Chapter 11 - Damn Penelope's good at monkey bars, freaky

Penelope kept going, pulling herself up with a loud groan. Penelope got up on one of the bars, staying on her knees so that she didn't fall over, she took a few deep breaths looking at me and Miriam "All good" She assured us. Miriam was white as a sheet, I gave her a shaky thumbs up "Well at least you aren't falling into the Pit Of Oblivion" I decided to try and stay positive. Miriam took a couple deep breaths "Alright, let's just…let's do this" She was shaking "We've got this," I took Miriam's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. I let go of Miriam's hand "I'll lift you up this time, I…really don't want you to fall again" I told Miriam "Yeah I'd rather not die, or will I just fall forever?" Miriam asked. I shrugged, "We'll never know." Miriam gulped. I held my hands out as a sort of step for her, Miriam stepped on my hand grabbing at one of the bars. I pushed up as Miriam pushed down effectively pushing her up to reach the bars, I helped her up. On this side we were unlucky that the bars were pretty far over the edge, luckily Miriam was able to grab onto the bars. She pulled herself up with a little help from me, Miriam was sweating now that she was up and above the pit. "Do you want some help up?" Penelope asked, I shook my head "Nah, I always climb the trees in the woods behind my house so I think I know what I'm doing" I joked. "The woods where you apparently have a shrine to…who was it again?" Miriam asked "Nyx, and I do have a shrine back there. It's quite pretty" I mentioned. Penelope looked down at me like I was crazy, I started to run, jumping up and grabbing the bars. I wrapped my legs around the bar in front of me, careful to keep my hands planted firmly on the bars I originally grabbed. I squeezed my body through the just barely small enough space between the two bars. "Hm, that's a new way I've seen people get up on bars" Penelope mentioned, I groaned "I hit my back though, I'm definitely getting taller," I joked. Miriam kept looking down, clearly sweating and almost slipping. "Careful" I warned her "Come on, we can't just stay up here lollygagging the whole day" Penelope told us, starting to crawl across the monkey bars. I started to crawl across following her and looking back at Miriam every few seconds to make sure she was still going and hadn't fallen off. Maybe halfway across I looked back, noticing Miriam had stopped a few bars behind me. She was shaking and looking down at the pit, she wasn't moving at all and somehow had gotten even paler. "Miriam, we've gotta keep going. Everythings alright, you've got this" I assured her "I-I can't, I'm going to…I can't" Miriam was panicking. I looked at Penelope , gesturing at her to keep going. I crawled over to Miriam quickly, "Hey, you've got this. You won't fall, but if you don't keep going you might," My voice was soft and reassuring. "Here, breathe with me" I placed a hand on my chest, breathing in and out slowly, tracing my hand up and down my chest with each breath. Miriam took a couple of deep breaths "O-Okay" She nodded finally "Ready?" I asked her "Ready" Miriam nodded, we crawled across, this time I went a little slower to match her pace just in case she freaked out and stopped again. At the end we were close enough that Miriam and I could jump down without worrying about hitting the Pit Of Oblivion. I kind of like that name, it sounds scary. "Well then, lead the way," Penelope then paused, looking at Miriam "Where's the string?" She asked, Miriam paused, looking down at her empty hands. "Oh no" She whispered, I looked over at the bars. Miriam had dropped the ball of string on her way over, the string was now dangling down in the pit, one of the middle bars being the only thing keeping the entire thing from falling in. "I'll go get it" I decided, there was no way Miriam would be able to go back over there without freaking out again. I sighed jumping up and grabbing one of the bars, using the same strategy to pull myself up in between the bars. When I was nearly up my dagger slipped out of my boot, I reached out to catch it almost slipping. Miriam had a sharp intake of breath "It's fine I got it" I assured them, tossing the dagger over to them. Penelope caught it which is in no way safe or a good idea but pretty badass. I was able to pull myself up fully, starting to crawl over to the string. I grabbed onto the piece of string wrapped onto the bar starting to pull it up and put it back into a ball. It took…a surprising amount of time, like seriously surprising. How far do you think this string goes? I raised the ball triumphantly, "Alright, head on back" Penelope instructed. I started to crawl back, tossing the ball back to Miriam and jumping down "Be careful this time, now let's get going, thai place gives me a freaky feeling" I shivered.