Page 2 of Silent Neighbor

Are you really going to do it? he asked himself. Maybe you should just turn back, stop tempting fate.

He hesitated, unsure what to do.

I'm almost done, he told himself. I'm not going to start something and abandon it partway through—no, I need to finish this. I'm not a quitter. After reaching the summit, he'd make his way back down and call it a day.

He just had to finish this.

Slipping his earbuds in, Jake queued up his favorite climbing playlist. The familiar beats helped calm his still-jangled nerves as he chalked his hands and began to mentally map out his final ascent. With each deep breath, he felt his focus sharpening, his earlier panic receding.

Jake began to climb once more. Despite his earlier mistake, he was an experienced climber, and it showed in the fluid grace with which he navigated the rock face. Each handhold, each foothold, he carefully tested before he committed his weight. He moved steadily upward, the rhythm of his climbing synchronizing with the music in his ears.

As he ascended, Jake felt his confidence returning. This was what he lived for—the perfect harmony of body and stone, the singular focus that drowned out all other thoughts. Here, suspended between earth and sky, the mundane concerns of his everyday life fell away. There was only the next move, the next challenge to overcome.

Maybe 'reckless' was just another word for 'exciting.'

The summit grew closer with each passing moment. Jake could almost taste victory, could almost feel the triumph of standing atop this unconquered peak. His earlier brush with death only served to sweeten the anticipation.

Just as he neared the top, a sprinkle of gravel and dust rained down on him. Jake looked up, startled to see a figure silhouetted against the bright morning sky. He blinked in surprise, certain he must be seeing things. But no, there was definitely someone there, peering down at him from the summit.

A hand reached down, offering assistance for the final few feet of the climb. Jake hesitated, his earlier unease returning. He prided himself on making these ascents alone, on relying solely on his own strength and skill. But after his earlier near-disaster, it seemed foolish—even dangerous—to let pride dictate his actions now.

Besides, it would be churlish to refuse such a gesture, especially when he was so close to the end of his journey. Swallowing his reservations, Jake reached up to clasp the offered hand.

In that instant, everything changed. As one powerful arm pulled him upward, the other planted a hand against his chest and shoved. The force pushed him away from the cliff face, his feet losing their tenuous grip on the rock.

For a split second, Jake felt weightless, suspended in the air like a character in a cartoon who hasn't yet realized they've run off a cliff. Then reality reasserted itself with brutal swiftness, and gravity took hold.

In those final, eternal moments, as the unforgiving ground rushed up to meet him, a kaleidoscope of images flashed through Jake Pearson's mind. He saw Maya's face, etched with worry and love. He saw his parents, his friends, all the people he'd pushed away in his relentless pursuit of the next thrill. He saw the mundane moments he'd taken for granted—morning coffee, movie nights, lazy Sunday afternoons.

Jake's last coherent thought, before impact stole away all capacity for reflection, was a desperate wish to take it all back. To return to the normal life he'd so carelessly discarded, to tell Maya he loved her, to mend the relationships he'd allowed to wither.

But it was too late. The ground rose up to meet him, and Jake Pearson's quest for excitement came to a sudden, tragic end in the very place where he'd sought to feel most alive.

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