Nanowrimo 2020 Day 25 - Word Count and Favorite Bit (Patreon)

Today I added 3643 words to Match.God, bringing my current total word count to 55,551!

Spurred by the equally terrifying but all together different feeling fear that statement inspired within her, Hannah rushed the wall. She leaned over the edge, catching sight of Death hanging from the ledge just below. Relief filled her for just a moment before panic once again set in.

“Su-jin!” she shouted, the name rolling off her tongue as naturally as water from a fall. She leaned as far over the wall as she could, stretching out her hand to reach him. “Su-jin, take my hand!”

“You will not be able to pull me up,” Death shouted, more fear and worry in her voice than Hannah had ever heard before. “I will just end up pulling you over with me.”

“Shut up, you don’t know that!” she snapped, standing on her tiptoes in an attempt to reach even farther. “Give me your hand!”

“Ha-yun, please, I do not wish for you to put yourself in danger.”

“Death, I love you, but shut the hell up and just take my hand already!”

Whatever Death was about to say was cut short, words trapped in his throat as his eyes widened. Hannah watched his mouth form her words, as if unsure he’d heard her correctly.

“Ha-yun?”

“You heard me,” she called down. There could only be one name for the tangle of emotions she felt in that moment, underneath the fear. It was sudden, was a sucker punch in the gut, and far less romantic than the others had made it sound. “Look, I know this isn’t the best time, but that’s not my fault. Now take my hand so we can have this conversation when you’re not seconds away from falling.”

“Don’t worry!” Lindiwe suddenly appeared at Ha-yun’s side. “We’ll help her pull you up, so neither of you will fall.”

Death nodded, and Ha-yun watched as he tried to pull himself up enough so he could reach her hand. She tried to reach more than she already had, but the wall was digging into her stomach enough as it was.

“That’s it,” she encouraged quietly. “You’re almost there. Just take my hand, Su-jin. You can do it. Just – I got you!”

Hannah pulled the moment she felt Death’s cool, comforting hand wrap around hers. She could feel Lindiwe’s arms wrap around her middle, pulling Hannah back as Hannah pulled Death up. She could hear the other girls shouting, forming a chain behind Lindiwe. He was heavy, and it was difficult, but eventually, they managed to pull Death up far enough that he was able to climb back up and over the wall on his own.

Ha-yun was near tears by the time Death was safely on the other side of the wall. Her hands were shaking and her shoulders and back ached from the strain. She reached out, cupping Death’s cheeks in her hands, feeling the too-smooth texture of his skin under her fingers. She almost couldn’t believe that he was there, that he wasn’t splattered across the ground however many dozen of floors below. She nearly collapsed, sobbing, to the ground. But it was alright. Everything was alright. And Death managed to catch her before she actually hit the ground.

“Do not cry, Ha-yun,” he whispered, petting her hair in long, soothing strokes. “I am safe. You saved me. Thank you. Please, do not cry.”

Ha-yun could only laugh hysterically through her tears. “Screw you, that was scary as hell. I’m allowed to cry after something like that.”

Death smiled, brushing a finger across her cheek and catching the tears that flowed down her face. “I suppose that is fair. Very well. Cry all you like, then.”

“See, bitch.” Hannah looked over to see Lindiwe standing over the young woman, who’d stopped sobbing though her face was still wet with tears. “This is why he loves her and not you!”

“And if I heard correctly,” Nessa cooed, smiling like a cat who got the canary, “she loves him as well.”

Lamia gasped, the realization hitting her. “Oh my goodness!”

“Holy crap, you’re right!” Clara shouted, grinning like a maniac. “She said it! She said it!”

Ha-yun groaned, hiding her face in Death’s shoulder. “I’m starting to wish I didn’t, you demons.”

“Ah, I am afraid you cannot take it back now,” Death teased. In a more serious tone, he asked, “Did you mean it, Ha-yun.”

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it,” Hannah said. “I’m not that kind of person. I think I knew when I was able to call you by the right name. That, and the sudden sucker punch of emotions.”

“Yeah, love is like that sometimes,” Lindiwe said, nodding sagely. She laughed at Ha-yun’s tired glare.

“That name you called me,” Death said. “Say it again.”

Hannah smiled. “Su-jin.”

“Su-jin,” Death said, tasting the weight of it on his tongue. “Su-jin. Yes, I quite like it as well. What does it mean?”

“Well, it has a couple of different meanings. But I think the one I like the best is ‘to harvest something precious.’ I think it’s fitting.”

Su-jin nodded. “It certainly is.”

“Okay, this is delightful and all that but like, what are we going to do with her?”

Nessa’s question pulled attention back to the woman the men still had pinned to the ground. She looked almost ashamed, but mostly still livid. She glared at Ha-yun, but Ha-yun couldn’t bring herself to feel anything but pity. Well, no, that was a lie. Ha-yun was outright pissed, but a large part of her did pity the girl.

“Call the police, of course!” Clara said. She turned to the crowd that were still watching with dumbfounded expressions. “Seriously, all these cell phones and none of you have dialed the police? What is wrong with you?”

As if awoken from a spell, a dozen people pulled out their phones and started dialing emergency services. Those who had their phones out to record the events kept of recording.

“This is going to be all over twitter in the next ten minutes,” Lamia said with a sigh.

“In the next ten minutes?” Nessa asked. “It probably already is.”

“Thank god my parents don’t use twitter,” Ha-yun muttered. She really did not want her parents finding out about this.

“It’s probably already all over facebook, too,” Nessa warned.

“Dammit.”