A Tangible Effort

Twenty people clung to the rope stretched over the bubbling volcano.

“Shout!” said one.

“Scream!” said another.

But no one could do anything. They just hung there, staring down at the lava beneath them.

Someone’s grip loosened and he fell down into the pool, not screaming but accepting.

Others understood. Body after body fell into the simmering vast until the rope hung there by itself, bare and lonely.

It was so lonely that it decided to cut itself and it too fell into the depths, joining its companions.