100 Words

"You can't go down. You can only go up"

These words rang in the boys head as he swallowed nervously. Wasn't it enough that he was outside today? He didn't want to do too much too quickly, it would ruin the experience. Right, that was it. It wasn't that he was afraid, it was just the fact that he didn't want any of the experiences over too soon; once a person lived out all their experiences, what was the point in life?

The man clicked, and looked at him again, "It's time," he said. The boy shook his head, "that's enough for today, lets go back inside." The man simply stood there, waiting. "I did what you asked," the boy said, whimpering a little, "I left my room, I'm outside. I haven't been outside in years. That's a big step for someone like me, lets call it good for now. The tree will still be here tomorrow, lets do it tomorrow." The man was granite, he would not be moved.

"What more do you want from me?" The boy cried, tears were beginning to fall now. " You took my toys, you took my books, the only thing left in my room is a bed and clothes. You said I could get them back if I came outside with you. Well congratulations, I'm outside. Now I want my stuff back." "Really?" the man asked, "I don't think you do. I think you would rather spend the rest of your life inside that room. No toys, no books, nothing but a bed and some clothes to keep you company. I think that you would love to have just the basics for the rest of your life. No real experiences, no real happiness, just the same boring routine day after day after day." The boy just glowered. "Thats the kind of life you are headed for now. If you stay in that room, if you don't try and push yourself, if your afraid of what might happen, that's the kind of life you will have. Or you can fight it. You can take a chance, make mistakes, get dirty, and in the end you might just have a life worth living." The man smiled, he knew he had reached the boy, he had been practicing that speech in his head on the way over, and it had gone perfectly.

"But I don't wanna" the boy whined.

The man sighed, 'plan b,' he thought. "I'll give you $5 if you climb up to the first branch." "Really? All I got to do is climb up to the first branch, and I get $5?"

"Yes."

The boy grinned, thinking about all the different ways he could spend the money. "Ok, what do I got to do?"

The man let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. The easy part was over with , now the real work would begin. "Just click like I showed you. Listen to the vibrations. Find the tree." The boy swung his head back and forth, clicking away. "That's too much, you'll get too much interference that way." The boy nodded, now he was just clicking intermittently. "I...I think I found it." "Good, now walk towards it." The boy did as he was told, hands outstretched, clicking with every hesitant step. When the tree was right in front of him the boy looked up. It was a big thick oak tree, and it was very, very tall. The boy grasped its thick rough bark and tried to put his arms around it. They got maybe halfway. He looked back "just to the first branch right?" The man nodded "to get the money, yes. Look up," he continued, "there is a branch right above your head. Do you see it?" The boy made a face at the poor wording, but he looked up and clicked anyway. He could vaguely sense a space in front of him that seemed to be occupied. He tentatively reached up and felt for the mass. It felt like a branch, thick and gnarled and easy enough to pull himself up on. 'Easiest $5 I ever made,' he thought grasping the branch with both hands. He jumped, pulling himself up. After a few minutes of huffing and puffing, and one scary moment when he thought he would tumble off the other side, the boy finally sat atop the branch. "I did it!" he exclaimed. The man laughed "Excellent! Now, go higher."

That wiped the smile off the boys face. "w-w-What?" he stammered "you said all I had to do was get on this branch." "No," the man's voice had turned back into stone, "I said if you climbed the first branch I would give you $5. Now that your on the tree you have to keep climbing." "No I don't, I can just jump off." "Fine, jump off, but don't blame me when you get hurt." That froze the boy cold, "you wont let me get hurt, you'll get in so much trouble if you do." "I might get in a little bit of trouble," the man replied, "but you'll still be the one in pain." "You said you would catch me!" The boy was crying again, tears running down his cheeks. "If you fall, I will catch you." The man said. "If you jump, you will only be hurting yourself. What was one of the first things I said to you when we came here?" "That we were going to climb a tree." the boy sniffed, calming down a little. "After that." "That...that you can't go down. That you can only go up." "Exactly," the man pointed, "now up you go. It's exactly like when you were on the ground, Just click until you find another branch, and pull yourself up. You can do this buddy, you are just making it more difficult than it has to be." The boy swallowed, his eyes dryer but his cheeks still wet with spent tears. He looked up and began clicking. He gasped, unable to believe what his senses were telling him. He wasn't sure what had changed, maybe it was the fear had made his senses extra sharp, or maybe he was just more clear headed, but he could suddenly sense a lot more of what was around him. He could sense that some of the branches were farther away, some were closer, some were fatter and easier to stand on, some were nothing more than twigs. Feeling a growing sense of confidence, the boy reached above him and began to climb.

to be continued