Chapter 1 of 2.

“The roof’s leaking again,” Yeri complained to her older sister who looked up to see that it was indeed leaking. She sighed, “I’ll see to it then,” she said before finishing her cup of tea. Yeri just shrugged when she saw Irene walked towards the garage to take a small pail and placed it to catch the leak.

“I’m going now, unnie.” Yeri stood up from her seat to kiss her sister on the cheek before heading out. Irene walked her just outside the gate to see Joy, Yeri’s babysitter, on the passenger seat. Wendy was the one driving. Waving to Irene who waved back. Joy is still on high school who’s Wendy’s girlfriend, Yeri is in middle school.

When the car was no longer in Irene’s vision, she closed the gate and went back inside. Sighing at the sight of her leaking ceiling.  She might as well get this dealt with. She could call someone to fix it but THREE different guys have tried but the leak would be back all over again. Irene did study carpentry in her high school so this must not be a problem, right?

Gathering all her courage, she took out her toolbox from the garage and went upstairs to Yeri’s room. She opened the small window leading to where the supposed leak was and stepped outside, silently and lightly walking on the roof, she didn’t look down though or it would be the end of her.

When she was a couple of steps away, holding on to the pipe for her dear life, the window suddenly closed and locked itself. Irene’s eyes widened, walking back to the window and tried to push it up but then again, she couldn’t do so when it’s obviously locked.

“Crap!” she cursed, and as if the world is playing a sick joke on her, she slipped slightly, now hugging the dear pipe for her life. “Oh my god, oh my god,” she repeated as if it was her mantra. She slowly regained composure of herself and sat on the roof, hugging her knees and hiding her face. Why did she even go up when she’s clearly afraid of heights? She could easily jump but the thought alone made her remember why she was afraid of heights.

She was silently walking the streets when she stopped by a tree to see a cat was stuck on the highest branch. She noticed another kid who was trying to climb the tree but she couldn’t reach the other branch for support. Irene quickly slid her backpack (she was only 10 that time) and approached the now pouting kid.

“Do you need help?” she asked the scrappy looking girl who beamed at her offer. “Yes, please! I’ve been trying to save that cat for awhile now but no one would stop by and help me.” She offered her hand for her to shake and Irene shook the hand willingly,.

“So what should I do?” she asked her. s\She clearly couldn’t climb the tree since she was wearing a dress. The other kid on the other hand was wearing boy shorts and muddy white shirt. She was also wearing a baseball cap that made her look like she’s one of the boys.

“Intertwine your hands,” she guided Irene to the root of the tree and made her intertwine hands, “I’ll step on your hands so I’m sorry if it will get dirty, and then you will push me up!” she told her. Irene nodded in understanding since the cat’s cry was getting louder.

Irene steadied herself and when the kid pressed her heel onto her palms, she gave it her all to push her up and the other girl used that momentum to jump. She was able to reach for the branch and pulled herself up. Irene sighed in relief as she saw how the other kid scrambled her way up to where the cat was. She was still a little worried though that she might fall or something but she trusts her that she won’t.

“Are you okay up there?” she asked her. She saw her looking down at her and smiled, “Yeah,” she then proceeded to look at the cat which was on the other side of the branch where she was standing. “Come on, kitty,” she cooed. But the cat took a couple of steps back.

Irene blinked. “Be careful!” she shouted in worry at the other kid who waved at her dismissively.  

“Kitty cat, please come here. You’ll fall if you don’t!” she slowly walked on her tiptoes, balancing herself as she reached her arm towards the cat. The kitten was looking at her, tilting her head, as she purred. “Yes, come here,” she waggled her fingers, motioning towards the kitten.

The older kid watched in awe as the kitten started making its way towards the kid’s arms but everything came to an abrupt stop when the cat decided to jump towards the kid—she lost her balance making her fall—10 ft straight from where she was standing.

“OH MY GOD!” Irene screamed, running towards where the other kid was grunting, “Ah, at least she’s safe,”

Irene noticed the cat jumped from the kid’s embrace away from them. She crouched down, “Hey, oh my god, are you alright?!”

“A bit lethargic. I’m okay. It’s weird I can’t move.”

“Wait here, alright?! I’ll go call someone to help!”

But by the time that she was back, the kid was gone.

Irene flinched, opening her eyes when someone below her called. “Miss? Are you alright?” the woman was just outside their gate, she was wearing a black baseball cap, black leather jacket with a white shirt underneath tucked in a black pants and white sneakers.

“Uh—no,” Irene was obviously shaking now when she looked down. She gasped and decided to look up towards the sky. The woman below her must have thought she’s a weirdo or something.

“Do you need help going down? I can help you if you want,”

The offer mad