Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Write in the ADVENTURE genre (05/24/07)
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TITLE: Let Go | Previous Challenge Entry
By John Barnts
05/27/07 -
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Twisting and flailing in a terrible freefall, Tom’s mind raced—his wife, his baby, parents, fear, regret—fleeting fragments of thought. His vision was a blur of earth and sky. His hands clawed at the air as if searching for a handhold.
Suddenly he hit a ledge, twisted in the air, fell a few more feet, and landed on a narrow shelf. The shelf was slanted. Tom clawed at the loose rocks with animal-like desperation, but couldn’t stop his momentum. Just as his legs swung into the terrible openness once again, his fingers found a tiny crease in the rock and he gripped it with all of his strength. Amazingly, it held.
Above his frantic breathing and the terrific pounding of his heart, he heard a voice far above him. “Tom! Are you okay?”
Tom didn’t speak. He could barely breathe. He was not okay.
“I can’t get down there,” his friend shouted. “But I can see where you are. Just let go.”
Arms straight out, shoulders tight, Tom didn’t have the luxury of looking down. All he could see on either side of him were steep cliffs and open sky. Carefully to maintain his hold, he tried to gain a foothold on the wall in front of him, but couldn’t find the rock. For all he knew, there was nothing beneath him but a few hundred feet of open air.
“Let go,” his friend repeated. “Trust me.”
Tom felt his hold beginning to weaken. Why didn’t he wear a safety harness? Why didn’t he bring ropes? He had been so confident on the canyon floor.
He knew his hold was tenuous, but it was only thing he could be absolutely sure of. He could see the handhold. He could feel it. It was keeping him alive. As long as he gripped the rock, he would live. But if he let go . . .
“Trust me.”
Tom did trust his friend. But after coming so close to death, he couldn’t seem to part with the certainty of his handhold. Not yet.
“Tom, just let go. You’ll be fine.”
Tom closed his eyes and, resigning himself to death, released his hold. He fell about a foot, landing on solid rock.
Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock. (Isaiah 26:4 NASV)
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Good story, and good lesson.