#9 - Knowing

(This is the final installment of the story from post #8)

"WAIT!!", you cry as your bother heads for the edge. He turns his head to look back and sees you hurdling towards him. He doesn't slow down at all, however, and is about to reach the edge when he sees, out of his downward peripheral vision,  a small jagged rock. It was too late. As his left foot got caught, just for a split-second, underneath the sharp stone, he winced. His body proceeded to launch forward, briefly airborne, before thrashing to the ground. He rolled right onto the edge and then slowly slid off.

You stumbled to the edge and looked down and saw a small speck falling towards the piraña pool. You heard a soft "plop," and stared down for a few seconds. The waters started to get rougher as the ripples attracted the attention of hundreds of pirañas. You closed your eyes, hard. You had no idea what was even happening; you turned away, shocked. You glanced at the relaxed nylon rope strewn about the ledge.

"Why isn't the rope taut?" you thought.

"Did the knot give way?" you asked. 

In fact, it didn't. The knot was still holding firmly around the the waist of your brother. Having been quiet for several moments out of fear, he let out a piercing scream, half in terror, and half in pain. You lunge to the edge to see your brother hanging on to a small branch that extended from the ledge, about five feet below you. Tears streaming down his face, shirt torn up, and without a left shoe, your brother dangled; he was too far down for you to reach without falling off yourself.

"Hellllllllllllp!!" he cried.

You started to panic. Your brother was alive, but you knew he couldn't hang there for long. You had to do something, and fast. You looked around. You didn't see anything that seemed like it would help, only your brother's backpack, the rope, a bunch of rocks, and you were sitting atop the craggy ledge. You stepped back. Took a couple breaths and yelled, "How were you planning to get yourself up?!?"

"I don't.... I don't... know..." your brother gasped, struggling to speak. You could hear the branch crackling, and twisting around. You knew it wasn't going to hold for long. It was just like your brother to do something so utterly rash and destructive that he would find himself in such a situation, but you could hardly believe that it was actually happening. 

"Hold on!!" you yelled. You needed a moment to think. You wished you were back in your room, sitting leisurely at your desk with a pencil and a blank sheet of paper, free from the distractions of the world. You soon realized, however, that this was no such time. You didn't need thought... you needed action. You saw your brother's backpack and noticed that the arm straps had snap-in buckles, and suddenly it came to you. 

"I'll get you right up, just hold on for one minute!" you shouted. 

"Huh, uh... uh.... ok..." your brother said, fighting even to breathe. 

You ran over to his empty bag, picked it up and started filling it with rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. You hardly knew what you were doing, you felt like you were acting out of instinct rather than analysis. You knew that you could barely lift your brother, so you filled the bag with the heavy rocks strewn about the ledge until you couldn't even lift it. 

"I can't... it won't... I... can't hold..." He let out an almost resigning cry.

"YES YOU CAN!! YOU'RE GONNA BE FINE!!" you vociferated. 

Then, pushing it over to the edge, you slid the bag over to the section of the rope that was laxly hovering over the air. You detached the arm buckles of the back pack, fed the rope through, and then re-attached the buckles. Then, with one more hard push, you sent the bag flying off the edge, taking that section of the rope with it. But horror quickly hit you as you realized the error in your plan, the rope wasn't going to pull your brother up like a counterweight like you had thought, it was going to pull him down like... well... like a bagpack full of rocks. But you had one last chance. It hit you that you could take the part of the rope that was in between your brother and the bag and get it around that large boulder, it would work like a counterbalance. You sprinted to that part of the rope, which, in any moment, would be pulled downward like the rest of the rope. You grabbed it, sprinted back to the boulder, and, just as you began to feel resistance from the rope being yanked down by the bag, you threw it over the top of the boulder. The rope landed exactly at the equator of the mighty rock, and cracked hard against the boulder with tautness. You didn't know it, but at that same moment, you're brother's hand slipped. But just at the right moment, the force of the bag sent an impulse through the rope, which went around the boulder and reversed his acceleration, the rope was severed right at the boulder in the process. He was flown up over the ledge, thrown right towards the boulder that you stood in front of... and you caught him. You heard a soft "plop" as the bag of rocks hit the piraña pool. Your brother was gasping for air, tears in his eyes, just like you...

THIS, is what you were missing...

(I hope you enjoyed it! I may be adding an epilogue later, but for now I suggest that you (and I will as well) contemplate the events of this little story)

Certainly yours,

Quentin