Lift to the Sky

Posted on Sat Jun 20th, 2026 @ 1:14pm by New York Survivor Amythyst & New York Survivor Briar Maddox

494 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Safe Harbor
Timeline: October 4th 2010

Amy stopped beside the crane and looked up.

The old timber structure stood against the sky exactly as it had when they'd first found it. Solid. Weathered. Waiting. Only now she noticed something she'd missed before. The rope wasn't hanging loose. It had been coiled. Properly. Recently. The pulley wheel gleamed in places where rust should have been. Not polished. Maintained.Amy frowned.

"Leah."

The twelve-year-old looked up from the inventory notebook balanced on her lap. "What?"

"You've used this?"

Leah looked genuinely confused by the question. "Of course."

Amy stared. "You've been using the crane?"

"Not by myself." Leah pointed toward the basket resting beside the structure. "The basket does most of the work."

Patrick laughed.

Amy ignored him.

Leah pushed herself upright using her crutches and made her way over. "My dad checked it every spring." She reached out and patted one of the support beams. "When everyone left, I kept checking it."

Austin looked up toward the pulley. "Why?"

Leah shrugged. "What if I needed it?"

The answer was so simple nobody immediately responded.

Leah moved to the rope. "This one was getting worn." She pointed toward a section near the pulley. "I replaced it about three weeks ago."

Amy blinked. "You replaced it?"

Leah nodded. "There are spare coils in the maintenance shed."

Patrick looked at Amy.

Amy looked at Leah.

Leah looked back. "What?"

For the first time since meeting her, Amy fully understood how this girl had survived alone for three months.

Leah wasn't lucky. She was prepared. The basket was already attached.
The guide line already rigged. The rope already threaded through the pulley. Everything ready. Waiting.

Leah pointed toward the shoreline below. "You don't need to test it."

Amy raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

Leah folded her arms. "My father hauled feed, lumber, and cattle supplies with it for years."

She pointed at the basket. "That thing can carry more than your crates."

Austin stepped to the edge and looked down. The beach suddenly seemed much closer. Much more manageable.

Amy felt something loosen in her chest. For days she'd been trying to figure out how they were going to move everything. The food. The tools. The seed stock. The chicken crates. The feed. The wagon parts. Now the answer had apparently been sitting on the cliff the entire time.
Maintained by a twelve-year-old girl.

Patrick shook his head. "You know, every time we think we've found something useful around here—"

Austin finished the thought. "Turns out Leah already fixed it."

Leah smiled slightly. "Usually."

Amy couldn't help smiling too. For the first time since they decided to leave Gull's Refuge, the move to Pine Hollow felt possible. Not because of the crane. Because they weren't doing it alone anymore.

"Okay, Patrick go down to the base and we will lower the basket and you and Elliot start loading."

Patrick nodded and headed down the cliff path. They would load what they could into the basket.

 

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