To Conquer Cancer [short story]

I stood at the edge of the world, wind tousling my hair. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply... this was it, I'd made it. I opened my eyes and looked out at everything before me. I was literally on top of the world. My climbing partner came up beside me, put her hand on my shoulder and smiled. We shared a look, knowing that there were no words good enough to describe the incredible sight lay out before us. Everything looked so small, insignificant. Suddenly, the fact that I was to die soon didn't seem that horrible. If I could conquer this mountain without fear then surely I could look death in the eye without batting an eyelash. Death was different than a mountain though... somehow scarier, more unpredictable, almost like a shadow looming over you. It rose so many questioned that will probably never be answered. Questions like, where do I go afterwords, is there anything beyond this, what was my real purpose on this earth if all I was going to do was die before even hit my thirties, hell, I hadn't hit twenty five. There were so many things in life that I was going to be robbed of and because of what? A tiny infected, cancerous cell that multiplied and multiplied and will continue to do so until it takes over my whole body. Admittedly I have accomplished a lot in my life but there is still so much more for me out there that I will never even get the chance to take a crack at. I mean think about it, if I am climbing to the top of the world now... where will I be when I'm fifty? Then again, I know where I'll be and it definitely wont be Everest. I stood with my feet planted in the snow staring out at the clouds for a long time. My face turned ugly as I scoffed. Did I really think that just because I could climb a mountain I would be able to face death? Can anyone really ever face death? I guessed not. Maybe that's how it worked. Maybe, you just have to live and live well and then one day you just notice that you're feeling a little tired or weak so you lie down for a rest and just... never get up. Was dying that peaceful? Did you really just drift off into a blissful state of dream-like quiet? I scanned the view one more time before turning my back on it and starting back down the mountain with my partner. So, maybe I don't know if I'm ready to die o what it will be like, but I do know that I have climbed a mountain, and seen the view from the top of the world and met fabulous people like my climbing partner along the way and just lived what little of my life I've lived to the fullest and enjoyed it.... and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.