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RS Story Contest - Survivor 2

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Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
........................................................Acrophobia..............................................................

Tens of hundreds of thousands of millions of steps up, up, up and beyond this earth.

I feel my back begin to arch systematically as I shrivel into a coil and scatter up the ladder like a spider on a web, but a web without its adhesiveness. The attenuated, ice-cold metal of the ladder feels uncomfortable in my shaking hands as I continue to ascend into my inevitable doom. It’s too thin I think to myself; just one slip and I’ll come crashing down to...

...the ground. The thought intrudes my head, and for a moment I stop moving, pondering upon which is better—to slip and fall until my body lies crippled on the earth, reclaimed by gravity, or to continue my climb, only knowing that the higher I climb, the harder it becomes. I stay motionless for minutes -- or is it hours; before a placid breeze reminds me I’m still breathing and so I continue upwards.

The sky’s the limit, but my limit is much lower. Dare I look down to remind myself of how far I’ve come? The very thought of doing so seems to paralyse my neck: my body has become limp, impossibly heavy like a pile of sand and for a moment I’m gone, away, non-existent, I’m level, ground level, a meagre pile of ashes lying peacefully on the ground, waiting for that welcoming breeze to take me and carry me away into the beautiful air, nothing can touch me, but nothing can take me higher either...

My eyes flash open. That was close; too close. For a moment only my terrified hands were holding me as I had lost concentration. I bite my tongue, hard, and then wince. Lose concentration again and I might not be so lucky. Continuing my ascension, I look up. The sun is almost directly above me, beaming its marvellous smile upon my bare chest, exposing me to its welcoming warmth as I become golden. Ha! Look at me! I am warm, I am high, and I am free.
Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

18-Nov-2011 21:25:06

Old Gnomish
Jul Member 2023

Old Gnomish

Posts: 2,569 Adamant Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
And for a moment I’m awake but unconscious too, alive but lifeless, ecstatic but tormented, free but trapped. I feel reborn: this is a new me. Daring to exist, daring to try, daring to climb.

Snap! Just like that, I’m back. Back to subsistence. I look up and let out a ferocious groan as I grip my chest with my right hand. An overwhelming sense of helplessness takes over my body and, as it does so, my pulse quickens, b-bum, b-bum, b-bum and it gets to my head and I’m frozen and I realise I’m so high up and there’s no going back and I’m nothing and it’s too much and oh, help, help, look at me, I’m too high, so high, ever so high, out of the atmosphere, out of this planet, out of life, you can’t touch me, there’s nothing to hold me now, and the ladder’s fading, the ladder’s fading and I’m unbalanced and falling, falling, oh, please stop me from falling...

But I’m not falling. I was never falling. Ha! I spit out a tepid laugh, or is it a laugh to hide away the omnipotent fear I’m struggling to conceal? I wipe my forehead with my arm, staining it in the salty water that had protruded from my head. I clutch my chest once again, and breathe, slowly and deeply, as I begin to recompose myself. I am on this ladder, I am not going down; I’m only going up, for wherever it takes me, I will surely conquer my h-height.

I’ve come to the conclusion that curiosity destroys us. We dare to conquer our fears but ultimately, they will always conquer us. Feel confident and ruthless all you like, but the only thing that will stop you is yourself. The proof? Me, because foolishly, I look down behind me, and my body freezes and I stop moving as I feel my hands beginning to let go of the ladder...
Snow
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Guildmaster - The Novelists' Guild

18-Nov-2011 21:25:35

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