Just keep hanging on...

Don't let go...

How much longer can I hold on?

How much longer am I supposed to hang on...?

Glancing down through his feet he could see the smooth, dark precipice's wall, and the nothingness that extended forever below him. There was so much mist that day that he couldn't tell if the ground was five inches below the fog, or if it extended so far it was a distance that his mind could not comprehend hanging over.

What was he hanging onto? Carefully shifting his head up he saw his own pale white hands gripping a rather thin-looking branch. This hopeful period of hanging there was not going to last very long. He looked back down, only to receive a slap of icy wind hit his face.

"Ha ha," laughed the wind cruelly, "This is what happens to boys that play too close to the edge."

The tight feeling of panic gripped him again. Why was the wind talking?

"I haven't been playing," said he in reply, "But making scientific discoveries. And I am a man, not a child."

"Ha ha," laughed the wind again, and then died down. Now he was all alone, abandoned by even the ridicule of nature. It really was only scientific exploration. How was he to know which step was the one too far?

Pain pulsed along the inside of his arms as he clung to his life. He could feel the thorns of the branch digging into his hands. They were probably allowing a dangerous amount of bacteria into his blood stream. It must have been a long time since this branch was touched by anything that could act as a host for the bacteria.

He was getting too tired to keep this up for very much longer. Perhaps if he took his clothes off? His jacket was heavy, as were his shoes and denim jeans. Maybe if he took them off it would give him just the right amount of time for someone to find him?

He started to gently shift to get his shoes off, but the branch slipped a little from the wall. The hope that had blossomed in him suddenly withered away. Even if he could get his clothes off, he would still fall. There wasn't anyone around for miles. That's why he chose this specific location. Besides, if he was going to die, he wanted to die with dignity, not crushed on the ground below naked.

"Ha ha," laughed the wind again, and the man yelled out in mild anger.

"Others will pick up where I have stopped," said he.

"I will claim them then, too," replied the wind.

With an exasperated sigh, he said, "Oh well," and let his hands slip from the branch. He quickly disappeared through the fog and enjoyed a long fall towards the Earth, before it was abruptly ended by the cold ground below. The wind shrieked with laughter.

Above, a woman and a man stuck their heads over the side.

"I could have sworn I heard someone talking over here," said one hiker to the other. The other shrugged and together the left that precipice, leaving the scientist to decay in his clothes.