It was a crisp Autumn day, just before the leaves turned copper and bronze. A chill breeze chased four young boys up a rickety fire escape, through a broken window, and into a stuffy office. Nicholas Crumb was the last to enter. He struggled to pull himself into the window, which was so tall only the top of his head could be seen through it.
“Are you sure we should be here?” Nicholas Crumb asked as he squeezed through the window. “Moriah Elizabeth said it isn’t stable.” He fell clumsily to the wooden floor, sending a cloud of dust into the air.
“What does Moriah know?” Oliver asked, wiping the grime off the large window at the front of the office. “She’s never been down here.”
“I… guess you’re right,” Nicholas replied, patting the dust off his thin clothes. He couldn’t argue with Oliver. Being the oldest at twelve and with an officer for a father, no one ever argued with Oliver.
“What kind of factory is it, again?” Peter asked, fiddling with a paperweight he had found on the large desk as he walked over to join Oliver. His tall, lanky figure cast a long shadow across the office floor.
“They made, erm, watches and clocks and things,” Oliver answered. After catching his breath, Nicholas came and joined them, wiping his own spot off the window and gazing down into the huge factory.
The roof at the other side of the factory had caved in long ago, allowing the sunlight to flood in and bathe the entire factory in a rusty gold color. Below the manager’s loft was a wide, open floor with several long conveyor belts stretching its length. Pipes and machinery, all broken and busted, lay dormant throughout the factory. An odd feeling came over Nicholas, one mixed with wonder and curiosity. How many hundreds of factory workers had walked across that floor before him? He wished one was here now to tell him the factory’s history in a way the gossiping school children would never be able to.
His thoughts were interrupted as Roger ran up against the window beside him, making a loud thump.
“You think there’s anything left down there?” Roger piped up, smushing his face against the glass. His small freckles reflected in the grime.
“If they did have anything, it’s long gone by now,” Oliver said importantly. “Robbers probably made off with it ages ago.” Turning away from the window, Oliver found his way to a door on the left side of the office. Struggling a bit to turn the rusty handle, he opened it. “The stairs are still in-tact,” he announced. “Let’s go down and explore.”
“Awesome!” Roger darted from the window and out the door before Oliver could have a chance to say anything more. Oliver followed him, thumping down the stairs. Peter was next, tossing the paper weight aside as he went for the door.
“But- is it safe?” Nicholas asked as he poked his head out of the door hesitantly.
“Come on, Crumb!” Oliver bellowed back.
Nicholas took a furtive glance at the broken window, his only chance out of this. Then he shook his head, determined not to be a scaredy-cat. He marched bravely out the door. Then paused as the stairs creaked beneath him. Taking a breath, he swallowed his fears and started off again to catch up with the other boys.
The boys spent a long time clambering around the different conveyor belts. They pretended they were factory workers, twisting and turning the knobs on the machines. They poked at some strange mushrooms growing inside a broken steam tank. They drew on the ground with scraps of charcoal from the furnaces. Finishing a crude sketch of the mushrooms, Nicholas looked up to see Oliver gazing at the mountain of rubble on the other side of the factory and the open ceiling beyond.
“I bet there’s a good view up there,” Oliver commented, a mischievous look in his eyes.
“Up where?” Peter asked, putting down a large piece of charcoal he had used to inscribe his name on the furnace’s metal surface.
“Up on the wall. We could easily climb up those beams to get to the top.”
“Oh, that would be cool,” Roger chimed in. “I bet we could see the whole city from up there!”
“I don’t know if-” Nicholas was quickly cut off.
“Then let’s go!” Oliver cried, running toward the rubble.
Once more, Peter and Roger were right behind him. Nicholas tried to reason against his conscience. After all, Oliver had not led him wrong… today. He ran to catch up with the others and followed closely behind Oliver as he navigated the climb. The boards wobbled and swayed dangerously, but Nicholas gained courage the higher he went. Nicholas was last again, but Peter helped pull him up the last bit. They stood next to each other on the wide ledge catching their breath.
The sun was low in the sky now, illuminating the buildings below them in a mystical way as it twisted through the alleyways. Roger had been right: they could see the whole city from here. Nicholas’ breath was taken away, this time from wonder rather than from fear. As he gazed out at the horizon, his wide brown eyes rested on the large ladder standing in the town square. Its clean wood stood out shining against the bronze and brown brick houses.
“If that man ever finishes his ladder,” Nicholas said suddenly. “Do you think he’d let us climb it?”
“All the way to the moon?” Roger asked. “What’s even up there?”
“Nothing,” Oliver said matter-of-factly. “My father says that’s why he’ll never finish it. There’s nothing in space, not even air.”
“Oh,” Nicholas said, trying to hide his embarrassment.
“What does your father know about the moon?” Peter asked, furrowing his eyebrows and giving Oliver a look. “He’s never been up there.”
Oliver stared at Peter. This was possibly the first time anyone had contradicted him, and Nicholas almost laughed at how flabbergasted he looked.
“It- It’s getting late,” Oliver continued, looking back at the city and brushing off the comment. “We should head back soon, or our parents will worry.”
“Yeah, I’m getting hungry,” Roger agreed. He was the first one to turn back and begin monkeying down. The other boys followed closely, but Nicholas stayed a few more moments, watching the magnificent ladder.
When Nicholas finally returned to the ground, he was only a few paces behind the other boys, but he was too tired to run after them. After he crossed the factory, they had climbed the stairs and were waiting impatiently for him in the loft.
“Come on, Crumb!” Oliver called down, his voice growing more irritated by the minute.
Spurred on, Nicholas perked up his courage and began running up the stairs. He was half-way there and feeling confident when he heard a loud crack. His stomach surged inside him as he felt the stair fall below him. He grabbed frantically for the stair in front of him, but his small figure fell straight through the new hole. He fell with a thud and a grunt on a large pile of sacks.
He heard the boys’ cries above through the darkness.
“Nicholas! Nicholas, are you alright?” Dazed, Nicholas couldn’t even process who was speaking. He tried to breathe, but the fall had knocked the wind out of him.
“Nicholas, can you see a way out?” Peter asked, poking his head into the small hole of light above.
“I- I can’t see anything,” Nicholas wheezed.
“Hang on, we’ll figure something out! Look around for anything helpful.” Peter disappeared, but the sound of the boys’ disordered brainstorming was comforting.
Nicholas struggled to rise, breathing deeply to steady his nerves and fight the pain that washed over him. He looked around, trying to find a door, a rope, a light, anything. His eye caught a glint in the darkness, and he instinctively moved toward it. The bags underneath him made a strange crunching noise as he moved over them, which scared him for a moment before he realized it wasn’t his bones.
The glint led him to a small crate in the corner of the dark room. The lid was askew, allowing the contents to show through a small crack. Intrigued by the shining objects, Nicholas struggled to push the crate lid to the side and gasped.
Inside the box was a large array of silver and gold watch chains. Beautiful, shiny, valuable watch chains that washed all his worries away. Almost without thinking, Nicholas began shoving them into his pockets. He admired the beautiful craftsmanship and thought of all the wonderful things his family could buy with the money once he got home.
He paused as this thought occurred to him, pulling him back to reality. Looking around the small dark room, the hopelessness of his situation began to sink in. Once he got home. If he got home.
Lost in his fears, Nicholas jumped when a banging noise came from the wall closest to him.
“Nicholas!” Oliver yelled through the wall. “We found a door, but it won’t open! I think there’s something blocking it, can you move it?”
“Uh- yes!” Nicholas squinted his eyes through the darkness and slowly made out the faint outline of a door. The box of watch chains was blocking it. “Yes, I think I can get it!” he called to the other boys. He frantically began emptying the box, throwing the precious chains onto the floor. He pushed and pulled with all his might, emptied it some more, and tried again. Eventually, he braced his shoulder against the side of it, took a breath, and managed to slide it over.
Breathing heavily, he stepped back as the boys opened the door. He blinked his eyes at the light that came through and laughed when all three boys rushed to embrace him. For a moment, they were all focused on Nicholas, but they quickly caught sight of the chains on the floor.
The boys hurried home with their faces beaming and their pockets bulging. The air grew colder as night drew on, but Nicholas, warmed by his adventure, barely noticed.
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