felt like hours had passed in silence as I maintained a slow and steady panic.
    “About time,” Hayden said, peeking his head over the side of the grass and looking completely bored.
    “Hayden, I need you to give me your hand. There are no more roots and I can’t grab the grass without pulling it all out,” I told him evenly.
    I knew he was a complete jerk , but could it really be that difficult for him to just reach out his hand and help me up? I’d made the entire climb myself and now needed one small favor from him that would barely expend