Upon awakening from the most hideous of stupors, I found my hands clutching desperately, as if with a will of their own, a length of rope that was suspended above my head. As thought and function returned to my feeble mind, I became aware of the undeniable pull of gravity, the tension in my wrists and shoulders as the full weight of my body was bore onto them, and realised with a rush of comprehension and epiphany that I was suspended from this rope, my own grasp the only thing preventing me from falling.
Overwrought with panic, I became consumed by chaos; my heart beating so savagely that its vibrations may have shaken me loose at any moment. I filled my shallow chest and screamed. Guttural and demonic noises spewed forth from my barren lips, a flow of hatred and fear the likes of which I had never thought possible emanated from my very core as time and time again I flung obscenities into my surroundings, until my lungs burned like coals in my chest and the iron taste of blood traced a path across my tongue.
Through tightly shut eyes and the deepest breathing that my meek frame would allow, I wrestled back the control of my mind and voice, and it was only now that I made the effort to view my surroundings. I followed the line of the rope so that I may see what it was anchored to, but found only an undefinable distance into which the rope extended, before eventually fading from site. Above, in front and below me I saw the same murky vastness, so that I knew I must be at quite some height, though had no means of establishing an orientation of any sort. Too scared to attempt turning around, I arched my neck as far as I could over each shoulder, in the vain hope that perhaps there would be something unseen behind me. From all my peripherals would allow me to perceive, there lay nothing but an extension of the void in which I found myself.
A rare spark of logic and rationale passed through me then, erupting into an inferno of hope and prayer. Due to the ambiguous colour and nature of my surroundings, I had instinctively presumed that I must be hanging many feet, if not miles, above whatever solid surface lay in wait for me below, was I to fall. However, this efficient spark informed me that I could not be certain of such facts, and that indeed I may be suspended mere inches above the ground, my toes nearly scraping its unseen surface. With the burning in the joints of my arms growing, and suspense in my heart mounting, I began to carefully pry the heel out of my left shoe, tenderly pushing down with the toes of my right, wary of jarring myself loose from my precarious grip. The idea was that by watching the descent of the shoe and counting the seconds it took to stop falling, or for me to hear the sound of it concluding it’s fall, I would be able to roughly gauge the distance I would drop, should I decide to. With the lightest of touches, as though I were delicately stroking the cheek of a sleeping lover, I worked the shoe forward so that it rested upon the edges of my toes, and would require only the softest of shakes to be sent free, into the unknown. I tightened my grip on the rope, steadied my breath, and shook the shoe loose.
One
It began to fall slowly away from me.
Two
The dirty and haggard laces rippled behind it like streamers, celebrating its departure.
Three
The shoe began to twist, air currents spinning it across many axes, somersaulting and cartwheeling as the gap between us increased.
Four
I struggled to keep my sight focused as it sank ever further into a miniscule dot in my vision.
Five
Five
It had almost disappeared from view, leaving no sign of its previous existence.
Six
Faded forever from sight, I was left alone in the void, awaiting any indication that the shoe had landed, any sign of an answer to my predicament, anything that proved the existence of more than but myself and the rope to which I clung.
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
I let go.
