IT WAS THE LONGEST HALF-HOUR that he waited for to be 10 o'clock, after storming out the rec-room— after his tiff with Joe earlier. Reeves was still mad at him, but right now, he had to stay focused.

In the dark, he observed the facility director Tina Martin's car was not at the parking bay, and the lights were out in her office. It was his lucky night. The woman was not working late like yesterday.

The twelve-year-old maverick scaled up the outer wall before he walked along the third floor's narrow ledge — and he came to the office's closed window. He peeked into the dark, office room — next, using a stolen screwdriver, he pierced and jacked open the window from the exterior — while at the same time, he was carefully maintaining a balance on the narrow ledge, with his other hand.

It took him almost twenty minutes before he managed to slide the window open.

The sweaty Reeves started climbing into the office, with one of his feet placed inside the room windowsill — then, the room light switched on...

The unsuspecting Tina Martin stepping into her office, hanging her coat...

'What the fuck!'

Reeves scrambled in panic, to get back outside on the ledge ...

'Why the fuck is she back? Shit!'

He accidentally slipped and fell off the ledge — but, he managed to get a grip on the edge, he hung on with one hand, while in the other he was still holding the screwdriver. Reeves bit the screwdriver in between his teeth, and he now held on with both hands — soon his sweaty fingers were slipping...

It was more than a thirty feet drop down on to the sharp-pointed, metal spearhead, tipped fence below him — that can either impale him into serious injuries, or even death.

Tina walked over to her work area, and next switched on the desk lamp. She had driven out earlier to get her night supplies of junk-food snacks, soft drinks, a pack of smokes and a bottle of Evan Williams — because she was working late again tonight.

She lit a cigarette, and she turned over to notice — the window was open...

She was meticulous about closing her windows, ever since her pet cat died, falling a few years ago, from that same window. Even though she did not own a new pet anymore, but she continued the practice of shutting it each time, she left her office...

Reeves hung on to his dear life, and he occasionally peered down at the sharp pointed spikes below. He managed to pull his upper body up. Tina then stepped to the window...

She looked outside while exhaling smoke...

Reeves was now back standing outside on the ledge, just a couple of feet away, with his back affixed like a wallpaper — he knew that she could not notice him, in that moonless night.

The woman stood there for a whole two minutes, as she smoked her menthol to its butt, before tossing it out — and then she shut the window close.

Reeves looked anguished by the turn of events. He removed the screwdriver from his mouth, climbing down the drainpipe. Reeves left into the dark enclosure — and he was hoping to succeed tomorrow.

He snuck back to his dorm, still cursing to himself to an excuse — that Joe's presence earlier at the rec-room had jinxed him.