The Call of the Void.
I am told that is what the French call it. That sudden intrusive urge to jump when you are in a high place. I’ve felt it before, but never as keenly as I do standing here, alone on the peak, and I briefly consider that maybe I shouldn’t have gone climbing on my own.
The view is magnificent from up here. The sky feels so close, like I could just reach my hand up and touch it. And the tree line is so dense below me that it looks like a carpet, just waiting for me to take a step out to walk on it.
It’s silent up here. Only the wind in my ears and the distant hints of birdsong from the trees below. Even my footsteps on the rock are muted. I feel a little as if I have stepped into a completely different world.
I came up here to breathe. To leave behind the stresses and pressures of everyday life and just exist. Just me and the mountain.
I cast a last sweeping look around me, and feel it again as my feet shift on the ground. That urge that wants to pull me down.
When the Void calls, you really have only two options. You either turn and walk away, or you heed the call.
I think I have been up here for too long. It’s time to go.
