Falling

“You can do this,”

She thought to herself as she reached higher toward the next grip with her right hand. Her left foot holding her weight, the left hand keeping her body hugged

against the rock. With her right leg propped and stretched off one side to keep balance, she thrust herself upward to grip the tiny handle left by some climber before

her.

Caught -- safe.

“Don't look down.”

Melissa always looked down though, never able to take her own advice. Below her was the canyon floor, over 200 feet. The truth was, she liked to look down. It

was the only real reason to go up. Well, maybe this time there would be another reason. Maybe this time would be her last climb; her only fall.

Not really a fall though, but more of a flight. The feel of the still air trying to hold her up, but merely brushed aside by the force of gravity pulling her down. The

visual of the most beautiful place she had ever known rushing by her as if the ground moved around her, and she was still. The final thrill of vertigo lapsing into

adrenaline, into the joy of eternal freedom. It wouldn't be the landing that held such importance, rather those fleeting seconds before. Truly a once in a lifetime

experience.

Forcing her right leg to straighten, she shifted her body position changing her weight to the other foot and switching her balance to the opposite side. Now her other

hand was freed and she pulled a clip off her belt and began to rig herself to the next safety point.

“Never mind that. You won't need any more of those.”

Carabiner ready to attach, Melissa hung there above the rocks in contemplation. She spread open her hand, palm up, the clip hanging precariously from the last digit

of her ring finger. It swayed slightly in the wind before she jilted her wrist, allowing the clip to fall. It clattered against the face of the rock wall a couple of times on

its way down, eventually becoming part of the rubble at the base. She thought she might be able to see the clip down there, glinting in the evening sun, but it was

too far to be sure.

“You can do this. Don't look down.”

Another thrust upward brought her to the next position, just below an overhang ledge where she would finally rest after such a strenuous endeavor. But then came an

awakening. An awakening of the intellect that would begin as soon as there was no longer need to concentrate on the physical. Such a drift of energy from body to

mind was never a pleasant experience. For in body was force, effort, strength. In the mind there was only pain, fear, guilt. Distrust.

Melissa reached up with her arm over the slight ledge, barely large enough for her to sit upon with her legs dangling. Pulling herself up onto the lip, she flipped her

body up and put herself into a position of rest.

Another Carabiner clip she wouldn't need. She tossed it, again watching it fall.

“You can do this. Don't look down.”

Melissa always looked down.