Pushing Too Far

LUKE POV

The cable car drops us off at the foot of the mountain. I take a deep breath of the icy air that surrounds me. I feel free and alive.

"You ready?"

"This is your last chance to back out, Luke. Are you sure about this?"

I can't repeat myself the entire time. I just sigh loudly and then start to climb. I've been climbing with my dad every other weekend since I was twelve and that was our bonding time. I loved every moment of it and I never felt more alive, that's of course until the day we found out, and then everything changed.

My mother became more overprotective and my dad almost completely withdrew from me, like it was my fault. But this isn't the time to think about things like that right now, right now I just want to enjoy every second and not feel afraid.

"I've never been more sure about anything!"

I don't wait for Brian, I start to climb. I remember everything that I was taught and I start to feel alive. I then see Brian starting to move next to me.

"You're crazy you know that?"

"Yeah, I've heard that before"

We laugh and I enjoy every moment. We're doing well and we almost reached the first resting point. It's only another few pecks before we're there. I feel a little bit out of breath but this very normal for climbing to this height. We finally make it to the resting place and I feel like I've achieved something great in my life.

"You doing okay, Luke?"

"Brian, you're not going to do this the entire time are you?"

"Do what?"

"Don't act like you don't know?"

"Man, you have to know that I care about you and I don't want to lose my best friend, you know?"

"You are not going to lose me. Now, enjoy this with me. Please"

"Okay, man, okay"

I take a deep breath and then I start to feel dizzy but I don't show it to him for I know he'll just say we have to get down and I'm not ready to go yet. I then sit down on the edge and look at the scenery. It's breathtaking and refreshing and beats the view out of my office.

MIKAYLA POV

I have not had a lot of sleep through the night as it mostly consisted of thinking about my patients and my dad's offer to come through this weekend. It might be a nice break from the city and I do want to see my dad and my brother again. But first I need to go and see how my patient is doing.

I arrive at the hospital and Jen is already busy filling me in on my patients. It seems that Mr.

Hendrick has done well through the night and this means that I can give some good news to his family.

"Oh and then the last thing, Mr. Hendrick's family is waiting for an update in his room"

"Of course they are. Thank you so much. Keep me up to date about Mrs. Johnson"

"How else will we do it?"

She turns around and goes back to doing her duties while I walk straight to Mr. Hendrick's room.

"Good morning. I have some good news for you today…"

I tell them all about how he is going to survive and how all the danger is behind them. They are very thankful and I feel like I have accomplished something somehow. Then I do my rounds and go back to my office. I remember that Dr. Gerhard still wants to have lunch with me but I try to avoid him as much as I can in the hope that he will forget about our appointment. Then, as luck would have it, Dr. Gerhard knocks on my door.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Stone"

"Aahh, Dr. Gerhard. How are you doing?"

I act as if I was just looking for him to keep our lunch date but everything in me wants to run out of this office and I hope that my pager will go off.

LUKE POV

"Are you ready to go on?"

Brian wants to know if I am ready to go but, to be honest, I am not feeling as well as I thought I would. I do not want him to know how I feel otherwise he will go into an overprotective mode and that is the last thing I need right now. Maybe I can just say I hurt my foot and can not climb any further. I still need to climb down and I am not sure if I would even make that climb.

I stand up and then walk cripple.

"Are you okay?"

"Aahh, I think I hurt my ankle when we climb up"

"Well, then I think we should rather get down then?"

"Yeah, I really do not want to, but you are right. I better get down before hurting my ankle even more?"

We start to make our way down the mountain and I feel very tired. I am not sure if I can make it to the bottom but I can not afford to go back on the one thing I told Brian I can do. I take deep breaths and make sure that Brian stays far away from me so I can take my breaths as I want to.

I make it to the bottom and all my energy has left my body. I stand with my hands on my knees out of breath.

"You okay man?"

"Yeah, yeah I am fine. Why don't you go ahead? I will catch up with you"

I do not want him to see me this way and I think he knows it because he does not argue with me he just nods his head and starts walking to the cars. When I know he is out of sight, I sit down on the ground and then lay straight on my back.

I do not know why I did this. Why did I push myself too far? I know it is not good for me. I guess I just needed a break from my reality and then it backfired big time. I think I need a break. I think I will go and visit my grandpa for a while. I always liked the open fields and the small-town life, away from city life. I need to clear my head.