The Ride Of Your Life

A gaping chasm opens wide before you, breeding foreboding and causing you relative distress. Of course there's a way down, but it looks too much like those slippery slopes you hear of in stories - those that once you embark upon never let you come back. Here would be a good place and time to sit and contemplate, and maybe even grab a cup of coffee while you're at it. Afterall, who wants to make a hasty decision? Maybe if you were harassed to think of a place to eat a hasty decision might be in order, but not for something as huge as this. Some things require time to ponder on the implications. What if you regret it? That wouldn't be too much use if you were already half way down the aforementioned slope would it?

All around you people pass.

Some stop dead in their tracks, confusion and terror in their eyes - it's not every day you see such an abyss.

Some pick up speed and jump, relying on intertia and adrenaline to keep their thoughts off what lay before them, cheering as they did, but such expressions of achievement fall on no ears but their own.

Some take the slope you had your doubts on, and it isn't long before they disappear from your sight too - quicker than the jumpers that's for sure, but gone just the same.

Some bring equipment along with them in huge packs. It's a wonder how they got this far with such a load. They begin to descend this precipice with a certain confidence, knowing that they have something to rely on.

Some make their way with others, some with more, some with less, some with none.

And there are some who are just like you, watching the world pass you by and get ahead of you. If there was any trace of doubt in them though, their countenance said nothing.

It's getting late, and you should be going on your way. You know the world isn't going to wait up. Just as you step to the edge, your ears pick up a scream and a shout. One in terror and one in ecstacy. You don't know which to let yourself hear. You don't know which to make real. Your legs tremble as a bead of sweat makes its slow and ponderous journey down the sheer face of your face. You propose closing your eyes and going for it to your conscious mind, and it rejects your proposal. There are few people left around you, and the sun begins to go down. You tell yourself that this is it. You take the path you take...

And you step out into the ride of your life.

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