While Ben took a moment to think of how he was going to get out of this predicament, the rusted chain took a moment to break one of the bolts that held it to the ceiling. Ben dropped a foot but held on tightly to his trusty whip. He could hear the metal above him groaning from his weight. This was not good.
Another metal bolt snapped with a bang and he dropped another foot in the darkness. He looked around but couldn’t see any ways out. There was nothing around to grab and nothing to land on. He was just hanging out in the middle of a gaping hole, waiting for the next bolt to break and send him plunging to his doom.
He heard the metal creak. It was going to break at any second. He didn’t know if this was the last bolt or if he had more time. There was another creak of the metal. He looked around frantically for anything to help him. Still, there was nothing. The bolt snapped with a bang and he dropped. It felt like ten feet but was only two. There was only one bolt left and then he would fall completely into the black hole. He had to do something.
Ben scanned the darkness. There had to be something out there, something he could grab, something he could use to pull himself to safety. And there it was.
The tiniest slash of light came from the wall. It was a hole. It was a small hole but it was a hole that meant the wall was thin and he could break through it to the other side and to safety. Ben felt his heart race as he began to swing his legs back and forth. He was going to get out of this.
Back and forth he swung his body, keeping his eyes on the tiny dot of light. Slowly he began to swing closer to the wall. The metal groaned above him as he put more pressure on the one remaining bolt holding the chain. Back and forth he went, gaining speed with every swing. Finally he felt his feet touch the wall. He pushed off and swung back again for another try. He pushed off again and swung even harder back and forth across the darkness. The metal above him groaned even louder. He didn’t have much time. His feet hit the wall with more force now and one of the bricks moved. More light came through as he swung back for another push. The next hit on the wall moved another brick. Ben swung back again and hit the brick wall with as much force as he could. Bricks exploded from the wall and light poured into the dark shaft. As Ben swung back he quickly looked up. The chain and metal bolts strained under his weight and looked like they were going to break at any second. As he swung back and aimed for the hole, the final bolt snapped with a bang and the chain began to fall. As Ben crashed into the wall, the bricks collapsed under him and he flew through the wall and landed on a hard stone floor. Dust and bricks were everywhere.
Ben thought quickly. His whip! It was still attached to the chain, which was falling! With a flip of his wrist he untangled the whip from the falling metal mess and pulled it to safety.
With a sigh of relief he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He stood up and wiped the dust and dirt from his clothes. He looked around at his new surroundings. There were some metal bars a few feet away and a wood bench next to a wall. It looked like a jail cell. Ben looked a bit closer and realized it was a jail cell. In fact, Illinois Ben realized that he had just broken in to the castle’s dungeon, and it looked like no one had been down there in a long time.
End of Chapter Three
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