clench your fists tight. the phone vibrates. a prayer answered. the resounding echo of your fears leaving through your fingertips. the rope silently slips down from above. grab it and hold on with all you can, because somebody else is running the ship now. your fate in someone else's hands. disconcerting, overwhelming anxiety. nothing to do but grip tighter. but then a hand, from nowhere, pulling you. strong hands, coarse from labour but stable from experience. the weight of your body becoming irrelevant and insignificant. up and up and up. the wind in your ears like iron weights crushing your problems into trivialities. release the rope. discover you're still alive. alive and in the arms of someone you love. feet back on the ground. this chance? perhaps not ordained by the trajectory of mortal peril, so breathe in the sea breeze and "seize the day". life is rarely merciful twice.