Above the Vaulted Sky - Page 218

Chapter Thirty-One

                I claw at the slope with flailing arms. It’s so cold to touch it feels like it’s already gone over the edge, like there’s no hope of my saving myself and I’m gone too. Snuffed out like a candle in a darkened room.

                I can’t help but whip my head around and watch the too-fast approaching chasm. It’s like I’m sliding towards the jaws of some leviathan monster. It will swallow me whole and I’ll be resigned to sliding down it’s slimy throat to arrive in whatever fresh hell awaits me in the pit of its stomach.

                I dig deep in the gravel around me and feel myself slow a little. I turn away from the edge and try to ignore it. I don’t know where Upson’s gone, clearly during the fall we’ve let go of each other. I can’t concentrate on him, I have to save myself and hope that the big man can look after himself.

                I dig still deeper. I feel a soft wind on my back, almost enticing me closer. The Abyss is alive, it is temptation, the easy path. Because we’re all sliding towards Abysses at points in our lives. Taking that leap is just so easy but the strongest among us keep away from the edge. At the very least we stay close to in. And the very best among us stand with our toes on the edge and spit into the cold oblivion that lies beyond.

                I cry out and groan with the effort of digging my way back up the slope. I push my feet in too and find the hard packed weight of earth beneath the surface. I slow even more and, slowly, painfully slowly, I work my way back upwards, moving one arm and then the next, followed by my still sliding feet. It’s like working against the movement of an escalator or a ladder bending slowly backwards.

                I feel tears in my eyes and grit my teeth which are already coated in a fine film of dust from the ground around me.

                It feels like an age before I realise I’ve stopped. I pant, my chest heaving in a very uncomfortable fashion like I’ve just run up the stairs of a train station and dived between the doors.

                Using all the bravery I can muster, I lock my fingers into the earth and chance a look over my bobbing shoulder.