Cornered.
Trapped.
Cagged.
<i>This, this was it. </i>
The end.


Four walls. Perfectly disentangled in my catcher's hands. The one my back was to, the strongest, gruffest of them, was a brick wall. The crumbling mortar dug into the bare skin of my shoulder as the loose bricks grated against one another shifting under my dead weight. I shifted.


The second wall was a chain link fence adorned with intimidating barbed wire. Needless to say, even if I had the time to scale it, that escape was out. And I never had been the greatest climber. Sure, I could go up and up and up forever but down, now that's where my problem is. Which, ironically enough, brings us to the third blockade.


The stairwell was decrepit and archaic by all meanings of the word. I had put to much faith in them coming up to the highest landing, but where else was I to go? My pursuer had more unyielding attributes than I'd fancied to credit him. So I'd taken the stairs. Twenty three hideous floors above the ground, I now stood, listening to the surly tread of my hunter climbing closer and closer to where I rested. In fact, I could now hear his steady breathing, not nearly as stagerred and broken as mine. That's when I decided. That's when I knew. This was it. That's when I gave up, something I had always found shameful, I now hopelessly gave in to. Hopelessness.


How depressing, I apologize. Am I being too dark, too cynical, too, hmm what's the word, realistic? Well, then you shoulda stopped reading honey, it's not like the begginning was bursting with sunshine either. I gave up. It happens to the best of us.

I turned to face the last wall to finda gaping hole. No, don't get excited, it's not an out, not one that you come back from anyway. It was a twenty three story drop to the darkening alley below. I was giving up but not surrendering. My tracker would not catch me until he descended the rickety stairs and found me crumpled in the alley.

I took a light breath, and seven long, lithe strides to the edge. It was beyond intimidating, standing there facing depth and death. My life didn't flash before my eyes, that would make the jump unbearable. I blocked out all thought and starred at the setting sun. It was that once or twice in a lifetime breathtaking kind of sunset.Completely in awe, I swayed on the ledge, raising my arms above me like a diver. Breathing deeply, I closed my eyes a moment and cleared all thought. When I opened my eyes though, the most astounding thing caught my eye. Heart coming to life in my chest, I staggered from the ledge. What I saw saved my life. That one glance shimmered with hope. I turned facing my forthcoming trapper. I, for once was, surrendering. My head already realing with ways to get rid of him further along this new path of my life. But in the depth of my heart, I tucked away that one image I caught beneath that sunset.
I wasn't being caught by my persuer tonight, no I had found a different catcher. The kind that caught lives; saved them. I won't tell you what my catcher was, 'cause beyond the scheming thoughts lies a new theory of mine. We all have catchers in our life, we just have to jump and fall. Just not quite so literally in my case.
So I kicked out at my chaser with new life, and dashed for the stairwell as he bit the dirt.