The Ladder

"...hasn't been wrong yet..." Anna tried to reassure herself, closing her eyes and releasing the rung. Time seemed to slow down as she began to fall through the air. How did this day go so wrong? She was in the middle of an air duct, completely bottomless, holding a cheerleader's shorts and underwear in her teeth and falling toward a fan turned up to max. She debated grabbing onto another rung for safety...when she felt something beneath her.

Emily's head. She had crashed right into it. Emily had released Anna's feet and was knocked completely off her rung by Anna's butt, her muffled screams drowned out before she fell off completely, Anna quickly grabbing a lower rung. "What...the fuck are you?!" Emily screamed as she plummeted toward the bottom. On the way down, a stray bit of metal managed to snag her sports bra and pull it right over her head, leaving the cheerleader totally naked aside from her footwear as she fell. Due to the intense wind tunnel, Emily's fall was slowed down before she got to the bottom, leaving her floating helplessly several feet above the grate. Several bursts of colorful language spewed from Emily's mouth, all mostly incomprehensible to Anna over the fan's roar.

From inside her bra, the phone began to speak. "Good work! You're almost to the end! Grab that bra and get to the top...it's time to claim your reward."

And with that, the phone went silent. Anna wanted to let out a yelp of victory, but that would involve opening her mouth and letting the contents fly. But this did put her back into the situation where it was near impossible to climb. Her shirt was still mostly over her head, and her bra was already carrying a key and her phone. Seeing no other way to do this, Anna opened her mouth even wider and bit down on the uniform's skirt, letting it flap in the wind as she descended and grabbed the bra, this at least small enough to hold in her hand and still able to climb.

With a sigh, Anna began to ascend toward the opening at the top of the ladder.