I forced myself not to look down. I pulled myself up carefully, from one rickety rung to the next. I thought I heard a scream, but I wasn’t sure.
I called out, “Fay?” The wind was so strong I could barely hear myself.
There was just one more rung above me on the ladder. I grasped it tightly and hoisted myself up. Gripping that last rung for dear life, I stood there perched at the top of the ladder.
The wind blew my hair over my eyes and into my mouth. I prayed it wouldn’t blow me off the ladder, or blow down the whole water tower. I spat the strands out of my mouth and shook my head back and forth, trying to get my hair out of my eyes. “Fay,” I said again, and then my vision cleared and I saw her.