Emily closed her eyes as Jim reached down to pull the sign from her ankle.  She was preparing for the pain she’d have to endure, but she didn’t know how well she’d actually be able to take it.  It was now getting to the moment of truth, when the true pain of her injury would rear its ugly head.  It might only last a short while, as Jim suggested it would, but she was scared.  She was slightly whimpering before he even tried to start pulling it out.

Jim stopped and looked up at Emily’s face, saddened by it.  Her expression showed all too well that this was probably the most frightening event of her life.  She was deathly afraid of the pain she’d have to endure.  He didn’t want to put her through this, but he knew he needed to.  The important thing was that she was alright with him doing it.  She had enough courage inside her to let him pull it out of her, knowing that she’d be going through a lot of pain when it happened. 

He smiled to himself, thinking of her.  Before this injury had happened, he viewed her as a tall woman who was tormenting and torturing him.  She’d shaken him around in a pom-pom, broken his leg against her upper chest, and put him through a lot of pain inside her cleavage.  She wasn’t aware of any of it.  She was a scared, sensitive person, it seemed.  He couldn’t believe that he’d thought poorly of her up to this point.

Regaining his focus on reality and what needed to be done, he began to pull up on the sign.  He’d wrapped his hands just below where the sign ended and the spiked pole began.  His thumbs were pushing against the sign, causing a lot of tension and pressure on them.  As he pulled, he could feel it moving slightly.  His body strained as he pulled, but he knew he was making progress.

Emily’s entire face went red and she grunted as a piercing pain shot up through her leg and into her gut.  She clenched her fists and tried to hold herself as still as possible as she endured the pain.  Her nerves were tingling from the pain and she could hardly stand it.  She barely had a grip on reality at this point.  All she could think about was the pain and trying to keep still so she wouldn’t knock Jim around too much.

Jim could feel some slight shaking below him as the sign began to pull out.  He swayed a little from the pressure Emily’s shivering was causing.  He wanted to stop, almost losing his balance when doing so, but he knew she had it far worse than he did.  Not stopping, even to take a breath, he started pulling harder on the sign.  As he looked down at it, he could see a blood-stained pole slowly inching its way out of her ankle. 

“Only a little more….Only a little more” he softly chanted to himself, feeling a lot of his strength leaving him.

Far above, Emily’s condition was slowly getting worse.  The more of the sign that came out, the worse her pain was.  At this point, nerves were tingling all the way from her toes to her chest.  Her entire body was trying to shake.  Her leg had even started to shake, but thankfully, her arms had remained free from the pain.  Knowing her legs were about to shake, she reached her hand down and gripped it, trying to keep it steady by Jim.  At his size, he would easily get thrown off her sneaker were her leg to start shaking.

Jim felt a slight breeze hit him as he was pulling the sign up.  Turning his head up while pulling, he was almost terrified at what he saw.  Emily was sweating and nearly her entire body was shivering and shaking.  The breeze that had hit him was from her hand gripping just above her knee.  She was looking down at him and, although looking the way she did, she smiled and nodded towards him as a tear ran down her cheek.

‘What a brave girl she is…’ thought Jim, realizing what she was going through.  Despite pain that was enough to shake her entire body and send sweat and tears running down her face, she was aware enough and brave enough to reach down and grip her leg, keeping him from falling off.  He tried as much of a smile as he could at the moment, but the strain on his arms was forcing his lips to a frowning expression.

Immediately looking back down, realizing that he didn’t have much time before her arms would be affected by this pain, he started pulling as hard as he could.  The pole came out more and more, showing more and more blood-covered steel.  His mind was set on one thing:  Emily’s safety.  He wanted it all to end at that moment.  He wanted to end her torment quickly, but it was almost as if this sign was never ending. 

“Jeez…how long…is this thing!?” he muttered to himself in frustration.  As he yanked more and more, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.  The fingers that were wrapped around Emily’s leg had started to move.  He glanced up and sweat started dripping down his own face in fear.  Her arms were starting to shake.  He had very little time to finish this.  He had to get the rest of it up now, or he might not be able to get it up at all.

As if he’d found a newfound strength in the impending throwing that awaited him from her leg, he slid his hands down to the very bottom of the pole, inches above her ankle.  Gripping it as tight as he could, he made one final statement.  “You’re coming up NOW!”  As he finished the statement, he used every ounce of strength he had left and shoved the sign upwards.  The point came flying out and the entire sign started falling to the side, off of Emily’s sneaker and fell to the ground, Jim with it. 

He fell to the ground, hitting his back on the metal of the sign.  His body was aching from both the fall and the effort he’d put into removing it, but his worried were far from over.  Though his ears came a window-shattering scream.  He pushed himself up and gasped as he saw Emily, shaking all over and screaming, with tears running down her face.

“J-Jim…” Emily whimpered “H-help…”