Sideways Steve

    There are a million different ways I imagined this going, but I can honestly say this wasn't one of them. My back was against one wall and my front against the other with now way to move at all.

    I should back up and explain. I was chasing the kid who stole the Shard of the God's Tear when he climbed up on this roof. Now, I had to get that shard back. It is a priceless, sacred artifact brought back from the war. The king and priests would never allow it to so easily fall in the hands of anyone else.

    So I chased the kid. I was going to get it back. He climbed up to the roof. I followed. He jumped to the next building over. I followed. He stepped over a gap between the shop roof and the top of a house. I followed.

    Or at least I intended to. Instead I stepped right between the buildings and went straight down the narrow gap.

    I wasn't hurt, but damn was I stuck. As you can guess, I wasn't getting that shard back. I was too busy trying to keep from sliding further down. Every movement was making me sink a little lower to the ground where the buildings were even closer together.

    You might be thinking I just should of called for help, but that's only because you don't understand. I'm a city guard, you see. If people saw me like this, I would never be respected again. Everywhere I went, people would laugh. People would make fun of me. I could never work in this city again.

    I had to get out myself. That was all there was to do.

    So I pushed my feet against the wall to brace myself as I lifted a hand up. There was a small brick sticking out. If I could reach it, I could haul myself up enough to get out. My fingers slid along the wall and stretched upward. They were so close.

    The was a horrible scraping sound as I slid a few inches lower.

    I braced against the wall again. When I was sure I wasn't sliding any further, I looked back up. It was okay. The brick was still in reach.

    I took a deep breath and prepped myself. My feet pushed harder into the side of the brick wall. I could do this. I just had to keep from slipping further. Pushing my back against the wall as hard as possible, I slid my hand up. I was so close.

    Slide. I dropped another couple inches. This wasn't good.

    But I was so close. I had to just go for it. One moment of daring. That's what heroes did. I had to summon my inner hero and go for it.

    I took one more deep breath, then shot myself upward.

    For a fraction of a second, I was freely in the air. My hand stretched up. My fingers grabbed the brick.

    Damn that brick was sharp. On instinct, my hand pulled back.

    And then I slid. And slid. And slid.

    Then I was trapped, unable to move anything but my arms. My face was turned to one side. People were passing by, completely oblivious to where I was. My fingers were bleeding.

    Apparently my inner hero sucks.

    So I called for help.

    That's how I got my nickname.