The Beginning of Alice's Dystopia

Alice spun around. Her long legged shadow was advancing, getting dangerously close to catching her. She laughed, her hazel eyes dancing and turned back to the task before her. Clambering over the remaining steps and hauling herself up so she was standing on the railing, she looked down at the enormous fall below. There were no safety nets here, no one to catch you if you fell and definitely no one to tell you off for trying.

She crouched low, every muscle in her body tensed to spring. There was a thud behind her. “For Gods sake Alice –” a girls voice huffed, cut short by Alice’s battle cry as she threw herself at the floor length sheets of discarded fabric that were secured to the high platform above her. She managed to grab it with one hand, swinging wildly. Twisting her free hand into the other sheet and winding some of the fabric around her feet she spun herself back around to face her sister Emily.

Emily rolled her eyes “What am I supposed to follow you?”
“Of course” Alice grinned, adjusting her weight and moving into a wide swing that put her within inches of her sister before arcing back to the other side of the room. There were several sheets of material tied to the platform, precisely for this reason.
“C’mon Em its easy. All you have to do is jump! There’s so much rope out here you’re bound to catch hold of something”
“Oh I know” Emily said wickedly, launching herself off the staircase and seizing the silk ropes, already beginning to climb higher. “Race you to the top?”