fire escapes and hot sky

Quentin reaches for the narrow handhold in the granite.
The sky above him blue like sapphire.
Inches too far.
Falling backwards, he watches the image of his partner grow smaller as air whistles in his ears.
Rope snapping taught.
Ankle on a ledge.
Foot angling and ankle snapping.
"That's not the way it's supposed to look," Quentin muses.
He swings.
A human pendulum.
A hawk screeches.