The edge

I look down and my toes hang into the darkness. How did I get here once more? Where did all that progress go? I was miles away yesterday. I was halfway up the mountain, and almost to civilization. When did I get back to the edge?

I teeter, the rock crumbling from beneath me. Terror grips me but I lean towards the abyss despite reason. It calls me, the deep. The dark. The calm. Why was I running away?

It seems so welcoming.

I know better.

I take three steps back, scraping my heels against jagged stone. Somehow I'm only an inch away from the edge for my effort.

I try again. I try again until my feet bleed from straining against my chains. I try until the sky turns black as the deep below and my blood turns black as the sky above. Until the song from the depths of the darkness fills me with its stillness. Till the stillness pulls me closer to the edge.

I lean towards the abyss despite reason. It calls me, the calm. The dark. The deep. Why was I running away?

I know better.

I do.

Little difference it makes now.