Chapter 4

<Amanda>

Amanda bit the inside of her bottom lip and pressed the tape gun to the corner of the steamer and clicked the button. She tugged lightly on the streamer, to make sure that she did it right. She had never used a tape gun before, never seen one in her life, until that day. She knew that she had to have looked weird from everyone else's point of view because of how much she felt the need to concentrate on making sure she used it correctly.

She pressed the button on the ladder and it slowly started to lower her back down to the ground. She set the tape gun on the table and picked up another roll of streamers, looking around to see where she should put them. She decided to not use the ladder this time and chose to twist the red sparkly streamers with the white streamers and wrap them around the staircase railings loosely.

Gregory wanted decorations everywhere, which was a big task, but who could blame him. He wanted things to be perfect for his big day. He was very excited to be marrying Scarlet; it was obvious that he was enamored with her.

When Amanda saw Scarlet yesterday, she hadn't even realized that she'd seen her before. Until she hugged her and she got a whiff of her perfume, and the realization that she had seen Scarlet before surprised her.

The memory of their first meeting completely invaded her mind, and she thought back to it, remembering how Scarlet had acted.

Amanda had heard the doorbell go off, and walked out to see if she could help whoever it was with anything. She had seen a red-headed woman staring out the window, and was playing with the hem of her shirt with an anxious/nervous expression on her face.

Amanda had walked over to the woman and coughed a little to get her attention. The woman turned around quickly with wide eyes as she looked at Amanda, then once she saw who it was, she visibly relaxed.

"Can I help you find anything?"

The woman glanced again out the window before turning and looking around the store.

"Can I see all of your red fabric options?"

Amanda nodded and told the woman to follow her, as she turned to the right and walked towards the counter, pulling out a booklet which had every option of fabric colors in it, and turned the pages looking for the red section, but also looking up every couple of seconds at the woman who couldn't stop staring out the window.

Curiosity had gotten the best of her, as she brought the book to the woman. "Why do you keep looking out the window, if I may ask."

The woman looked at Amanda with a look that told her not to ask questions, and to leave her alone. It had sent a shiver down Amanda's spine.

"I'm waiting for someone."

Amanda then nodded, deciding not to ask further questions because it was something that the woman didn't want to talk about.

"I don't think that I like any of these." She had closed the book and pushed it back over to Amanda, and then stood walking right out the door, not saying anything else.

Amanda didn't know what to think about Scarlet that day. Maybe she was waiting for someone, but why was she acting weird? Amanda shoved the thoughts away, not caring to think more on it. It was probably nothing.

"Amanda, put the banner up there." Margaret pointed behind Amanda, towards the middle of the two staircases. Margaret held in the other hand what looked like the six-foot-long banner. Amanda's heart lurched at how high she would have to be to put the banner on the overhead.

Amanda clenched her hands into fists and took a deep breath as she fought the urge to tell Margaret to do it herself. Amanda was moving non-stop trying to help get the decorations set up, and all that Margaret had done was boss people around, giving them have never-ending tasks, while she sat back and watched. It was only when Mr. Hampton or someone higher than her came in the room that she got up and pretended to be doing something.

Amanda walked over to where she left the ladder, reached up and flipped the switch, then tugged on it to get it to start moving with her. The ladder was about 6 feet high without it being any higher, and the highest that Amanda would go up to was 10-12 feet, depending on where it was. She refused to be any higher, and wouldn't think twice about telling someone exactly how she felt on that matter.

She stopped short as she got to the middle section of the staircase and looked up to see how high she would have to make the ladder. She found the button that raised that ladder and held it there, watching as it grew taller and taller. The measurements on the other side of the ladder went from 6 feet to 7, 7 to 8, then 8 to 9, and it continued to rise until it was at 12 feet. She felt her heart jolt forward, as she realized that she would be up that high and the ladder had no support at all if she fell. She let out a slow breath as she gazed up at what looked like a never-ending climb.

Amanda closed her eyes and took a deep breath before reaching around and flipping the switch to make sure it stayed in its place. She brought her hand back and realized how heavy her breathing was starting to become, and she wasn't even on the ladder yet. She turned around and saw the banner that Margaret wanted her to put up. She must've put it there when Amanda wasn't paying attention. She picked the banner up, went over to grab the tape gun, went to the bottom of the ladder, then looked up.

She took a deep breath and gripped the ladder, her hands turning white with her tight grip. Balancing the folded banner and tape gun in her hands, as well as trying to stay steady on the ladder, she made her way up. Foot after foot, she went higher and higher keeping her eyes trained on the railing where the banner would go, refusing to look down. She felt her hands get clammy as she felt the ladder rocking slightly beneath her, and made the mistake of looking down.

She froze in her spot, everything going still. Her heart hammered in her chest, and butterflies ignited in her stomach, making her queasy. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe. She wasn't going to fall, she told herself. She'd be fine. She opened her eyes and leaned against the ladder, balancing herself as she tried to unfold the banner.

She struggled to make sure none of what she had in her hands would fall, and she kept shifting her feet, trying to find a more solid way to stand and keep her balance.

Amanda slowly lifted a corner and taped it, all too aware that one misstep would mean she would hit the floor. After she taped the other corner, she continued to tape around it to make it secure. Her heart slowed as she finished getting this side of the banner hung up.

"Someone grab them!" Someone yelled, followed by loud bangs and thuds as items fell to the floor in the kitchen.

Amanda jumped and turned around slightly while still trying to hold her balance and watched as three German shepherds sprinted into the room, knocking everything over. Mr. Hampton came bursting through the kitchen doorway holding the leashes, clearly out of breath as he kneeled forward, hands on his knees, still calling for the dogs.

Amanda watched as everyone tried surrounding them, but they ran away as soon as anyone was a foot away from them, clearly teasing everyone. They ran around the room dozens of times, creating a huge mess she knew that she would have to help clean up. She sighed and set the tape gun on a hook and turned around cautiously to see where the dogs were.

Her breathing caught in her throat as she saw one of the dogs coming right towards her. She looked around frantically to see where the other dogs were, and then focused on the one coming at her. She turned around to where she could reach her arm around the machine, looking for the button to lower her, while keeping her eyes trained on the dog.

The dog came up faster than she anticipated and felt her finger brush against the button as the dog ran right into the ladder. Amanda's breath hitched in her throat as she gripped the ladder tighter hoping not to fall as it started leaning the other way. She closed her eyes tightly, expecting to feel herself falling, but only felt the ladder straighten out. She opened her eyes and looked down. The dog was lying underneath the ladder, panting heavily, tongue hanging out of its mouth.

Amanda reached for the button, and saw in the corner of her eye something blurry coming towards her. She turned slightly to see Mr. Hampton making his way slowly to the dog underneath the ladder. His eyes solely focused on the dog, he crept his way closer. Amanda paused, hoping that if she held still, he would be able to grab the dog. She wouldn't make a sound or a movement to scare the dog.

Mr. Hampton came close up on the dog and lept towards it while the dog's head was turned. The dog saw Mr. Hampton and jumped up getting ready to run. Mr. Hampton stumbled on the dog's tail as it started to turn, causing a yelp from the dog. Mr. Hampton tripped and hit the opposite side of the ladder, causing it to fall sideways more roughly. Amanda closed her eyes and tensed up as she felt herself falling.

The air whooshed out of her lungs as she met the floor on her right side with a bone-jarring crash. Sending pain throughout her body, and felt her head bounce off the floor with a sickening thud. Muffled voices splintered their way through her head, causing her head to pound harder until it grew fainter. She felt herself being shaken, then everything went black.