A Personal Challenge

Mark leaned against the metal gate. His blood-shot eyes stared into the darkness. No! No! Soundless words formed in his mouth – I cannot die yet, I do not want to die.

His vision cleared slowly and he saw the face of his old friend Jamie smiling down on him.

“How are you feeling old friend?” Jamie asked.

Mark tried to speak but all he could do was to make some unintelligible sounds.

“Easy, old friend,” Jamie comforted him. “You are exhausted. Take it easy for a while and you’ll feel better.”

A few minutes passed in silence. Then Mark coughed, his face racked with pain. When the coughing fit subsided, he found that he could speak, albeit softly.

“Ah, that’s better,” Jamie interjected. “When I found you outside my gate just now, I thought you were dead. Luckily I came out of the house to lock the gate for the night. Otherwise if you were to lie down there in the rain through the night, you would certainly be dead by ...