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“Come on, Lance!” Hunk yelled from the gym floor, his grip firm on the rope. “You got this, buddy!”
30 feet up, Lance clung to the slightly overhung rock wall. He tried awkwardly to wipe the sweat from his forehead using his shoulder.
“Come on, Lance,” he whispered to himself, echoing his friend’s encouragement. “You can do this.” He tentatively reached up for a different hand hold, hesitated, then returned to the same hold. Luckily for him he stood on a large, solid foot hold and had an ideal hand hold position. He just didn’t know where to go from here.
Lance glanced up at the looming path before him, the topmost section obscured by the overhang. “Just got to… get over this section,” he murmured to himself. “No big deal.”
Lance wasn’t sure why he always had this much difficulty on the 60-foot wall. The shorter walls, about 20 feet at the highest point, never gave him any trouble. Sure, he didn’t like to look down – perhaps he had just a touch of acrophobia at times – but at least he could down climb or even give up and let go when stuck on a problem for too long, knowing full well that Hunk wouldn’t let him fall.
Tonight, however, he seemed to be faring worse than usual.
“Is he still up there?”
Hunk glanced at Pidge, who’d walked up to watch Lance’s slow-going ascent. The short girl stood with her arms crossed, climbing shoes dangling from one hand and harness already cinched around her waist and thighs.
Hunk sighed. “Unfortunately. I don’t know what his deal is tonight, you’d think he’d just give up eventually.”
“How long has he been up there?”
“About… 5 minutes? I think?”
Pidge huffed. “Seriously?! I’ve been waiting all night to climb this new route, man. There’s only so many bouldering problems I can work on while he dicks around up there.” She cupped her hands and yelled, “COME ON, LANCE, HURRY UP OR GET OFF THE WALL!”
Hunk shifted his feet. “Yeah, think it’s time to call this one, buddy,” he called. “Come down, I’ve got you.”
Lance remained frozen on the wall face.
Pidge and Hunk watched and waited, but he made no more signs of moving neither upwards nor back down.
“Um, Lance? You okay?” asked Hunk.
“All good,” came the shaky reply, almost inaudible from the distance between them.
“Okay, well, Pidge wants to have a turn, so why don’t you head down now.”
“No thanks, I’m fine where I am.”
Pidge rolled her eyes. “Lance, just let go of the wall already please. I’ve got to get back to studying after this and you’re wasting my rec time.”
Lance paused before admitting, “I don’t think I can…”
“Oh man, he let it get to him,” Hunk sighed. “Well, his arms will give out eventually, I guess—“
Pidge shook her head and marched off towards the front desk. “I’m not waiting anymore, I’m going to get one of the staff.”
“What’s going on over here?”
A dark-haired guy strode up next to Hunk, with Pidge wheeling back around to join them. He wore a blue gym employee shirt with a name badge that read “Keith”.
“What’s with all the yelling?” he asked rather briskly. “You’re not the only ones in here.”
Pidge approached the wall and pointed an accusing finger up at Lance, who was still adhered firmly in place. “I’ve been waiting to climb this route all night, but Lance let acrophobia set in and now he’s stuck.”
Keith glanced up. “How long has he been up there?”
Hunk glanced at his watch. “About 7 or 8 minutes now.”
Keith looked at Hunk. “You doing okay holding him?”
He nodded. “Yeah, no, he weighs like 90 pounds soaking wet; I could keep him up there all night if I had to.” He received a glare from Pidge and added, “But we really should be leaving soon to go study.”
Keith sighed and headed back to the front desk. “Hang on, let me get my manager.”
Back on the wall, Lance struggled to remain calm. Why had he let it get to him? He should have been able to just let go of the damn wall, but an irrational fear kept him holding on for dear life. His body protested, arms shaking and leg muscles starting to tremble from the effort. It would be so easy to just let himself fall: Hunk had pulled the rope tension taut once he realized Lance wasn’t moving. He wouldn’t even fall that far, just a gentle swing out from the wall. So why then was he starting to get tunnel vision just thinking about it?
“Hey.”
Lance nearly let go then and there. He slowly turned to look at the person who had just appeared next to him.
An employee had climbed up the route adjacent to him, his grip on the holds firm yet unconcerned, his body position relaxed. Lance managed to make out the name “Keith” on the guy's name badge.
“You okay, man?” Keith asked.
Lance swallowed, his eyes looking everywhere but downward. “Y-Yeah, all good. Just… just stuck on this route.” He chuckled nervously. “Can’t seem to find a good hold, y’know?”
“What’s your name?”
“Uh, Lance.”
Keith pointed below. “You gotta get off the wall, Lance. Other people are waiting to climb.”
Lance shook his head. “Sorry, no can do. I'll figure something out, thanks though.” He turned back to the wall, his hands burning and his forearms locked up from being in one position for so long. He could feel himself getting dizzy. How long had he been up here?
“Hey,” Keith repeated, softer this time. A firm hand rested on his shoulder. Lance looked back at him, their eyes locking on to each other. Keith’s grip tightened, his arm tensing.
“Get off the wall.”
With one swift movement, he ripped the other boy from the wall face entirely. Lance swung out hard on the rope, screaming sharply as he scrambled to cling to the rope, Hunk already lowering him down. He glanced back up angrily at Keith, who smirked as he, too, began his descent.